Islanders: prepare for an influx of athletes at the end of January.
What used to be known as the “Fat Ass Race” on Orcas Island is happening again – but over two separate weekends.
This year there will be a 25k Race on Saturday, Jan. 28 followed by a 50k Race on Saturday, Feb. 4.
To all affected by the local real estate and construction industries: the real estate market is improving.
We at Coldwell Banker San Juan Islands will end up 2011 a bit ahead of 2010, which was ahead of 2009 by 15 percent. Further, the 4th quarter of 2011 has been very active in both showings and sales. Many of the sales that are taking place will actually close in the first quarter of 2012 so we should be starting off the New Year comparatively well. We are also seeing increases in people making plans to come up and look at property next spring and summer.
The new edition of “1,000 Places To See Before You Die” lists the San Juan Islands as place number 899.
The Friday Harbor House and the Whale Museum made the list at number 900.
Contributed by Cathleen McCluskey of Organic Seed Alliance.
Organic Seed Alliance’s seed saving workshop for gardeners and farmers took place on a frosty fall morning last Monday at Skagit Valley Community College/WSU Extension on San Juan Island. The workshop was designed for folks of all seed saving knowledge levels, along with other organizationally created courses, is presented by OSA staff throughout the year. OSA executive director Micaela Colley presented this basic Seed Saving Workshop 101 course to a captive participatory audience of more than 20 San Juan County farmers and gardeners.
The holidays bring a season to buy gifts and travel. Unfortunately, those activities also pose a risk to our financial security as identity fraud and theft have become commonplace. Here a few tips to avoid financial fraud.
Last year American Express designated Nov. 26 “Small Business Saturday,” a day to celebrate and support local, independently-owned small businesses that create jobs, boost the economy and invigorate neighborhoods across the country.
The San Juan County Economic Development Council will present a free half-day workshop for small businesses and entrepreneurs on Monday, Nov. 21, 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Eastsound fire hall.
National Geographic.com recently featured Orcas Island as an "adventure town," with tips for visitors on where to play, eat and sleep.
It's a quiet weekday morning at the Island Skillet. A smattering of diners leisurely indulge in the eatery's “all-American” fare: shrimp and avocado omelets, eggs benedict, breakfast burritos.
Recognizing the Sounder, an islander calls over: “The huevos rancheros are to die for.”
Word of mouth is quickly spreading about the new restaurant that opened its doors last week in the Eastsound space behind Teezer's a spot last occupied by the Italian Luna's.
The San Juan Islands have been featured in Destinations Travel magazine's November green edition. The story is simply titled, "Beautiful San Juan Islands."
The San Juan Island Visitors' Bureau supplied the colorful scenic photography.
Orcas Islander Chantrelle Hildreth's book, "Once In A Lifetime Dog, My Borisangel" has been selected as a Award Winning Finalist in the category, Non-Fiction Narrative for the USA Book News, "Best Books 2011" Book Awards.
The Lopez Island Family Resource Center is offering “Starting and Growing a Great Business” on Oct. 29 and 30 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Lopez Library.
Tomatoes are still in season, just barely, and winter vegetables for keeping are coming on strong.
The Orcas Island Farmers Market heads inside to the Odd Fellows Hall for the entire month of October. Fall hours are 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The San Juan Islands have been selected by "Where to Retire," a magazine geared toward helping people with retirement relocation decisions, as a top retirement destination and will be profiled in the feature story “8 Treasured Islands for Serene Living.”
Lisa Nakamura shared her recipe for pumpkin soup with King5 audiences on Sept. 27.
San Juan County's homes are the most expensive in the state, and rank 39th in the nation for costliness, according to a new article by the Puget Sound Business Journal.
Eastsound Tex-Mex eatery Chimayo's was featured in the Seattle Weekly's food section in a story titled, "Chimayo's Orcas Noodling: A Tex-Mex fave slowly packs up and moves to Italy."
MSNBC featured Orcas Island's hamlet of Doe Bay in its Budget Travel section today, under the heading, "12 remarkable places you've never heard of."
The Seattle Times listed the upcoming Islands' Farm Festival in its Travel section on Sept. 16.
There will be a free workshop “Fall in Place for Winter: Preparing Horse and Livestock Properties for the Rainy Season” with Alayne Blickle on San Juan Island on Sept. 25 at the Blazing Tree Ranch.
After two years of providing Italian food, local art and music to the community, Luna’s Restaurant will be closing after Saturday, Sept. 24.
To kids heading back to school, the summer is almost over, but the Orcas Island Farmers’ Market is very much at its peak. Farm stalls are bursting at the seams with produce. Chard, squash, greens, corn, onions, potatoes, garlic, cucumbers for your pickling pleasure, and - thank goodness – FINALLY, nice ripe red tomatoes!
The San Juan County Economic Development Council will present a free half-day workshop for small businesses and entrepreneurs on San Juan Island, on Monday, Sept. 19, from 8:30 a.m. until noon. The course will be presented by James McCafferty, director of the Skagit/San Juan Islands Small Business Development Center and a management consultant for over 10 years.
Several San Juan County destinations were featured in the Aug. 29 issue of Woman's World weekly magazine.
"This is the third time in six years that we’ve been able to get the San Juan Islands featured as a Woman’s World recommended travel destination," said San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau Public Relations Manager Robin Jacobson.
Organically grown, crushed by purple-stained, juicy dancing feet and slowly fermented to perfection, their blackberry and raspberry wines are a taste of Lopez Island’s unique character.
Then there’s crisp, fruity Madeleine Angevine, the spicy dry Siegerrebe and a merriment between the two: Wave Crest White.
Orcas Island, Lopez has come to town.
Orcas Island Taxi is now up and running and servicing the entire community 24 hours a day.
An Orcas Island husband and wife team has opened a fresh food and beverage machine at the airport.
Agave Restaurant and Tequila Bar has opened in Eastsound inside the building that used to house Ecotopian. Owner Kathy Lunde has painted the walls a light terra-cotta color, put up colorful paintings by Sadie Bailey, and opened the patio for outdoor seating.
Orcas Island business All Islands Home Inspections was one of only 40 Washington State University grant recipients statewide.
Photographer and 13-year Orcas resident Martin Taylor has launched a new business, Orcas Digerati.
The information services company will offer company and personal Web sites.
The Orcas Island firm captained by John Ashenhurst, Chris Thomerson and David Sarver has announced the publication of its fifth book, "The eNotated Metamorphosis.”
Jens Kruse, part-time Orcas resident and Professor of German at Wellesley, served as the book’s eNotator.
When practice equals gelato, it’s hard to put down that violin.Matthew Olson,…
The San Juan County Economic Development Council (EDC) and the Northwest Workforce Council are pleased to announce that the Weatherization Tech Training program has enabled nine San Juan County builders to expand their knowledge base to include retrofitting and weatherization techniques.
He is a man who knows his trees.Bathan Shaner has nearly a…
Ama Tara Center is once again offering its Barefoot Doctor Community Acupuncture…
Original owner Woody DeWoody has been away from Portofino’s Pizzeria for a little over two years.
He says he’s been fishing.
This morning he reopened the pizzeria and dished up a few pizzas to customers excited to see him back spinning dough, loading on the toppings and tossing ‘em into the oven.
“I think it’s fantastic,” said Kathy Rosa, a regular Portofino’s customer. “Every town needs a pizza joint. I went there today and it was absolutely wonderful.”
After traveling around the world and sailing all of the seven seas, US Navy veterans Jay and Deanna Brant say they are ready to release a bit of their ‘inner pirates.’
On Saturday, May 21 they’ll open their new hot dog business, ‘Ye Scurvy Dogs’ in Lopez Village. Their pirate theme is evident, from their Jolly Roger style logo with a skull and hot dogs instead of bones, to their motto, ‘The Heartiest Hot Dogs In The Salish Sea.'
A Bellingham-based cable company has negotiated with the county to restore cable television and broadband internet service to Orcas Island. Mt. Baker Cable, owned by Dan Adams, has restored service to much of the island and is hoping to expand in the future.
“We were asked to take care of some abandoned cables by the Deer Harbor fire department,” said Adams. “We were going to tear the old cable system down, but then I started researching, and I approached OPALCO to find out more.”
New Eastsound Electronics has sprung open for business and is ready to keep islanders streaming, surfing, texting and all-around wired to their hearts’ content.
The shop is owned by former Radio Shack manager Kyle Koepcke, who said the personal electronics store will carry many of the items previously offered by the now defunct store.
Nanae and Richard Fralick just couldn’t let the historic old inn and beloved community café fade into the annals of eateries past.
So when the Kingfish Inn and Westsound Café came up for sale in Dec. 2010, they bought it.
“We love the building very much,” said Nanae. “One of the reasons we got into this is we were sitting here [at the café] eating and we felt so sad it was going to go away. It was our favorite place to eat.”
