San Juan County Fair staff are preparing to launch the San Juan County Fair virtually this year. The fair is an opportunity to showcase all the talents and resources of our islands, and we are working to host exhibits online, and offer virtual entertainment. Local businesses and non-profit organizations are encouraged to participate as “virtual  Continue Reading

The North Pacific Right Whale: Why You Should Care about the World’s Rarest Whale Join Friends of the San Juans and Kevin Campion of Deep Green Wilderness on July 23 at 6:30 pm to hear about Kevin and his team’s expeditions to film the North Pacific right whale.  You’ll learn about what right whales mean for modern  Continue Reading

Two new positive COVID-19 cases have been reported on San Juan Island. These cases were identified through testing of close contacts of a previous case. All three individuals are self-isolating at home. Total number of cases in San Juan County to date is now 24. This is a good opportunity to emphasize the following critical  Continue Reading

The Orcas Women’s Coalition (OWC) announced their endorsement of Christine Minney for San Juan County Council (District #1, San Juan Island seat). Christine went through the OWC endorsement process and attended two ZOOM teleconference interviews with members. In an email to OWC members shared with Christine, they reported, “The strong majority of votes submitted were  Continue Reading

San Juan County Public Hospital District No. 1 is giving formal notice of a Special Board Meeting on July 18th, 2020, at 9:00 am, via MS Teams. Members of the public should call 509-824-1884 and enter 588 227 188# in order to attend. An Agenda is attached. This meeting on July 18th is for strategic  Continue Reading

Micro-loans available for local farmers In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the FARM Fund is partnering with the San Juan Island Community Foundation (SJICF) and the Orcas Food Co-op to meet essential food needs of San Juan County residents. The San Juan Islands Agricultural Guild’s FARM Fund will offer $15,000 in zero percent interest loans  Continue Reading

Island Senior is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Peggy Sue McRae… According to Wikipedia, cabin fever refers to “claustrophobic irritability or restlessness experienced when a person, or group, is stuck at an isolated location or in confined quarters for an extended period of time”. Anybody relate? They go on to say…  Continue Reading

Digging Deeper into Contact Tracing A more detailed look at how public health staff work to limit the spread of COVID in our community. This is by no means our most concise Hot Topic, but does contain useful info for those looking to understand a bit more about the public health response. As of July  Continue Reading

Local photographer John Miller shares this photo he shot the other morning. And here’s what he has to say about it: “I was sailing back from Stuart Island and came upon this unusual sight – looked like three houses barging away from San Juan Island, and all seem to be practicing social distancing?” Thanks for  Continue Reading

As the islands enter the 6th month of the COVID crisis, the likelihood of local families, individuals, and businesses being connected to someone with a confirmed positive test result continues to increase. We created this FAQ to highlight answers to likely questions in the event of a positive test result in either an employee, or  Continue Reading

In the mailbag this morning we have this letter from Katie Fleming… Dear Editor, I support Ryan Palmateer for the County Council District 1 position. I have worked with Ryan for 3 years on energy conservation, renewable energy promotion, and climate action programs in the San Juan Islands. Ryan is very committed to the resiliency  Continue Reading

San Juan Island Library District Assistant Director / Adult Services Manager The San Juan Island Library District (www.sjlib.org) is seeking a highly capable, enthusiastic, creative, and customer service-orientated individual to develop, manage and implement library services for adults. The successful candidate will also assist the director with library administration.   Complete job description available at  Continue Reading

As I’m sure you all know we have a few new cases on the island. We had an exceptionally busy day Monday with testing. Our focus this week will be with the following priority: symptomatic patients contacts of known cases asymptomatic essential workers Opening businesses via testing has obviously dropped in priority in light of  Continue Reading

July 13, 2020: Over the weekend of July 11th-12th, three new positive COVID cases were reported on San Juan Island. Two of these cases were close contacts of each other. In total, over 20 close contacts of those two positive individuals have been identified and contacted by the San Juan County Health Department surveillance team.  Continue Reading

Friday Harbor Film Festival’s Summer 2020 Virtual Cinema will present a FREE virtual on-demand screening of The Story of Plastic anytime on July 16, 17, 18, and 19, followed by a hosted Q&A on July 19 at 6 pm PDT.  To view the film and participate in the virtual Q&A, RSVP at www.fhff.org. Once you  Continue Reading

On Monday July 6 ,2020, the U.S. Small Business Association (SBA) announced the release of detailed loan-level data regarding the loans made under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).  This program was launched as a way to retain workers by providing funding to businesses impacted by the Covid-19 downturn.  Our local banks, the EDC and other entities worked  Continue Reading

2020 Summer Marine Naturalist Training Program will be Virtual The Whale Museum’s Summer Marine Naturalist Program is going virtual. This dynamic and high-quality program will still be 6-sessions and run on the following dates: July 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, and 22 with a one daybreak on July 19. The object of this program is  Continue Reading

43 years running! Be part of this Island tradition – virtually for 2020 (you still have to go all 8.8k, your computer can’t do that part for you!). This race can be completed any time between August 9-15, 2020. Any Course (even your treadmill) consisting of 8.8k! Participants will send completed race times, and distances  Continue Reading

COVID 19 is creating many unique challenges for literally everyone and the Land Bank is no exception. The Land Bank typically uses a variety of strategies to achieve stewardship activities including volunteer work parties, collaborating with partners, engaging special interest groups, and leveraging help from youth conservation corps type organizations. At this time we are  Continue Reading

Today in the SJ Update Mailbag we have this letter from Gay Graham… To the Editor: Covid-19 has caused us to make any number of changes in the paths that we used to take. One of these can be forgetting to renew or not having the opportunity to support those organizations and causes that need  Continue Reading

  Hi, I am Moose. Aren’t I adorable? My new parents think so. I found my forever home and my owners have ordered a DNA test so they can find out exactly who I am. Of course, I know who I am – a great kid of 15 months who has a vocabulary like no  Continue Reading

John Geyman, M.D. announces the publication of his new book: Profiteering, Corruption and Fraud in U.S. Health Care. He raises questions that we have to ask and answer: Who is the health care system for – profits for health care corporations, their shareholders and Wall Street traders and investors? for corrupt and fraudulent scammers? or for  Continue Reading