Photo by Cheryl Vivian

EDC, San Juan Islands Agricultural Guild offer Value-Added 101 course

Whether you grow a lot of food products or a little, value-added food processing is a great way to start – or expand – an ag business.   Farmers and food business owners can join the San Juan County Economic Development Council (EDC) and the San Juan Islands Agricultural Guild to learn how to turn straw into gold in this informative and FREE 90-minute course.  Participants will learn key steps in setting up a food processing business, including licensing, marketing, labeling and more.

The event will be introduced by Steph Coffey of the San Juan Islands Agricultural Guild, highlighting upcoming ag-related market opportunities including the new San Juan Islands Food Hub launching in late March and the cooperative branding program Island Grown in the San Juans.

The workshop will be led by Victoria Compton, Director of the EDC, who brings three decades of island marketing and advertising experience to the discussion.  Topics covered will include the Washington State Department of Agriculture’s process for food licensing, FDA labeling requirements, marketing tips, best practices and more. Continue Reading

The US Coast Guard Auxiliary will offer the Washington Basic Boater Education Course. Everyone wishing to learn or share their safe boating skills as well as review our local boating regulations is invited to attend.

Upon successful completion of the course, attendees may submit a copy of their individual “Certificate of Accomplishment” with $10 to receive a Boater Education Card by the Washington State Parks & Recreation Commission.

All Washington residents must carry a Boater Education Card while on the water operating a power-boat greater than 15 horsepower. This includes people over 12 years of age and born after January 1, 1955.

If you plan on boating in areas outside of the State of Washington, you should find out what their requirements are for boater education certifications. By getting your card, you help to ensure that you and our waterways remain safe. You may also be able to reduce your boating insurance costs.

• Date:         Saturday, February 22, 2020
• Time:        9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
• Location:   Skagit Valley College, 221 Weber Way, Friday Harbor
• Cost:     Free      Bring lunch. Hot water provided.
• Call to register:
  John Salinas, 541-660-5783 [email protected]
  Chuck Dalldorf, 946-248-3819

For more info click here.

Results are in from the Islands-Wide Survey about Tourism and Visitor Management in the San Juan Islands

Conducted by Confluence Research and Consulting, the 2019 survey canvassed residents and businesses on a variety of issues related to the impacts of visitors to the islands. The Confluence results are available in the “news” section of the San Juan County Land Bank website (http://sjclandbank.org/news/) along with a summary of findings.

The survey was a project of the Terrestrial Managers Group (TMG), a chartered collaborative of local, state, and federal conservation land managers in the County. The research originated out of the desire to better understand the level and kinds of visitation to the County’s natural areas and to give voice to local investment and interests. The results will inform science-based decisions for management of these areas while maintaining the best visitor experiences possible. Continue Reading

Come join us for February Green Drinks at Mike’s Cafe and Wine Bar, February 20th from 5:30 to 7:30 pm.

Friday Harbor Green Drinks is an informal monthly social meet-up open to anyone with an interest in the environment and all things green! Conservation, agriculture, marine science, and other fields.

Green Drinks provides time to grab drinks and food with old & new friends alike, socialize and network, and make announcements. The community announcements offer a chance to find out about events, initiatives, and services throughout the county. Announcements take place around 6:30pm and are limited to 2 mins.

Friday Harbor Green Drinks is hosted by the Stewardship Network of the San Juans. We are committed to making it an inclusive and positive space where folks can socialize, network, and enjoy the evening. Friday Harbor Green Drinks is held every third (thirsty) Thursday of the month from 5:30-7:30pm at various locations around Friday Harbor. Continue Reading

Island Senior is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Peggy Sue McRae…

George Washington – by John Trumbull 1790

There will be no lunch served at the Mullis Center on Monday. Presidents Day is a federal holiday; banks and the post office are also closed. Before the Uniform Federal Holidays act of 1971 we observed Abraham Lincoln’s birthday February 12 and George Washington’s birthday on February 22. Making the third Monday in February Presidents Day honors all of our presidents and gives us a 3-day weekend.

You may think of Washington’s birthday as little more than the traditional time to start planting peas but as we approach another presidential election let’s take a look at the man who was our first president.

First, there is the myth about the cherry tree, which could be true, Washington grew up on a farm, but true or not the story has become part of our national mythology.

It goes like this: Continue Reading

Intro to Sports is designed to get your children prepared for organized sports. With a step-by-step approach, the program builds confidence and self-esteem.

Island Rec staff will work together with your child in a supportive environment to learn throwing, catching, batting, dribbling and much more. Open to ages 5-7, we will pack plenty of action into 45-minute sessions each Saturday in March at the Elementary School.

Register before February 28^th to receive a discounted fee of $55, with the fee raising to $60 after that until registration closes on March 5^th.   

For more information or registration, call 360-378-4953, visit www.islandrec.org, or stop by our office at 580 Guard Street, 11am-5pm, Monday through Friday.  

It’s the time of year to celebrate knowledge with our entire community! The 2020 Knowledge Bowl will be held on March 2 at 6:30 pm at the San Juan Community Theatre.

A cross between Jeopardy and the old college quiz bowls, teams compete to answer questions on geography, history, pop culture, local fare, and more. The event is sponsored by the San Juan Public Schools Foundation.

This year there are eight competing teams, which include Friday Harbor 8^th graders, combined teams of 9^th and 10^th, and 11^th and 12^th grades from Friday Harbor High School, a team from Spring Street International School, and teams from the Soroptimists, Rotary Club, Lions, and Kiwanis.

The program consists of two rounds of questions. “The audience loves testing their own knowledge against the teams. The evening is filled with laughter and ah-ha moments,” said Karen Meenan, a Director of the San Juan Public Schools Foundation. Continue Reading

Merri Ann Simonson is back with another San Juan Island Lifestyle Video. Here’s what she has to say about this one…

This video is about local Real Estate. As Real Estate Agents, we are problem solvers.

As your council member and neighbor, I have been asked several questions about the Supreme Court case the county was involved in last December. I decided to write this to clarify the court’s decision.

The Supreme Court Case

December 12, 2019, the Washington State Supreme Court issued its decision on the case of Edward Kilduff versus San Juan County and Jamie Stephens, San Juan County Council Member and Public Records Officer. The Court ruled on three elements in this case:

1. Can the County require entities who have made public records requests to exhaust the county administrative procedures prior to filing a lawsuit?
2. Did the lower court err when it imposed sanctions on both Kilduff and his attorneys, Nick Powers and Michele Earl-Hubbard, for filing a frivolous suit seeking the removal of Council Member Stephens? and,
3. Is Kilduff entitled to attorney’s fees upon appeal?

The Superior Court Decision Continue Reading

San Juan County Health & Community Services received notification from the State Department of Health at 3:44pm today that test results for coronavirus (COVID-19) were negative for the Person Under Investigation from San Juan County.

Dear Community,

Thank you, thank you! San Juan Island School District continues to be humbled by the amazing and overwhelming turnout to support our schools and most importantly our students.

Because of your support on this week’s vote to reauthorize our capital and technology levy, we will be able to ensure safe and modernized buildings, fully upgraded tennis courts, up to date technology in the hands of our students and staff, a new safe re-routing of our school bus drop-off and pick up at the elementary school and so much more.

Because of you, this community continues the tradition of investing in our future, our students.

You are simply the best! Thank you!

Kari McVeigh
Superintendent

Fred Woods
Chairman, SJISD Levy Committee

Dear San Juan Island Community,

The Friday Harbor Thespians and the San Juan Community Theatre would like to thank all of you who have been such enthusiastic supporters of our theatre kids. Your support, both financial and emotional, helped the kids make Little Shop of Horrors a tremendous success which brought joy to all involved.

Our kids poured extra heart and soul into this production as they had raised their hands to have representatives of the International Thespian Society come to see the show and give them feedback. Their hope was that they might garner an invitation to bring their show to the International Thespian Festival in Indiana this summer.

Alas, we have received their feedback and understand that although we did very well and have every reason to be proud of our efforts, we didn’t make the cut for continuing to the festival with an invited production this time around. We did get some really useful evaluations and it’s quite a thrill to see how in many respects our standards are hitting the markers of what these adjudicators considered excellent high school theatre. For future productions it will certainly be valuable to have some objective insights into areas to focus on going forward and I’m sure that we’ll put what we have learned in this process to continue to hone our craft as theatre artists. Continue Reading

By Merri Ann Simonson

Merri Ann Simonson – Contributed photo

Thinking about selling your property? You may want to consider researching, collecting and completing the items detailed below.

This is not a check list for planting flowers on your porch and painting your front door, you can go to the internet for that information. This list is to prepare sellers in San Juan County for marketing their property.   The issues below are for regulatory compliance and contract performance. Attention to these issues will prove beneficial and would be worth the effort during the marketing and transaction management of your property sale.

As your agent, I will assist with the process of gathering and helping you arrange for the various services. That is what good agents do.

This list will not apply to all properties and it is not meant to be all encompassing. The topics are in alphabetical order for your convenience.

Single Family Residence:

Continue reading…

Friday Harbor, WA – Chances are you’ve had it happen to you a few times. First a siren in the distance, and cars start pulling over. You copy them. Soon you see the lights and strain to see what’s happening. It’s an ambulance. You turn to the person next to you and say, “Someone is having a bad day.” Perhaps they turn onto your street, and an ambulance stops. A stretcher comes out.  

For San Juan Island Emergency Medical Services (SJIEMS) that happened 1184 times in 2019. It happened to 1200 patients. Nationwide the trend continues towards an increase in calls, and that is mirrored here in Friday Harbor with a 9% increase over 2018. While it can be easy to forget that these statistics are real people or forget that every day this is happening to somebody, for our staff, each number represents real people that we see daily. 

SJIEMS takes seriously its commitment to the public. We are funded through tax money, which combined with a series of grants and hybrid state-federal funding programs, enabled us in 2019 to move to a 24-7, 365 days a year staffing model. We do not charge coinsurance to island residents or landowners. EMTs are on-duty at all times. If you call, we will be there. Continue Reading

San Juan County has its first person under investigation related to the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) global outbreak.

A person under investigation is a person with symptoms consistent with coronavirus infection and who has either recently traveled to an affected area, or has had close contact with a confirmed novel coronavirus case.

Testing is currently being conducted by the Centers for Disease Control to determine if the illness is novel coronavirus, and local, state and CDC health officials are operating in an abundance of caution.

San Juan County Health & Community Services is working to assess the potential risk to the public and respond if the person under investigation becomes a confirmed case. It is important to know that the immediate risk to the general public remains low. Continue Reading

Hospice of San Juan offers free training for new volunteers on the first two Saturdays of March (the 7th and 14th).

Hospice of San Juan, an all-volunteer hospice founded in 1985 by a group of island health providers wishing to care for neighbors free of charge, works independent of as well as alongside the Medicare- and insurance-funded hospice organization based in Mt Vernon (Hospice of the Northwest) that comes out to San Juan Island.

Due to its status as a free service, Hospice of San Juan has much greater freedom in the types of activities its volunteers may engage in. If you have a skill you would like to share with homebound neighbors approaching the end of life, consider volunteering for Hospice of San Juan. Volunteer training is required of all volunteers. Continue Reading