Thanks to John Miller for this great photo… click to enlarge photo.

The Eagle and the Hawk – John Miller photo

The League of Women Voters of the San Juans regret to inform you the talk by former Representative Kris Lytton has been cancelled. The League will still have a program and we are told Felicity’s cupcakes will be there on February 11, 2019 noon to 2:00 pm at the San Juan Island Library Conference Room.  

This is the League’s monthly membership meeting but as always, the public is welcome to attend. 

February welcomes both Spay/Neuter Awareness Month and World Spay Day.  To celebrate The Animal Protection Society of Friday Harbor will host two annual events to educate on the importance of altering and to encourage pet parents to have their pets sterilized.  The first, Pet Pantry Community Pet Food Drive February 1 through 26.  Then on Tuesday, February 26 at the Mullis Senior Center, the twelfth Annual ‘Spay-Ghetti’ Dinner’.

Pet Pantry Community Pet Food Drive: Through February 26 APS-FH invites shelter friends, family and supporters to help keep happy pets in their island homes by donating wet or dry cat and dog food, cash or checks.  For pet food donations, look for one of several collection bins and for cash or check donations please contact Leslie Byron, Director APS-FH, at 360.378.2159.  All Pet Pantry community pet food drive donations will be distributed to island pet families in need.  Collection bin site locations include, APS-FH, Treasure Hounds (next to Cousin Vinnie’s NY Pizza Cafe), Islanders Bank, Key Bank, Islands Veterinary Clinic, Friday Harbor Market Place and Friday Harbor Pet Supply. Businesses and/or groups are encouraged to collect as a pack with a Most-Collected Winner announced at the ‘Spay-Ghetti’ Dinner.  To schedule a pack pickup please contact Kalvin Galligan at 360.298.1330.

“Spay-Ghetti’ Dinner: The Twelfth Annual ‘Spay-Ghetti’ Dinner will be held this year at the Mullis Senior Center on Tuesday February 26 from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm, rain, snow or shine.  Offerings include both meat and vegetarian spaghetti, garlic bread, Caesar Salad, dessert buffet, spirited and non-spirited beverages, music and a raffle for a wonderful work from Cakes by Felicitations. Continue Reading

We are excited to announce that Island Rec is offering another installment of Futsal! Join Coach Van for skill work and games in this fast paced, dynamic indoor soccer game.

Sessions are held Wednesday evenings at the Fair Building;
February 27th – March 27th for ages 8-18.
Ages 8-10 will play 5:30-6:30 pm 
ages 11-14 will play 6:30-7:30 pm
ages 15-18 will play 7:30-8:30 pm

Season passes will be available for purchase at $53. For more information or registration please visit www.islandrec.org, call 360-378-4953, or drop by the office at 580 Guard St.  Monday – Friday 11am-5 pm. 

The San Juan County Economic Development Council (EDC) will offer free training in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning basics this March, sponsored by the Washington State Governor’s Strategic Reserve Fund and by the Washington State Department of Commerce.

The course will be taught at Friday Harbor High School by Kevin McCullough of San Juan Heating.  The program is intended to benefit participating students as well as local companies in need of skilled employees.  The hands-on curriculum has been designed for students and career changers, and will include safety, procedure, and more.  This course is free to residents of San Juan County, but space is limited and requires both registration and a filing fee of $10.

The five-week course will run from 4:00-6:00 pm Tuesdays and Thursdays from March 5 though April 4 of 2019. There is no cost for the training; pre-registration and a $10 filing fee is required.  The deadline to apply is Wednesday, February 27th. 

To apply, please visit the EDC’s website at www.sanjuansedc.org/trades.  For more information call the EDC office at 360-378-2906 or email EDC Trades Coordinator at [email protected].

This program is sponsored by the Washington State Governor’s Strategic Reserve Fund and by the Washington State Department of Commerce, and by San Juan Heating.  The EDC’s Trades Education Initiative is additionally supported by San Juan County, the Town of Friday Harbor, the Port of Friday Harbor, San Juan Island School District, Heritage Bank, and Islanders Bank.

The San Juan County Economic Development Council (EDC) strives to strengthen and diversify the economy of San Juan County.  We believe a strong economy builds a strong community.  

It’s time for this month’s history column from The San Juan Historical Society and Museum…
Click on photos for larger image…

Could it already be ten years since islanders, present and past, came together to celebrate Friday Harbor’s 100th birthday? Although Friday Harbor had been a well-established town since named as the County Seat in 1873, its incorporation date of February 9, 1909 is recognized as its official birthday. And so, The Town of Friday Harbor hosted and coordinated community events galore for its months long Centennial celebration in 2009.

 

Participating organizations included the San Juan Community Theatre, the San Juan Island Grange, San Juan Island Library, San Juan Island Community Foundation, and the San Juan Historical Society and Museum, to name just a few island event hosts. It was a special day when several members of the Lummi Nation paddled over in canoes for a Centennial recognition ceremony overlooking the harbor.

 

Pictured here are some of our favorite photos taken during the Centennial events. The photo of three women and the one of three men were both taken at an event called “Elders Speak” in which local historians interviewed some of the island’s most senior elders, in a casual conversation on the sunny deck of the Lakedale Resort lodge.

The fifteen women gathered in the last photo were special guests at a luncheon at Vinny’s Ristorante, hosted by Soroptimist International of Friday Harbor. Each of these special guests represented their island pioneer families. In addition to the family names you see with this photo, other family names represented included Boyce, Egeland, Firth, Guard, Kirk, Mullis, and Rosler — among many others (Readers, please add more family names in the comments, if you wish). Guests were delighted to see photographs of their mothers, grandmothers, and other pioneer relatives as featured in the luncheon table centerpieces.

For more on the history of Friday Harbor, read Images of America: Friday Harbor, authored by Mike and Julia Vouri and the San Juan Historical Society and Museum. It was published for the Centennial year and available at the Library, Historical Museum, and local bookstores.

Happy Birthday, Friday Harbor — 110 years young!

Have you or your business ever considered participating in the San Juan County Fair? Reach residents from all over San Juan County and tourists at the largest event in the County—become a vendor!

If you are interested in becoming a vendor, please consider applying today. The 2019 Application is ONLINE! Please visit the Vendor Page on the Fair website to see the updated vendor booth map and APPLY TODAY! 

This year’s Fair dates are August 14-17, and the Fair theme is “A Wheel in Time: Cultivating Roots”. Follow the Fair on Instagram and Facebook @sjcfair

Recycle Electronics February (was going to be on the 12th now rescheduled to 19th due to snow) 10:00 am – 3:00 pm in the open lot next to the Mullis Fire Station.

Acceptable items include: Desktops, Laptops, Tablets, Monitors, Printers, Televisions (LCD OR CRD), DVD Players and DVR’s, Computer cables.

No keyboards or mice.

Items must be checked through attendants. NO UNATTENDED DROP OFFS.

More info:  1PC.com  (360) 815 2200 and for in town pickup of greater than 5 systems.

Here’s a Valentine’s Day Weekend invitation from San Juan Bistow…

Valentine’s Day Weekend – Contributed photo

“Love the One You’re With” on Saturday, February 16th at 6:00 pm.

Celebrate Valentine’s Day weekend at our next San Juan Supper Club! Share our 5 course menu with perfectly paired wines with that perfect person!
($60, optional wine courses additional). at our next San Juan Supper Club!

To reserve your table, please call or email us at: 360-370-5115
[email protected]

Today Tibetans celebrate the Tibetan New Year. It is the year of the female earth pig, an auspicious sign favoring health and prosperity!

Joining together once again Cynthia’s Bistro at 65 Nichols Street and Friday Harbor Film Festival…

Please join us on Thursday, February 7 at 5:00 pm for an evening of an informative movie from the archives of Friday Harbor Film Festival and a creative dinner by Cynthia’s complimenting the film. As you learn about the magic of Fungi, you will be served a great assortment of mushroom specialties. 

The Movie: The Kingdom: How Fungi Made Our World, Director: Annamaria Talas, Best Film Award, 2018 SCINEMA International Science Film Festival.

Since the dawn of life, fungi have been at the very heart of land-based evolution.  Neither plants nor animals, fungi are a kingdom in their own right.  Their spore-based life form literally ate rocks to kick-start our planet’s ecology, and fungi continue to play a significant role in every breath we take.

Dinner: Have a glass of wine or alternate beverage to start while you enjoy the following…

tasty mushroom – Contributed photo

Appetizer of Mushroom & Tarragon Cream Bruschetta
Crudites  Assortment
Choose from — Please give us your choice when you RSVP
     Chicken Marsala with Mushrooms
     Steak with Sauteed Mushrooms & Onions
     Vegetarian Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms
     (vegan if ordered prior)
Served with sides to compliment the entree
Dessert  – Chocolate Truffles (of Course)
Additional Wine or Beverages available upon request for an added charge. 

$60 per person includes the following – (gratuity inclusive)

RESERVE YOUR SPACE NOW  – LIMITED SEATING.        
Call – 360-317-7178 or email – [email protected]

Roche Harbor Salmon Derby Winners! – Contributed photo

A total of $28,000 in cash prizes were awarded to winners of this year’s 16th annual Roche Harbor Salmon Classic Salmon Derby. Paul McAbee from Bellingham came in at first place, Michael Porter from Issaquah in second place, Connor Ryan from Mount Vernon in third place, Paul McAbee again in fourth place and Bill Shaw from Friday Harbor in fifth place. 

CT scan of 9 different species of sea stars from the San Juan Islands, WA. – Contributed photo

Mo Turner, Ph.D. candidate in Biology at the University of Washington and Cassandra Donatelli Ph.D. candidate at Tufts University are collaborating scanning sea stars. In January they presented their preliminary findings to the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology. The following by Mo Turner, with Cassandra Donatelli is excerpted from February’s Tide Bite, the newsletter of the University of Washington Friday Harbor Laboratories.

Cassandra Donatelli and Mo Turner present findings – Contributed photo

“For Cassandra and I, this collaboration was born almost by accident.  I have been studying the ecology of sea stars for several years in the Pacific Northwest, from observing population dynamics of stars during the onset of Sea Star Wasting Disease (SSWD) to studying the diet and feeding behavior of our iconic purple and orange intertidal ochre star, Pisaster ochraceus.  Cassandra has been doing research at FHL with the Summers Lab for several years, looking at the morphology of anguilliform (eel-like) fishes and how they swim.  This involves spending much of her time in the back rooms of Lab 8 running the micro-CT scanner (Figure 1) to look at 3D renderings of the skeletal structures of her fish. Fortunately, the Karel F Liem Fish Biology Endowment supports running the machine at no costs to the scientists using it, which led to Cassandra offering to scan one of my “bugs” (as she calls just about any critter that’s not a fish).” 

To read the entire article link to… Tide Bite

Eleanor is this week’s Pet of the Week – Contributed Photo

Well, if you must know, my new year’s diet has failed. I shall now concentrate on growing taller.  Please don’t suggest exercise.  I’m not in any way interested in “feeling the burn”.  My favorite exercise is a cross between a lunge and a crunch.  It’s called, “Lunch”.  If you are of a like mind, we should meet.  My name is Eleanor, and I’m relaxing here at the animal shelter, waiting to meet you.

Animal Protection Society of Friday Harbor
994 Cattle Point Road
(360) 378-2158

Friday Harbor Film Festival’s Best of the Fest Presents Big Sonia, Grand Jury Prize winner for Best Documentary, Barcelona International Film Festival, 2017. The film will be shown on Tuesday, February 5, at 7 pm at the San Juan Island Grange, 152 First Street North. Admission is FREE to Film Society members otherwise a suggested $10 per person. 93 minutes

In a defunct shopping mall in Kansas, 91-year-old Sonia Warshawski runs the only remaining store, a tailor shop that she has owned for more than 30 years. When Sonia — a great-grandmother, businesswoman, and Holocaust survivor — is served an eviction notice, the specter of impending retirement prompts her to revisit her harrowing past as a refugee and witness to genocide.  For a woman who admits that she stays busy “to keep the dark parts away,” dredging up long-forgotten fears motivates her to dedicate herself to speaking publicly about her struggles to come to terms with her experiences.

Big Sonia explores what it means to be a survivor. A poignant story of generational trauma and healing, the film offers a laugh-out-loud-funny portrait of the power of love to triumph over bigotry, and the power of truth-telling to heal us all.  Will you let your trauma define you? Or will your past make you stronger?

The Orcas Island Lit Fest today announced its 2019 featured artists. Highlights include best-selling memoirist Therese Marie Mailhot, Nebula Award winner Nicola Griffith, National Book Award winner Judith Thurman and American Book Award winner Mat Johnson.

Other celebrated artists headlining this spring’s festival include critically acclaimed authors Eric Puchner and Tom Barbash, Pushcart-winning poet Rick Barot, and award-winning screenwriter and YA author Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith.

The festival, slated for April 5-7, 2019, will start off Friday night with a Lit Walk held at multiple venues around the village of Eastsound, followed by two days of panels, readings and a book fair hosted at the Orcas Island Center for the Performing Arts. The OILF Kids’ Fest, a free community-focused event, will take place Saturday morning at the Orcas Island Library.

“We are truly honored to host such a prestigious lineup in our second year,” said Jule Treneer, president and co-founder of the Orcas Island Lit Fest. “Festival attendees can look forward to a weekend full of wonderful readings, engaging panels and fascinating conversations.”

About the Orcas Island Lit Fest: The Orcas Island Lit Fest (OILF) is an annual celebration of literature and community held in an inspiringly beautiful place. OILF brings together renowned authors and avid readers, visitors and locals, for three days of panels, readings and events that highlight the vibrant literary culture of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Continue Reading