Everson-Nooksack News June 2023

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Lynden Tribune | Ferndale Record | Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Summer Festival returns July 7-8

By Elisa Claassen For the Tribune

EVERSON — Returning

Friday, July 7 and Saturday, July 8, the annual EversonNooksack Summer Festival offers something for all ages from children to seniors.

This year’s grand marshal is actually not one person but one team, the Nooksack Valley girls basketball team, which took the number one spot in the state tournament this year.

Led by head coach Shane Wichers and assistants Erika VanDyken and Dennis Anderson, the team is comprised of Lainey Kimball, Kate Shintaffer, Payton Bartl, Hallie Kamphouse, Devin Coppinger, Tana Hoekema, Taylor Lentz, Kaylee Anderson, Ella Perry and Grace DeHoog.

Kamphouse, Lentz and Perry graduated in June.

Nooksack Valley will have a solid group of players returning for next season.

Kicking off the fun is visiting vendors in the downtown Everson City Park from 2-9 p.m. Friday. A selection of more than 10 food vendors, approximately 25 crafters, and local businesses and nonprofits will have booths. Bobbi Nieuwsma is organizing the booths, call 360-880-0592 for more information.

Everson Lions Club will host a barbecue with a choice of salmon or pork, with all the fixings, from 5-7:30 p.m. Friday. Children in grades K-8 will play 3-on-3 basketball from 4-8 p.m. Friday.

Friends of the Everson Library will host a book sale from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

In addition to thousands of books, the sale has DVDs,

audio books and antique books. The room, behind Peoples Bank, is accessed in the alley by Valley Taphouse. All proceeds go to the Friends of the Everson Library, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization that supports the local Everson McBeath Community Library.

The parade starts promptly at 11 a.m. on Saturday. Judging is from 10-10:30 a.m. Awards will

be announced during the parade. Parade volunteers will assist at the Nooksack Valley Middle School. Entry forms, available online, can be completed and sent via email to tjackerman@hotmail.com or dropped off at Everson City Hall.

Registration for the 3-on-3 basketball tournament ends June 30 and is open to both boys and girls. Registration is $80 for grades K-2 and $100 for

grades 3-8. Friday games start at 4 p.m. Saturday games start at 8 a.m. All games will be at Everson City Park behind City Hall. Registration can be paid online via Venmo and a QR code available at the city’s website. Erika VanDyken, 360-815-5368, is the organizer. Although the festival is a two-day event, an allday softball tournament will be held Sunday, July 9 at Riverside Park.

Returning Friday, July 7 and Saturday, July 8, the annual Everson-Nooksack Summer Festival offers something for all ages from children to seniors. (Bill Helm/Lynden Tribune)

Read books, plants trees with Summer Reading Program

Whatcom County Library System

NOOKSACK VALLEY Summer reading has returned to the Whatcom County Library System, and it isn’t just for children.

According to WCLS Community Relations Manager Mary Vermillion, this year’s theme is partnered with Whatcom Educational Credit Union (WECU), Whatcom County Library Foundation and Whatcom Million Trees Project to encourage readers to achieve a shared goal of planting 200 trees in Whatcom County.

Although WCLS announced this year’s program in May, Summer Reading kick-off parties are June 26 through July 1.

For anyone interested in learning more or participating, summer reading cards are available at the branches or can be downloaded at wcls.org/summer-reading.

The cards are available in English, Punjabi, Russian and Spanish and provide activities for all ages to complete. Each activity equals one leaf.

For every 25 leaves earned, a tree will be planted, up to a total of 200 trees.

“I hope community members will join us this summer as we reach together for the trees and one another,” said Sarah Lavender, youth services librarian at the Ferndale Library and leader of the WCLS summer reading program.

“Summer reading is all about the joy of reading. The true reward is that adults and young people will discover, or be reminded, that reading and stories are powerful. They help us grow as individuals and connect as a community.”

WCLS serves Whatcom County residents outside the city limits of Bellingham through online resources, wcls.org, and its 10 branches: Blaine, Deming, Everson, Ferndale, Island (Lummi Island), North Fork (Kendall), Point Roberts, South Whatcom (Sudden Valley) and Sumas.

WCLS also has a bookmobile that serves Glenhaven, Birch Bay, Wickersham and Lake Samish, and a library express at Northwest Drive.

Although WCLS announced this year’s program in May, Summer Reading kick-off parties are June 26 through July 1. For more, visit https://www. wcls.org/summerreading.

(Bill Helm/Lynden Tribune)

Nooksack Valley celebrates graduation with car parade

On June 10, Nooksack Valley High School seniors participated in the annual post-graduation car parade along Main Street. The tradition started during the COVID-19 pandemic when the parade was the only form of graduation the then-seniors were allowed. Seniors would loop around town to pick up their diplomas. Now that in-person graduation has resumed, the graduates still enjoy decorating their cars and hopping on the back of pickups or waving out car windows at their family and friends.

(Elisa Claassen for the Tribune)

Senior Center celebrates 50 years

Whatcom County dedicated building’s renovation in 1973

By Elisa Claassen

For the Tribune

EVERSON — As reported in a Nov. 9, 1973, press release, Whatcom County officially opened a newly renovated activity center in Everson City Hall at dedication ceremonies overseen by County Commissioner C.J. Johnson.

According to documents found in a scrapbook for the seniors, the group may have started meeting in 1971 but was not formally recognized until 1973.

In 1973, Ken Hertz was Whatcom County Parks director. He noted in the release that the facility is the first senior center to be improved under the County Park Board’s Senior Citizen Center Program.

Costs of the renovation were met with funds from the previous parks bond issue, revenue sharing funds from the County Commissioners –under the previous governance system – and gen-

The cover of a program from the 1973 opening ceremony for the Everson Senior Center shows the remodeling done at the time. Agreements were also made to ensure a place for the seniors to go on a twice-a-week basis for at least 25 years. (Courtesy of Everson Senior Center)

eral fund money from the city of Everson. Burglar Construction of Ferndale was the general contractor on the $23,600 project. The architect was Henry Klein & Associates of Mount Vernon.

In the dedication program, Rev. David Mann of Everson Presbyterian Church gave the invocation, followed by a welcome by William J. Dittrich of the Whatcom County Park Board, William “Bill” Fritzberg of the Everson Senior Citizens group, and a benediction by Rev. Bud Davis.

Under the agreement in 1973, senior citizens would be able to use a portion of City Hall for at least two days a week for the next 25 years.

Similar agreements, according to the release, were being negotiated with Lynden, Blaine and Ferndale for senior facilities.

A November 1973 Lynden Tribune story reported that flu shots were available. Reports also include a monthly potluck, and an 18-member band. A guest, Mike Spellman, spoke to the group about the Puget Power and Light plant in Skagit County.

A January 1977 Lynden Tribune story reported that early senior attendees included Gerrit VanWeerdhuizen, Ellen Sealund, Irene Sprague, Leona Fecher, Jim Eckler, Ella Westergreen, Lulu

VanderYacht, Alice Nation, Alma Ostrum and Evelyn Fritzberg. Activities at the time were listed as learning macramé, potlucks, valentine crafts, playing pool, Bible study, bingo, and a talk about windows and veterans’ pensions.

Other than during and since the COVID–19 pandemic, the center still hosts seniors but now hosts morning activities and lunches on Mondays, according to Sherryl Hazenberg, the center’s only employee.

Everson is one of eight senior centers within the Whatcom County Parks and Recreation system now.

According to the Whatcom County Parks website, whatcomcounty.us, the center is for anyone 50 or older for good company and activities, such as Wii bowling, puzzles, pool, cards, or just plain good conversation.

Hours are 9:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. Mondays. Meal pick-up is from 11:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. Frozen and hot meal options are available.

On-site hot meals are served at noon in coordination with the Parks Department and Whatcom County Council on Aging.

Hazenberg said she is looking for community members to provide photos and memories of the past 50 years in anticipation of an open house later in the year.

The Everson Senior Center maintains a scrapbook of its 50-year history. This includes old news clips of when Everson seniors would meet for potlucks before the current facility was available. (Courtesy of Everson Senior Center)

Nooksack Valley senior overcomes odds

With helper dog, Haley Noblitt receives diploma

By Elisa Claassen For the Tribune

NOOKSACK VALLEY— As a baby in Yuma, Arizona, Haley Noblitt didn’t react like other babies.

“She only slept a few hours, night or day, if not bundled or held, she would scream and keep screaming,” her mother Amanda said. That was one of the many ways Haley showed herself to be unique.

Eighteen years later, Haley and the rest of Nooksack Valley High School’s class of 2023 received their diplomas.

For Haley, this was after many physical and mental health visits and diagnoses.

The family didn’t know if graduation day would come for Haley.

For graduation, Haley was also joined by her service dog Coup, short for Cooper, who also received a diploma.

Haley-isms

Through it all, Amanda said she was proud of her daughter’s accomplishment but also was thankful for everyone in the Nooksack Valley School District who had helped her daughter.

Haley served as a pioneer to the longtime educators of the NVSD Pioneers. Every so often, Haley would listen to the questions and volunteer a few answers or laugh.

Over the following years, the family both visited different doctors to see what was happening with their oldest daughter, they also moved from Arizona to Washington state.

Some of the challenges Haley faced as a child were associated with Autism, as well as epilepsy.

Amanda explained that Haley will get overstimulated by things many other people may take for granted and then have seizures such as grand mal, petit mal or pseudo seizures.

The seizures may present as appearing to look vacant and stare while not being aware of what is happening.

Haley can also speak without a filter. Sometimes she will burst out with information not always appreciated but the family refers to this as Haley-isms and “her classmates show lots of love and acceptance,” Amanda said.

Coup

As Haley and Coup waited to leave the stage after graduation, they hadn’t considered the unexpected noise and effect on Haley from the other grads yelling, throwing hats in the air, and spraying silly string. The noise caused Haley to run off. Her father Lars followed her and calmed her down.

Coup is Haley’s second black Labrador service dog.

Haley received her first service dog, Amigo, when she was in the third grade. The family started the process when Haley was in kindergarten.

Amigo went with Haley to school, church, and on errands through her seventh grade year and retired due to arthritis.

After Amigo died last year, Haley initially struggled with transferring her focus from Amigo to Coup.

What’s next?

According to the school’s Individualized Education Program, Haley has been prepared for life after high school.

For Haley that is to continue in learning culinary arts through the DISH Foundation, which partners with Our Kitchen.

Her first class is July 10. DISH offers vocational training, employment opportunities, respite, and awareness for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

In preparation for this goal, Haley has been baking for two years for her church, Grace Baptist Fellowship, when they need cookies for funerals.

“She loves to cook all types of treats and desserts,” Amanda said. “Give her a recipe and she can make it.”

Haley Noblitt, pictured on the school bus with Coup, her dog, recently graduated from Nooksack Valley High School. (Photo courtesy Noblitt family)

Former Boy Scout camp available for rent

Camp Saturna has lakeshore views, creeks at its rustic setting

By Elisa Claassen For the Tribune

SILVER LAKE — Whatcom County’s Silver Lake, part of the Whatcom County Parks Department, is popular for day visitors and campers. Many local residents may not realize private property farther on the lake is also available with additional resources and a lot of privacy.

The former Black Mountain boy scout camp has been purchased, extensively remodeled and is available to Boy Scouts and to the public for rent for special events such as family reunions, weddings and office retreats. The lakeshore views, creeks and rustic setting stir memories from the past. Cell service is limited.

Renamed Camp Saturna after the purchase, the 133-acre parcel is at the north end of Silver Lake and can be used any season. Saturna Environmental Company, a separate subsidiary of Saturna Capital Company of Bellingham, purchased the land in 2015 and according to a corporate press release proceeded to remodel the many structures on the property which had been in disrepair after the Scouts had ceased camp operations.

In addition to rentals, the site is used for educating school children on the environment with an assortment of partners, according to the Camp

Saturna website www.campsaturana. com.

Students grades 5-8 use a curriculum focused on regional ecology, environmental science and natural resource management. According to their website, Camp Saturna provided the backdrop for part of a National Public Radio (NPR) story about outdoor learning via Mount Baker, Blaine, and Bellingham school districts’ Connections program during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now other local school children continue to use the same grounds to learn about the ecosystem of the environment from the mountain to the sea: the water cycle, types of soil, pollination, timber management and harvest, and bird identification.

Rental includes the entire property: a main lodge with a commercial kitchen, a dining hall that seats 139 people and a historic rock fireplace.

Aside from the lodge are a 44-bed bunkhouse, apartment-style twobedroom lodging, and four group campsites near the shore of Silver Lake. Rental also includes three new seasonal-use cabins, a climbing wall, an obstacle course, an open-air chapel for rustic weddings, several fire pits for conversations, indoor and outdoor meeting/educational spaces, and a boathouse containing different watercraft and safety equipment.

More information is available at campsaturna.com.

Access is at 9514 Silver Lake Road near the public boat launch in Maple Falls. Make an appointment if interested in renting the campgrounds. Winter and summer rates are available online.

An outdoor open-air chapel sits in a wooded hillside easily accessed from the main lodge and is used often for weddings. The front is covered and has a sound system. (Elisa Claassen for the Tribune)