San Juan Islands license plate registration to take place at the County Fair

The Madrona Institute sends along news about the registration process for San Juan Islands-themed license plates, the annual fees from which help benefit local nonprofits.

Don’t miss the opportunity to show off your island pride and support local conservation and stewardship programs with a San Juan Islands license plate. You can sign up at the San Juan County Fair from Aug. 17-20, where the Madrona Institute will host a booth of helpers to get you registered for a license plate featuring San Juan Island artist Nancy Spaulding’s painting Evening Passage.

The initial cost for plates ranges between $65.25 and $117.25 for plates with the next available number, depending on your vehicle type. Personalized plates cost between $117.25 and $169.25.

If your tabs expire in six months or less, you can save money by getting your new plates and tabs at the same time.

$28 from each tab renewal goes to support Madrona Institute grants, which totaled $22,500 to local organizations in the first year of grantmaking. Recipients for 2022 include the San Juan Islands Conservation District (Youth Conservation Corps), the Friends of the San Juans (Youth Environmental Mentoring Program), Alchemy Art Center (Young Environmentalists Art Intensive & Exhibit Program), the Coast Salish Youth Stewardship Corps operated by the Madrona Institute, and the Indigenous Education Institute (Indigenous speaker series, titled A Sense of Place in the Pacific Northwest: Indigenous Perspectives on Land, Water, and Sky).

Awards are made on an annual basis for local projects and programs that support the conservation and stewardship of agricultural, cultural, historic, and natural resources in the islands, with emphasis on youth engagement. It is expected that grantmaking will increase each year as plate sales increase across the county, region, and state.

If you have stories of your favorite jaunts in the islands with your San Juan Islands license plate, visit the Madrona Institute’s booth at the fair, where they will be gathering stories of your favorite trips and island experiences for their new blog series featuring islanders on the road. You can also share your stories by email.

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