Ron Lehman shares these photos he shot of some mammatus clouds he saw over Mt. Vernon on Tuesday morning. Very interesting cloud formations and good thing he got the photos when he did – he says they were completely gone within about 15 minutes. Here’s more info on this kind of cloud on Wikipedia. Thanks  Continue Reading

Laura Norris and Griffin Bay Bookstore are lucky winners of one of James Patterson’s $500 Holiday Bonus awards. All across the country, 500 booksellers from Maine to California, Florida to the Dakotas, were each awarded the special bonus, 100 of them going bookstores specializing in children’s literature or with an outstanding children’s collection. This award  Continue Reading

OPALCO Rate Increase Held at 3% Board to Share Vision for Our Energy Future When OPALCO members open their bills in January, they will be, on average, $3.92 higher. Although rates were projected to increase 5-6% each year over the next five years, the Board decided to hold the increase to 3% in 2020 in  Continue Reading

While flood impacts in the islands are much less than for our mainland neighbors, every few years the islands get enough rain to cause localized flooding- especially in our more “urban” areas. With a chance of heavy rain in the forecast for later this week, now is a good opportunity for home and business owners  Continue Reading

Channel Preserve, Lopez Lopez Preserve Steward, Amanda Wedow, hosted a public scoping meeting in early October. The event was widely attended with break-out discussions covering a variety of topics, including signage, and dogs. Incorporating comments heard at the meeting, as well those submitted over the public comment period that followed, Land Bank staff are now  Continue Reading

Co-op Members Get Paid – Capital Credit Checks Going Out When you become a co-op member, you become an owner in OPALCO. OPALCO is a not-for-profit cooperative which means any margin at the end of the year goes back into members’ hands. Each year the co-op tracks how much you pay for power and that  Continue Reading

San Juan County is seeking volunteers to create opposing statements to place in the online Voter’s Guide for the upcoming February 2020 Special Election. San Juan County Council approved sending Resolution No. 49-2019 to voters. If approved, the measure would authorize a countywide sales and use tax of 0.20% for a period of 60 months,  Continue Reading

Story by Louise Dustrude… After 23 years heading County Parks, and nearly half that long running the County Fair as well, Dona Wuthnow has decided she’s ready to start a new chapter. She’ll definitely stay on the island, she said, and she hopes to work in something natural resource conservation-related. She is passionate about parks  Continue Reading

Island Senior is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Peggy Sue McRae… As the year 2019 comes to an end we San Juan Islanders can count our blessings. We live on a beautiful island and we have a senior center with much to offer.  This year the Mullis Center has seen  Continue Reading

The San Juan Islands Museum of Art (SJIMA) is dedicated to supporting the local San Juan Islands art community each year in the museum’s Artists’ Registry Exhibit.   With over 70 artists showcased, both established and emerging, the artists come from San Juan Island, Orcas, Shaw & Lopez Islands. The exhibit opens December 20 and runs until February  Continue Reading

Boyd Pratt launched his newest book, “Island Farming: History and Landscape of Agriculture in the San Juan Islands,” at the Grange Hall to a large, enthusiastic crowd of farmers, Grange members, and others on Friday evening. He highlighted three themes from the book – bygone farmers, fruit-growing, and sheep-raising – but there are a multitude  Continue Reading

Cynthia’s Bistro is offering free take-away meals to anyone who needs a meal or wishes to have a home cooked meal. No questions asked, just free food. Stop by Cynthia’s this Thursday -12/19/19 from 4:30 to 6:00 to pick up your meal. You may pick up 2 meals per person. When we run out of  Continue Reading

Merri Ann Simonson is back with more real estate tips and information for you… Custom Construction or Buy Existing and Remodel? In the current market it is much more affordable to buy an existing home than it is to purchase new or custom construction.  Why is that?  The costs of materials and labor did not  Continue Reading

This year has been a year of roof replacements at the San Juan Historical Museum. Recently, the roof of the James King family home was replaced. The prior wood shingle roof had reached the end of its useful life and the time had come to undertake the project which was done by Bobby Ross Construction.  Continue Reading

On Wednesday Dec 18, 2019, the San Juan Island School District Board of Directors will hold a regular School Board Meeting at 5:00 pm in the high school library. This is an open public meeting. We will also celebrate the school/community collaboration that lead to the development of the District’s Strategic Plan 2020-2025.  All are welcome!

A Concert of Choral and Instrumental Carols, Hymns, and Anthems from France, Scandinavia, and Germany, will take place at St. David’s Episcopal Church on Saturday, December 21st at 3:00 PM. The concert will feature an unaccompanied choir directed by Richard Lind. Instrumental performances by Sue Collado, clarinet; Hanneke Klein-Robbenhaar, violin and viola; and Richard Lind,  Continue Reading

Submitted by Fish for Teeth board, Matt Marinkovich, Maureen Marinkovich, Dr. Michael Horn, Tami Doenges and David Jennings. Fish for Teeth has been helping fill the dental needs of San Juan and Lopez islands since 2012 by sponsoring the Medical Teams International Mobile Dental Van. The van comes to San Juan for two-day visits, four  Continue Reading

Get Your Tissues Ready Many of you in the community know about Cowboy, but for those who don’t, he has been a long-term resident at the Animal Protection Society of Friday Harbor (APS-FH). Cowboy’s journey home has taken almost two years. He was originally brought in as a stray to a shelter in Modesto, California,  Continue Reading

In the SJ Update mailbag today we find this letter from Louise Dustrude… I worked on the 2010 U.S. Census, as did more than half a dozen other island residents, and I found it interesting and rewarding. I’m retired, and the paycheck was welcome. Some of my colleagues were unemployed or just “between jobs,” and  Continue Reading

Merri Ann Simonson shares another video in her San Juan Island Lifestyle series… This video features our Chardonnay Shopping event. Shop local!

Rob Simpson died unexpectedly of a heart attack December 3. It is with great sadness that we share the news that our father unexpectedly passed away last week as the result of a heart attack. We hope that you will join us in celebrating his life this Saturday, December 14th at the Mullis Center from  Continue Reading

The Town of Friday Harbor Refuse Department provides one day of pickup for Yard Waste during the month of December. This month that day would normally fall on December 26th. However, because the employees of the Town will have Christmas Day as a holiday, the Refuse workers will have to pick up two separate routes  Continue Reading