New year, new events!  There will be a lot to look forward to in 2020 at the Fairgrounds, so mark your calendars and save the date! 

Join us for a day of real life fun in the Marie Boe Building with VR games brought to you by Heady Virtual Reality on Saturday, February 8^th from 11am-6pm.  A variety of virtual reality games will be available for players to choose from, and cost to play games will be $1.00 per minute.  This event is co-sponsored by Luxel, in partnership with the San Juan County Fairgrounds. 

In March, Adults ages 21+ will want to be sure to get their tickets to our Spring Fling Adult Prom on Saturday, March 28^th.  Doors will open at 7pm, and food and drink will be available for purchase, with live music by Prom Date Mixtape!  Tickets are on sale now, $50.00 per couple and $30 per individual. 

In April, we will be looking forward to helping with your spring cleaning and selling Flea & Craft Market Vendor booth spaces for our annual Spring Flea & Craft Market on Saturday, April 25^th. 

Our Fairgrounds Drive-In Movie series is being evaluated for 2020.  If you would like to see this movie series to continue, or would like to make a movie suggestion, please email [email protected].  And, for those who are planning ahead, vendors and performers can apply online now for the San Juan County Fair, August 12-15^th, 2020 by going to www.sjcfair.org. 

We can’t wait to see you at the Fairgrounds!

Photo by @jmistur

For Thursday January 16, 2020 – Schools will be on a two hour delayed start schedule due to road conditions.

Buses will be on “Snow Routes”.

Please make safe decisions.

Due to the weather the Library will be closed Wednesday, January 15.

Please check our website for further updates.

And while you are staying safe and warm at home you can check out our ebooks, digital magazines and streaming video!

Here’s some news from SJI Fire & Rescue…

Plenty of snow fell overnight – if you don’t need to be on the road, please stay home until road conditions improve. Besides the snow, remember there are plenty of icy patches under the snow too.

Good news today is that temperatures will be rising.

Bad new today is an old story for January – Big Winds.

Photo by @boristudio

Wednesday Jan 15:  Schools will be closed due to inclement weather. The high school community dinner and the Community Projects presentations are also cancelled. 

Be safe, we will see you on Thursday!  

For such a small island community way up in the northwest corner of the country, we have quite a few “Little Free Libraries”, at least 6 that we know of. Louise Dustrude shares this report on them… 

Linda Thompson is a retired public librarian, and so her husband Gary’s gift to her for her 70^th birthday was a Little Free Library – a charmingly decorated box with a front door and filled with books to be shared with anyone who looks inside.

It’s been up since March of last year, in Greenway Park and right in front of their home.

She curates the books carefully and puts a souvenir bookmark inside each one.

Those who sign up on the website littlefreelibrary.org get a charter sign with a number, and Linda’s number is 74788. Continue Reading

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

Icy Island Road – Keli Kilpatrick photo

We islanders enjoy what is normally a mild climate but every once in a while we get blasted with a winter storm. If you’ve lived here for a while you have stories to tell of power outages, frozen pipes, even hurricane force winds blowing out docks and knocking over trees. Rarely is it that dramatic, but all the more reason to be prepared.

The San Juan County/Town of Friday Harbor Department of Emergency Management website has a wealth of information. As a first step they recommend being prepared to stay home, possibly without power, for two weeks. That means having food, drinking water, batteries and books. This is not just good advice for storms but recommended for all kinds of possible emergencies including earthquakes.

When anticipating a windstorm, before it happens anchor down items that could blow away. Fill your gas tank. If you use life-sustaining equipment register it with your utility. If you have a landline phone this is when you will appreciate it and it is one reason I have kept mine. They work when the power is out.

During a high windstorm avoid driving if at all possible, stay away from power lines. If the power goes out disconnect heaters and appliances and unplug your computer to protect it from a power surge when the power comes back on. Conserve water and be very careful with candles and kerosene.

When the weather dips below freezing drip your faucets and leave cupboards below fixtures open to give some household warmth to your pipes. If your pipes do freeze know how to shut off your water in case when they thaw out they are damaged. If using a fuel fed heater be sure you have good ventilation.

A stack of tortillas, a block of cheese, and a few cans of beans are my go to emergency food. It is easy to make a satisfying meal out of these ingredients on top of a wood stove. Fruits and nuts, trail mix or other foods that require no cooking are also handy to have around. I used to wonder what to do with all the Yankee style candles in jars that I often get for Christmas. I’ve discovered they are the best thing for a power outage, heavy enough not to tip over easily and with the safety feature of being contained within the glass.

For more information check out these links. 

Link to: The San Juan County/Town of Friday Harbor Department of Emergency Management

Link to: OPALCO Winter Storm Checklist

Link to: OPALCO Generator Safety Tips

San Juan Island Real Estate Market Summary

Merri Ann Simonson – Contributed photo

In reviewing the year-end results for 2019, the sales dollar volume for the real estate market in San Juan County per the Northwest Multiple Listing Service was $299,854,773 which reflects a small decrease in volume of 2.3% as compared to 2018 when the volume was $306,903,509. The County closed an average of 37 transactions per month which is 19% below last year.

Total volume on San Juan Island in 2019 was $139,593,052 as compared to $132,285,740 in 2018. The increase was 5.3% in volume but there was a decrease of 17.5% in transaction number.

Continue reading… (PDF)

Cancelled Event: Lynda Mapes -Mother Orca Tahlequah
Wednesday, January 15 at 7 pm at the Grange

Due to inclement weather this event has been cancelled.

We will try to reschedule so please check the website for updates.

Due to inclement weather, Islanders Bank branches will open at 10:00 am on January 15^th.  Night Drop is available for deposits.  ATM is available for withdrawals. Stay safe and thank you for understanding.

Yarn for the Glacier National Park tempestries – Photo by Stephanie Panlasigui

Valarie Keaton, President of the San Juan County Textile Guild says of the Tempestry Project, “Our exhibit reflects 100 years (every 4th year from 1918 to 2018) of climate data from the Olga weather station on Orcas Island.” The San Juan Islands Museum of Art (SJIMA) has recently featured major exhibitions addressing such topics as climate change, so the two groups thought to collaborate to bring the textile project to SJIMA until February 21.

Working on a similar project for Glacier National Park, Stephanie Panlasigui states, “The completed projects are vibrant, beautiful, and tangible. You can pick up one year and lay it next to another year to compare.”

The Tempestry Project is an ongoing, collaborative, fiber arts project that presents climate data in a visual form through knitted or crocheted artwork. In the few years since the first Tempestry was knitted, panels have been created by fiber artists in nearly every US state and more than 20 other countries. Multiple works are displayed together to show change over time. The yarn colors are standardized for each 5-degree temperature range. US temperature data, collected from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather stations, is available on the web. Continue Reading

Chuck Dalldorf shares this photo of the Brickworks Piggy Bank all covered in snow.

San Juan County DEM is hosting a one day no-cost training on continuity and emergency planning for small businesses.

When disasters strike, small and medium sized businesses often endure the worst of the impacts. In the islands, our geographic isolation and economic reliance on a few key industries make the challenge even greater. This no-cost 8 hour training will provide basic information about the risks to the islands, and will offer some simple tools and approaches to help businesses prepare.

Training will be held on March 31st in Friday Harbor from 8:30 – 5:00 (exact location/timing is TBD and will accommodate as best as possible walk-on inter-island ferry passengers)

See this flyer for more details. (PDF)

Click HERE to RSVP for class.

Photo by @CMO9711

UPDATE: For Wednesday, January 15, 2020: School will again be on a two hour delayed start due to road conditions

Buses will be on “Snow Routes”

Please check back in the morning for updates. Updates will be posted on the school district website by 6:30 AM.

San Juan Island School District is 2 Hours Late, with morning buses on snow routes. Headstart is also 2 hours late.

Zoe Louise Kromer – Contributed photo

Former islander and FHHS graduate Zoe Louise Kromer will be offering an eye opening and transformational workshop for all people regardless of gender identity, ages 18+. This workshop will invite participants on a journey toward radical body positivity, self-acceptance and uncovering true potential.

“We are aiming to set new intentions about how we feel, think, and speak to ourselves and others.” Participants will be offered the opportunity to engage in exercises in which they explore internalized beliefs about bodies, beauty ideals and self-worth, often perpetuated by the media and dominant culture.

“Together we will explore how these limiting belief systems can have detrimental impacts on the way we view ourselves as purposeful and worthy. The ultimate goal here is to better serve our world and our communities, which happens when we get out of our own way and step into our own power.”

The workshop will consist of discussion, guided activities, embodied experiences and accessible, gentle movement: Continue Reading