Merri Ann Simonson is back with another in her island lifestyle tips video series. This time it’s about going to Splash in Victoria.

Diane Martindale shares this announcement…

On Friday, August 19, Congressman Rick Larsen will be at the San Juan County Fair on San Juan Island to meet islanders. He will be there from 1:00 – 3:30 pm and is happy to discuss issues in the county and the status of bills in Congress.

Please come and meet him at the San Juan County Democrats booth between the food court and the 4-H Building.

Debbi Fincher of the SJI Prevention Coalition shares this heads-up with you…

Hi FLASH MOB Fans, Dancers and/or Supporters!

Our Rock Solid Youth of the San Juan Island Prevention Coalition have done it again… A Flash Mob at the Fair! DANCE 4 HEALTH! We welcome you to join in, share the link with friends and learn the dance moves… They are very simple and match up with the music, they did more of a “History of Dance” idea, so these are snippets of very familiar songs, and ideally, we’ll have the whole crowd up on their feet joining in, too! Hope to see you there!

• PLACE: Fashion Trashion Show at the Fair
• DATE: Saturday, August 20th
• TIME: After the 6pm show…Don’t leave before the show is over:)
• WHY: Promoting Fun, Family Activities to keep our youth engaged in healthy choices!
• WHO: Everyone is welcome to DANCE 4 Health!

Thank you to Madrona Jameson, Zach Fincher, Luke Fincher and Joshua May for pulling this together! Thanks to Francie Hansen, Fashion Trashion Coordinator, for giving our youth this opportunity to have fun and lead their community in a healthy activity! LET’S DANCE!

See you at the Fair!
Debbi

Pacific Whale Watch Association and Ace Hardware stores in Anacortes and Friday Harbor, WA Launch “Orca Friendly Products”

Orca Friendly Products label.

Ace is the place for… saving orcas!

In a unique partnership, Ace Hardware is partnering with the Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA) in helping its customers find “Orca Friendly” products in its stores.

The pilot project will begin in Ace stores in Anacortes and Friday Harbor – Orca Country – and include in-store signs, shelf tags and labels identifying certain products as not harmful to marine wildlife, and “Pacific Whale Watch Association Approved.”

Captain Hobbes Buchanan – Contributed photo

The idea of Orca Friendly Products labeling surfaced first with Capt. Hobbes Buchanan (below). owner of San Juan Island Whale & Wildlife Tours and Black Fish Tours of Friday Harbor.

“It just seemed like a great way to help the whales. As whale watch operators we work every day to reduce our footprint on the water, and we all have to do that from shore,” explained Capt. Buchanan.

“Gandhi used to say, ‘be the change you wish to see in the world,’ and people get it. We know there’s a big constituency of consumers especially here in the Pacific Northwest who want more information to inform their buying behavior, to make sure what they’re putting on their lawn or using to clean up around their house isn’t harming our endangered Southern Resident orcas – or any creature out there. Now, in these Ace stories in Anacortes and Friday Harbor, they can begin by looking for that Orca Friendly label.”

“Who doesn’t want to be Orca Friendly? We’re thrilled that Ace Hardware has stepped up like this to launch this pilot project with the Pacific Whale Watch Association,” explains Michael Harris, Executive Director of PWWA, representing 38 companies operating out of 21 ports in BC and Washington. “We believe this test run in these Ace stores in Anacortes and Friday Harbor will ultimately spread across North America, and we think the world.”

One example of Orca-Friendly product signage – Contributed photo

“The Dolphin-Safe Tuna campaign also started out as a great idea by our friends at Earth Island Institute in Berkeley, and that grew to what Time magazine listed as one of the top 100 environmental campaigns in history.” Harris continues. “We feel this Orca Friendly Products partnership with Ace could become as prolific and important as Dolphin-Safe – Orcas live in every ocean in the world, humans on every continent. What we do on shore makes a huge difference in their lives.” Continue Reading

Roving SJ Update photographer Aaron Shepard was at the fair with camera in hand and has these photos to share from Day One at the Fair. Thank you Aaron! Continue Reading

It’s time once again for Chamber Chat, this one is for August 2016 and was written by Lauren Cohen, Co-owner of San Juan Canvas, LLC and Chamber of Commerce Board President…

It is hard to believe that we are already in the second half of August and autumn is right around the corner. The Chamber Board of Directors, Executive Director and Staff all hope that it has been a prosperous season for local business and that the beautiful weather keeps visitors coming to the island well into the fall.

Late summer tends to be a time when businesses and residents alike seem to tire of the stream of tourists coming to our island but instead it ought to be a time of pride. We should all be proud that we are able to reside in a place so incredible that visitors want to come here in great numbers and hopefully return again and again. Proud that we have a Town, County, Visitor’s Bureau and Chambers of Commerce that work hard to attract and serve guests from near and far. Proud that we have a vibrant business community to offer every imaginable service our visitors could need and that those providing excellent customer service keep people returning and spreading the word on their positive experience.

Our Island residents greatly contribute to our ever important tourism industry by their kind interactions with visitors. When a guest to our community can talk about the nice people they met on San Juan Island, our residents become an important partner in this economy on which we all rely. We will be experiencing the quiet of winter before we know it so show your community pride by welcoming all for as long as they will stay.

New Members
We welcome new member Proper Picnic out of Mukilteo to the Chamber of Commerce. Kelly Colman provides picnic lunches for your day excursions. www.properpicnic.com  Continue Reading

Get Your Washington State Boater’s Education Card

Next Class: Sept. 13, 20, 27, Oct. 4,11, 18 & 25
7:00 -9:00 PM at Skagit Valley College, F.H.

Comprehensive Boating Information Manual:
Materials: $45.00 Couples can share.
50% student discount Instruction: FREE by Friday Harbor Power Squadron

• Boat Handling
• Aids to Navigation
• Anchoring
• Emergencies
• Required Equipment
• How to read a Chart
• & much more.

Marine Insurance Discounts

To register, call 378-3288  or email ein [@] rockisland.com.

Web Site:
www.fridayharborpowersquadron.com
or: www.nwboatertraining.com

The San Juan Islands Museum of Art (SJIMA) is proud to present Hydrographs and For All We Know, concurrently running exhibitions by two innovative artists and printmakers, Nicole Pietrantoni and Dianne Kornberg.

The exhibitions will open to the public on September 17, 2016 and will end on November 28, 2016.

Art as a Voice Events:

Nicole Pietrantoni – Fractured Landscapes, Fraught Aesthetics
San Juan Island – SJIMA, September 17 at 10am.
Gallery Talk and book signing to follow.

Dianne Kornberg – Crossing Borders
San Juan Island – SJIMA, October 13 at 7pm. Gallery Talk and book signing to follow.
Lopez – Lopez Library, October 7 at 7pm. Book signing to follow.
Orcas – Episcopal Parish Hall, 242 Main Street, East Sound, October 14 at 7pm. Book signing to follow.

Both women utilize printmaking to question what most take for granted, adding an artistic voice to forms otherwise expressed in purely scientific terms. Continue Reading

Due to the high heat and low fuel moisture levels, all of San Juan County will be at the EXTREME fire hazard level. Therefore, no fires, including recreational fires, are allowed at this time.

Robert Low,
SJC Fire Marshal

Aladdin starts Thursday – Contributed photo

San Juan Community Theatre’s summer musical theater camp finishes up this week with two spectacular evenings of Disney’s Aladdin Jr. THIS Thursday and Friday at 7:00 pm in the Whittier.

Featuring some 38 island youth, ages 7-16, the musical is based on the iconic animated film and includes many of those favorite tunes you’ll be humming long after the curtain closes.

Director Penelope Haskew and her team of dedicated parents and island theater professionals have been working with the students for the past three weeks in the camp that has featured workshops, set building and painting and rehearsals for the fully-staged production.

Show tickets are just $5 a person and available online at www.sjctheatre.org  The box office is closed this week due to the San Juan County Fair;  tickets will be available at the box office one hour before each show, but due to the popularity of these productions, pre-purchasing online is suggested.  

Molly (Miriam Rose) Madden was born March 10, 1929, the fourth child of Raymond Daniel Madden and Gladys Gertrude Guard. Her father Raymond was born on San Juan Island in 1882. Molly’s mother Gladys was one year old when Gladys moved with her parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents from Kansas, via Port Townsend, to San Juan Island in 1888. The Madden homestead was in San Juan Valley, and the Guard farm was in Beaverton Valley.

Molly was raised in the Madden home on Pear Point Road, which her father had built by the Jensen brothers of Jensen shipyard in 1930. She often told stories of chasing after the turkeys on the farm to catch one for Thanksgiving dinner. After selling the Pear Point home and farm, Molly and her mother moved to the beach front home on Turn Point that Gladys had built in 1956, which remains an island refuge for descendants of the Madden family.

After her mother’s death in 1978, Molly devoted herself to running a daycare from her home. Many island children spent their early years under Molly’s protective eye. Molly lived many long and happy years at the house on Madden Point, watching the sea and the seasons, hosting the extended family members who made their pilgrimages to the island every summer. She was known for her cookies — her freezer was stuffed with them. Friends and family were treated to them upon walking through the door; lucky ones were sent home with a Tupperware container, chock full, fresh from the freezer. Continue Reading

International Homeless Animals Day is Saturday, August 20

Help the Animal Protection Society of Friday Harbor shed some light on the tragedy of pet overpopulation.

Visit the APS-FH Booth at the fair and purchase a flameless candle in memory or in honor of your rescued and beloved pets and join a candlelight vigil – at the Fair, Saturday evening at 8:30 (Or leave candles with APS volunteers and your loved ones will be represented during the vigil.)

Candles: $3 each

Black Fish Bistro & Martini Bar officially opens Wednesday, August 17, and will feature farm-to-fork and tide-to-table Pacific Northwest cuisine with a rustic French flair.

The Bistro seats approximately 40 customers upstairs and downstairs, will be open from 5:00-11:00 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, and is located in the alley off First Street, opposite The Bean. There are plans to open for lunch as soon as more staff are hired.

Menu items include local seafood (oysters, clams, mussels, crab, shrimp, salmon, etc.), warm and cold bistro salads, gourmet sandwiches, steak pomme frites, a dessert selection, and more. Local, featured farms include Blue Moon Produce, Jones Family Farms, Mama Bird Farm, Imagine Organics Farm, and others in the future.

The upstairs craft cocktail bar will serve martinis ranging from classic to sweet, as well as old and new world wines, and local and regional beer, cider and spirits.

The restaurant and culinary “starting team” includes owner Hobbes Buchanan, General Manager Anna Lisa Lindstrum, Executive Chef Joran Bouwman, Chef Alphonsine Haslet-Phillips, Sous Chef Desi Melendez, and Bartender Inness Davis.

“My dream has finally become reality,” said Buchanan who was involved in the restaurant industry in San Francisco before moving to the San Juans in 2001. “I’ve been wanting to open a restaurant in the Islands for many years, to continue to help put Friday Harbor on the map as a foodie destination. My chef and restaurant inspirations have been Patricia Unterman and Jacquelyn (J.J.) Buchanan, Hayes Street Grill, San Francisco; Alice Waters, Chez Panisse, Berkley; Cindy Pawlcyn, Mustards Grill, Napa; The Long Melford Swan in Suffolk, England; and locals John and Joni Trumbull of Roses Bakery Cafe in Eastsound. Our new culinary team looks forward to serving our Islanders and guests delicious food and drinks!”

Find more info at www.facebook.com/blackfishbistro.

Today is the day! Get your entries in to the Fair!

Jessica’s Wedding – Contributed photo

Hi San Juan Update,

I wanted to share the news that our local community is going to be featured on a TV show.

Last summer, I was contacted through my blog (http://jessicaoldwyn.blogspot.com) by Wayfarer Entertainment. They were producing “a documentary series about courageous people facing one of life’s most difficult challenges, a terminal illness,” and my story resonated with them.

As a brain tumor blogger, I have shared my story in the hopes that I can be a resource, and advocate for patients and caregivers. The day I was diagnosed, my husband proposed, but after a cancer diagnosis, the planning, organization, and mostly the finances, a wedding was too overwhelming. So, when Wayfarer offered to help me surprise my husband with an official wedding, I couldn’t turn it down.

Wayfarer entertainment reached out to the San Juan Island community to throw a last minute surprise wedding. I would especially like to thank these donors who made it possible: Vinny’s Ristorante, Archipelago Trio, Flagship Rentals, Susie Wampler, Archie Brooks, Daniel VanHamerseld, Libbey & Nigel Oswald. For anyone who I accidentally omitted, I apologize, and am deeply grateful for your contribution!

Even though the production company got the ball rolling, the efforts of my community is what made this wedding happen. I am humbled, and grateful every day that I was able to be raised in such a loving island family.

Thank you,

Jessica

My Last Days, was filmed for a three night series following six different people who have been diagnosed with a “terminal” illness, it airs August 17, 18, 19 on The CW. Please check your local listings for times.

Romeo and Juliet – John Sinclair photo

This weekend is your last chance to see Romeo and Juliet by Island Stage Left. We hear that people are loving this show.

Final performances are Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 8:00 pm out at 1062 Wold Road, Friday Harbor.

Chairs are provided but you might want to bring a blanket and be sure to dress warmly. Free admission. Suggested donation: $20.00.