The San Juan Island Com­mu­ni­ty Foun­da­tion has announced that schol­ar­ship appli­ca­tions are now being accept­ed for eli­gi­ble San Juan Island 2022 grad­u­at­ing high school seniors. All appli­cants must plan to attend an accred­it­ed four-year col­lege or uni­ver­si­ty as full-time stu­dents in the 2022–2023 aca­d­e­m­ic year.

Eli­gi­bil­i­ty require­ments vary depend­ing upon the pro­gram. For details and appli­ca­tion forms, vis­it the Com­mu­ni­ty Foun­da­tion web­site. Com­plet­ed appli­ca­tions and sup­port­ing mate­ri­als must be received by the Foun­da­tion – either by email or postal mail – no lat­er than Tues­day, May 3 at 5 p.m. Any mate­ri­als received after the dead­line will not be con­sid­ered. Con­tact the Foun­da­tion at 360–378-1001 if you have questions.

If you are inter­est­ed in set­ting up a schol­ar­ship fund or donat­ing to an exist­ing schol­ar­ship pro­gram, con­tact Exec­u­tive Direc­tor Car­rie Unping­co at 360–378-1001.

Mer­ri Ann Simon­son sends along an update about the state of the San Juan Island real estate market.

This seller’s mar­ket con­tin­ues to be very strong. The first quar­ter results in San Juan Coun­ty and on San Juan Island were as expect­ed for a first quar­ter. Per the NWMLS, the dol­lar vol­ume in San Juan Coun­ty was $87,735,644 with a total of 88 trans­ac­tions. The num­bers reflect a 7 per­cent increase in dol­lar vol­ume and a 34 per­cent decrease in the num­ber of trans­ac­tions as com­pared to the same peri­od in 2021.

For San Juan Island the trans­ac­tion vol­ume was $36,984,387 with a total of 39 trans­ac­tions. This was an 8.5 per­cent decrease in vol­ume and a 40 per­cent decrease in num­ber of trans­ac­tions. Orcas Island’s vol­ume is dic­tat­ing the Coun­ty num­bers as San Juan isn’t con­tribut­ing at the same level.

It is very clear in both the Coun­ty and on San Juan Island that the prices have increased con­sid­er­ably and there­fore few­er num­ber of trans­ac­tions can cre­ate vol­ume greater than the same peri­od in 2021 for the Coun­ty and with a slight decrease for San Juan Island.

It is also very clear that the lack of inven­to­ry is hin­der­ing both vol­ume and num­ber of trans­ac­tions. As of March 31, San Juan Coun­ty had a total of 138 list­ings for all types of prop­er­ties. The Coun­ty had 41 pend­ing and 97 active list­ings. This is a 36 per­cent decrease in total list­ings, a 50 per­cent decrease in pend­ing list­ings and a 28 per­cent decrease in active listings

For San Juan Island, the decreas­es were 44 per­cent in the total inven­to­ry, 39 per­cent in pend­ing and 50 per­cent in active list­ings. Con­tin­ue Reading

Starr Exca­va­tion is look­ing for two peo­ple to assist with office duties and admin­is­tra­tive work in either a part-time or full-time capac­i­ty. Learn more in the Island Jobs sec­tion of the San Juan Update.

• The Fire­fight­ers Asso­ci­a­tion is host­ing its annu­al East­er event this Sun­day from noon to 2 p.m. The East­er Bun­ny will be in atten­dance, and there’s a stamp col­lect­ing chal­lenge (with prizes) for kids that you can learn more about on the Fire Depart­men­t’s web­site.
• After a snow-out on Tues­day, the high school base­ball and fast­pitch teams returned to the dia­mond on Wednes­day with home games against Orcas Island. Base­ball won 10–0 to improve to 9–1 on the sea­son. Fast­pitch won 17–7 to move to 5–3.
• The Amer­i­can Legion is host­ing the 12th annu­al Bob­by Boyce Memo­r­i­al Schol­ar­ship fundrais­er this Sat­ur­day at 5 p.m. There will be bar­be­cued salmon and ribs to eat, fol­lowed by a raf­fle. They ask that you bring a dessert to share. Guests and mem­bers are both wel­come — tick­ets are $30, and you can either buy them in per­son or by call­ing 360–378-5705.
• The San Juan Preser­va­tion Trust’s blue­bird blitz — where vol­un­teers count as many West­ern Blue­birds as they can in a two-hour peri­od — takes place from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. on Fri­day. Reg­is­ter now, then meet at Red Mill Farm on Fri­day, and be sure to bring your binoculars.
• Miles Crossen and Thomas Ashcroft are look­ing for vol­un­teers to help with the pho­tog­ra­phy exhi­bi­tion at this year’s Coun­ty Fair. They need judges, peo­ple to receive and hang pho­tos, and peo­ple to staff the booth for two- to four-hour shifts dur­ing the Fair. Email superfairphoto@gmail.com if you’re interested.
• There’s only a week and a half left for high school seniors to apply for the San Juan Preser­va­tion Trust’s Cli­mate Lead­er­ship Schol­ar­ships. This year SJPT will award two $4,000 schol­ar­ships to two grad­u­at­ing high school seniors from the San Juan Islands — $2,000 per year for each recipient’s first two years of high­er edu­ca­tion. The dead­line to apply is Earth Day — Fri­day, April 22.

Have some­thing to share with the Island? Whether the news is big or small, let us know!

The Senior Ser­vices Coun­cil of San Juan Coun­ty shares news about their upcom­ing meeting.

The Board of Direc­tors of the Senior Ser­vices Coun­cil of San Juan Coun­ty will meet Thurs­day, April 21 at 1 p.m. over Zoom.

The Board will dis­cuss future direc­tions for the Coun­cil intend­ed to improve ser­vices for seniors and peo­ple liv­ing with dis­abil­i­ties on the islands. As senior cen­ters look toward resum­ing in-per­son activ­i­ties includ­ing con­gre­gate meals and class­es, it is an oppor­tu­ni­ty to adopt ways each cen­ter can con­duct ser­vices that would serve each com­mu­ni­ty better.

The full meet­ing agen­da, Zoom link, and dial-in instruc­tions are avail­able on the Mullis Cen­ter web­site.

Island Rec sends along the details about the pet parade they’re host­ing a week from Saturday.

Grab your favorite pet and join us for a com­mu­ni­ty pet parade on Sat­ur­day, April 23 from 10 a.m to noon at the San Juan Coun­ty Fairgrounds.

Well behaved pets of any kind can reg­is­ter to par­tic­i­pate. Prizes will be giv­en for best cos­tume, best per­son­al­i­ty, and most unique! All are wel­come to come and watch the fun. Pre-reg­is­tra­tion is required and the num­ber of parade par­tic­i­pants is lim­it­ed to 30, but all are wel­come to come and watch the fun.