Local Artists to Feature Original Works at Outdoor Show, Saturday, June 13 Friday Harbor, Washington… A group of San Juan Island artists, members of the Friday Harbor Atelier, will host a Studio Sidewalk Art Show on Saturday, June 13 in front of the Atelier at the corner of Spring Street and Argyle Avenue from 10:00  Continue Reading

Today in the SJ Update mailbag, we have this letter from Lydia Miller… I want to commend Dr Frank James, the Board of Health and County Council, for making the prudent responsible decision to finally allow lodging to reopen. Given that Americans are cautiously emerging from social distancing measures, the fear of crowds descending on  Continue Reading

Scott Sluis, Vice President and Senior Loan Officer at Islanders Bank and Board President of the San Juan Island Chamber of Commerce brings you this latest edition of Chamber Chat: “It’s Time to be Friendly and Nice” Hello Chamber Members and fellow islanders, it’s been a while since we’ve been able to connect in person  Continue Reading

Merri Ann Simonson is back with another San Juan Island information source video. This one provides you with a quick real estate market update.

Response to the discussion about the Land Bank and Affordable Housing REETs. Tuesday, June 2, 2020 Editor, I am writing as Board President of the San Juan Community Home Trust, a non-profit organization on San Juan Island. Our mission is to build and sell permanently affordable housing for ownership, to low and moderate income-qualified islanders.  Continue Reading

Response by Ron Whalen/Sponsor of San Juan County Initiative 2020-10 I request the following be posted to San Juan Update as a response to the letter posted by Alice Hurd on June 1st. Not true…..Neither the initiative or the petition says anything about ending or eliminating the Land Bank (LB) and affordable housing. THE PROPOSED  Continue Reading

In the SJ Update Mailbag today we have this letter from Alice Hurd, Former Trustee of the San Juan Preservation Trust… I am writing to share my concern about an initiative petition being circulated in San Juan County for the purpose of putting a measure on the November ballot to close down the San Juan  Continue Reading

June 1 marks a milestone for Eventide Health. It’s the beginning of our 6 month mark, but it’s also the actual start of our organization. It’s taken us far longer than anticipated to get all of the extensive governmental and insurance processes done to be a fully separate entity from San Juan Healthcare (which now  Continue Reading

Over the last few days we have all witnessed the unfolding events in Minnesota, and around the country, spurred by a tragic death that occurred in Minneapolis involving the police and a black male who was in custody. The actions that resulted in the death of George Floyd are disturbing and saddening. When these events  Continue Reading

May 2020 Dear Wonderful Community Members, The 2019-2020 school year is winding to a close, and what a year it has been! We started last summer with our Aerospace Design team under the guidance of teacher Dan Garner, becoming international champions and we end this school year with our First/Second grade Science Team under the  Continue Reading

Know Your Islanders: Thane Pratt, Kokoda Sketches: A Birding Trek across Papua New Guinea Lace up your (virtual) hiking boots and join wildlife biologist Thane Pratt and artist Szabolcs Kokay on a trek across the mountain ranges of Papua New Guinea.  We’ll relive some of the adventures and experience the biological wonders of this, the  Continue Reading

FREEZER BURNED: Tales of Interior Alaska is a new regular column on the San Juan Update written by Steve Ulvi… After gritting through another sub-arctic winter, there was celebratory pleasure in first plying the roiling, wood-strewn waters of the Yukon River in spring. The boat season followed seven to ten days of heavy running ice.  Continue Reading

A note from Island Stage Left… Normally at this time of year we would be asking you for money. But what’s normal now? For the first time in Island Stage Left’s twenty two year history, we must cancel our summer “Shakespeare Under the Stars”, which was to have been Shakespeare’s romantic comedy, “Much Ado About  Continue Reading

Friday Harbor’s latest Free Little Library is at the Post Office, dedicated to Serendipity Books and its owners Carol Jackson and Dilys Goodman. Widely recognized as an island treasure, Serendipity became a reality when two former librarians and neighbors, Carol and Betty Stewart, launched their business next to the ferry landing. Dilys joined the business  Continue Reading

Last summer, the Friday Harbor High School Aerospace Design team brought home a World Championship title from the International Space Settlement Competition held at NASA. This year, the FHHS Aerospace Team (Island Orbital Technologies) has once again earned their way back to the International Space Settlement Design Competition World Finals with a top-four design proposal  Continue Reading

In many places, people are wearing masks when they’re in public because of coronavirus (COVID-19). It’s an important way to help slow the spread of the virus. At first, it was mostly doctors, nurses, and others in health care settings who wore masks. But now, as other people wear them, more and more kids are  Continue Reading

-Dr. Mark Fishaut and Dr. Frank James En muchos lugares, la gente está llevando mascarilla en los lugares públicos debido al coronavirus (COVID-19). Es una forma importante de ayudar a reducir la velocidad de propagación del virus. Al principio, quienes llevaban mascarillas eran, sobre todo, los médicos, los enfermeros y otro tipo de personal que  Continue Reading

Dear SJCT Family, On May 5th, we wrote to inform you of the launch of the From ‘Going Dark’ to ‘Lights Up’ campaign to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on SJCT operations. Following the cancellation of events in March, April, and through the end of the summer, the campaign seeks to raise $193,000 of community support by September 30th.  Continue Reading

By Louise Dustrude Five candidates have filed for county council from District 1 (San Juan) and three from District 2 (Orcas). Filing from San Juan this week were: Sharon Kivisto, Daniel Miller, Christine Minney, Ryan Palmateer, and Steve Wehrly. Incumbent Bill Watson did not file for reelection. On Orcas incumbent Rick Hughes filed for reelection,  Continue Reading

Last week, the national winners of the Exploravision Competition were announced and the first place-winning project was Get Away! Bacteriophage, submitted by Friday Harbor Elementary School (FHES) students Jodie Wehner, 2nd grade, Ava Youngsman 2nd grade, and Nancy Wehner, 1st grade. Earlier this spring, three FHES STEM teams had received regional and honorable mention recognition  Continue Reading

Merri Ann Simonson checks in again, this time with information on internet availability on the island… Update to Our Internet Connection Rock Island has been busy for the last 5 years installing the base structure for our fiber and other internet connection options throughout the County. As a REALTOR, I can state that internet reliability  Continue Reading

This is the first in a series of stories by Steve Ulvi… We can all use a bit more entertainment these days. Begin by conjuring up the Far North. Way up, where invisible longitudinal lines get closer, just short of an invisible Arctic Circle. Nearly all of these campfire tales take place in a particular  Continue Reading