Soma Andrews with some of her portfolio artwork

The Scholastics Art Competition is the largest national art competition in the country averaging nearly 340,000 student entries a year.

The only two students from Friday Harbor High School who entered the Scholastics Art Competition, both received awards and recognition in the Western Region-at-Large.

Senior Katie Place was awarded the Silver Key Individual Award and senior Soma Andrews was awarded the Gold Key Individual Award. On top of this honor, Ms. Andrews also won the Gold Key Portfolio. Continue Reading

Photo by Svetlaya

Frank James MD, San Juan County Health Officer Mark Tompkins, Director, San Juan County Health & Community Services Brendan Cowan, Director, San Juan County Department of Emergency Management

Coronavirus is on all of our minds, and for good reason. We are living through a global public health crisis that has the potential to become a pandemic in the weeks or months to come. There’s much we still don’t know, and with that uncertainty comes fear. Despite the fact that the current risk of coronavirus in San Juan County is low, it makes perfect sense to be on edge.

In this article we will take a very complex and fast moving situation and share some key understandings that we hope will be useful to our island community. We don’t know how this event will play out, but there are some facts to know and some basic steps we can all take, regardless of the exact spread of the disease. Continue Reading

Art in the San Juan Islands!

Save the dates, June 6 & 7, to visit 22 art studios and 56 artists in a gorgeous setting during the San Juan Island Artists’ Studio Tour.

The SJI Artists’ Studio Tour is an annual, free event and showcases individual art studios as well as guest artists amid luscious gardens and breathtaking views. This year we’ll introduce you to several new artist studios.

You’ll find fine art for purchase including pottery, painting, sculpture, glass blowing, etchings, mixed media, handmade knives, furniture, fiber art, jewelry, fused glass and more. Take the self-guided tour to visit studios around the island and watch great art in the making. Continue Reading

Photo by Marg JohnsonVA

The 2020 San Juan County “Point-In Time” (PIT) Homeless Count identified 133 people who have no stable place to live, a decrease from the 2019 count of 149.

Of the 133 people identified as having no stable place to live, 66 people were living out of doors, in vehicles, in abandoned buildings, or in an RV or boat that lacked one of the following: drinking water, a restroom, heat, the ability to cook food, or the ability to bathe. The remaining 67 were at risk of homelessness, in temporary, unstable living arrangements, often with friends or family. In 2019, the count found 67 people homeless and 82 at risk of homelessness. The 2018 count found 57 homeless and 63 at risk of homelessness.

The one night PIT Count is by definition variable and in San Juan County can fluctuate greatly from year to year. San Juan County has prioritized consistency in its PIT methodology as part of the County’s Five-Year Homeless Plan. The 2020 PIT year over year change of -11% from 2019 represents the smallest year over year change in a decade. Continue Reading

The San Juan County/Town of Friday Harbor Department of Emergency Management is hosting a no-cost, 8 hour training for island businesses to learn more about how to prepare for emergencies and disruption to their business.

When: Tuesday March 31st, 8:30am – 5:00pm
Where: Friday Harbor (exact location is to be determined)

To Register: CLICK HERE

For more details: www.sanjuandem.net/MGT381

Love the 80’s?  They are back, at least for a night at the San Juan County Fairgrounds. The Spring Fling, Adult Prom will be held on March 28^th showcasing live music by Prom Date Mixtape.

Come dance the night away to the sounds of The Cure, Bon Jovi, Depeche Mode, U2, Flock of Seagulls, Wham!, and more. Doors open at 7:00pm, dress up, or not and enjoy drinks, food and music.

In celebration of Leap Year, a discount is being offered on tickets until Monday, March 2, 2020.  Jump at the chance to save $5.00 per ticket – now $15 instead of $20 per person. 

Whether you missed out on your own prom, love 80s fashion, or have been perfecting your moonwalk – we are hop(p)ing see you on the dance floor!

Purchase your tickets by calling (360)378-4310, or stop by the Fairgrounds Administrative Office Monday through Friday, 8:30am-4:30pm. 

Additional information can be found at www.sjcfair.org

Join San Juan Community Theatre in March for the San Juan Singers Spring Concert!

The Singers will be performing with island musicians and The Keith Highlanders Pipe Band for their Celtic Roots concert!

Friday & Saturday, March 13-14, 7:30 pm

Tickets: Adults $20.00 Students $10.00 $5 Student RUSH (at door only)

San Juan County Public Hospital District No. 1 will be meeting on February 26, 2020, at 5:30 p.m., at the Frank Wilson Memorial EMS Building (1079 Spring Street).

Click here for the agenda.

Know Your Islanders: Bruce Gregory: Farmer-to-Farmer in Tajikistan

Bruce Gregory will discuss his third Farmer-to-Farmer trip to Tajikistan, where he worked with orchardists in the remote province of Khatlon. 

Come hear how Bruce shared his agricultural knowledge with farmers half-way-round-the-world. Refreshments are courtesy of the Friends of the Library and the San Juan Island Trails Committee.

Monday, March 2nd at 7 pm at the San Juan Island Library, free.

Friday Harbor Film Festival’s annual Best of the Fest series continues during March. Award-winning, impactful feature films and shorts from the 2019 Festival are being shown every first and third Tuesday from January through May at the Grange beginning at 7 pm. These screenings are free, although donations are encouraged.

The March line-up includes:

March 3: Best Documentary at 2018 Sonoma International Film Festival

The Need to Grow (directed by Rob Herring & Ryan Wirick)

Delivering alarming evidence on the importance of having healthy soil on our planet, coupled with the fact that at the current rate of soil degradation there are only about 60 years of farmable soil left, The Need to Grow offers an intimate look at activists and innovators in the food movement.

Highlighted are an 8-year-old girl who challenges the ethics of a beloved organization; a renegade farmer who struggles to keep his land as he revolutionizes resource-efficient agriculture; and an accomplished visionary inventor who faces catastrophe in the midst of developing a game-changing technology. Continue Reading

Celebrate Girlfriends’ 8^th Anniversary this weekend!

Enjoy cupcakes by Felicitations and chocolates by SJ Roasting Company as you help Debbie D and the girls celebrate.

We can’t wait for you to leap into Girlfriends Friday and Saturday, February 28 & 29, 10am to 5:30pm, or march in Sunday, March 1, 10am to 3pm.

New inventory arrives daily with top name brands, vintage, and lots of great sale items. Guys are always welcome to shop our Man Cave.

Where can book lovers go to rub shoulders with the likes of Timothy Egan, Nicola Griffith and Luis Alberto Urrea, and also take in a little jaw-dropping splendor while they’re at it?  If you’re a book lover, you owe it to yourself to make the trip at least once to the Orcas Island Lit Fest.

Now in its third year, the festival has just announced a star-studded lineup of featured artists, including best-selling memoirist Claire Dederer, Pulitzer-prize winner Timothy Egan, two-time Washington State Book Award winner Nicola Griffith, international best-selling author Arthur Phillips and best-selling award-winning author Luis Alberto Urrea.

Detailed information about Orcas Island Lit Fest and this year’s headlining authors, as well as a link to purchase tickets, can be found on the festival website: oilf.org. Orcas Island Lit Fest news and updates are also available on our Facebook and Instagram pages.

The Yacht Club is hosting an open house Saturday February 29^th from 5-7pm for anyone interested in checking out what one of the island’s most active clubs has to offer.

The club is a diverse community of nearly 300 active and fun islanders and a great place to make friends and fully experience our island home.  Even if you don’t own a boat the club offers dozens of social, community, educational and marine events throughout the year as well as a private refuge overlooking the harbor to escape from the summer hordes with your friends and guests.

Members welcome other members without boats to join them on our summer weekend cruises. The club has dinner meal service Wednesdays and Fridays as well as Sunday Brunches in the summer.

The Open House will feature drawings and prizes. Appetizers and beverages will be provided.

San Juan Island Yacht Club – 273 Front Street – overlooking the Port of Friday Harbor docks

In the SJ Update mailbag this morning we have this letter from Steve Ulvi…

The Future on the Rocks

The life of a conservationist in America has always been a hard paddle against the current. Win some skirmishes, a few big battles and refight ‘em again and again, while losing the war. We learn to savor small victories and impatiently await the dawn of some kind of collective awareness that pushes back against the ruin of endless economic growth.

Just after WWII, ecological philosopher Aldo Leopold mused that “one of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds”. He died while battling a brush fire on his neighbor’s land in 1948, but his seminal ideas about fostering a respectful land ethic did not perish with him. But just as with Emerson, Thoreau, Muir, Marshall and Carson et al, his profound warnings were lost in the tempest of crude, human-centered aspirations. As a learned man of his day, he could barely have imagined today’s keen understanding of the interconnected webs of evolutionary life, deep earth history and the predictable workings of our solar neighborhood dwarfed by a vast universe around us. Continue Reading

Merri Ann Simonson checks in with another in her video series, this one celebrates Fishing Derby Season.  She says “I might have to keep my day job as I am a better REALTOR than a fishing person.”

On Wednesday, February 26, 2020, the San Juan Island School District Board of Directors will hold an Executive Session (closed meeting) from 3:00 pm – 4:50 pm at the school district office, and a regular School Board Meeting (open to the public) at 5:00 pm in the high school library.   

The Executive Session is in accordance with RCW 42.30.110(g), to evaluate the qualifications of an applicant for public employment or to review the performance of a public employee. 

All public comment, with the exception of public hearings on policy, budget or other specific items, will be heard during the “Public Comment” section of the Call to Order of the regular meeting. 

Anyone wishing to address the board on any topic will be scheduled to speak during the public comment period by the Administrative Assistant present at the board meeting.  Check in to be scheduled to speak will occur during the 15 minutes before the start of the meeting.     

Please see the agendas at https://www.boarddocs.com/wa/sjisd/Board.nsf/Public

This is a quick look at the board agendas for your convenience.  Please be aware that the agendas could change prior to the board meeting.