NEW | Dozens dead in sinking NEWS off ffo former Vashon ferry. [3] COMMENTARY | Cuts to food COM stamps bad for Vashon. [6] stam ART ARTS | Open Space puts on its second seco aerial festival. [13]
FESTIVAL SCENES brates, The Island celebrates, Strawberryy style. Pagess 14, 15
AN EXPANDING MARKET New farmers market vendors go beyond vegetables. Page 4
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 2012
Vol. 57, No. 30
www.vashonbeachcomber.com nbeachcomber.co beachcomber.com
75¢
A new sport begins to take hold on Vashon VYFS
director to step down
Paddleboarding started in Hawaii. Now, some here are standing on boards.
By LESLIE BROWN Staff Writer
By NATALIE JOHNSON Staff Writer
When Lollie Groth lived in Maui, she loved to catch waves while surfing with her friends. Now, living in Burton, she says she likes to “walk” on water. Groth is one of a growing number of Islanders who have caught on to an emerging aquatic sport: stand-up paddleboarding. The Vashon Park District has even caught the craze and now offers two paddleboards to rent by the hour at its kayak center. Vashon is the perfect place to paddle, Groth said, as its many harbors and inlets shelter paddlers from the wind and waves. And paddling from her home on the Burton Peninsula, she said, she’s often joined by seals that swim curiously around her. “It’s really sort of calming,” she said. “It’s kind of like walking but on the water, or kayaking except you’re standing up.” Stand-up paddleboarding originated decades ago in Hawaii when surfers began to stand or kneel on their boards and propel themselves with one paddle, sometimes catching waves in the process. The new sport made its way to the
neighbors on each side have gotten boards, too. “Two summers ago there was like one, and now there’s like six,” Croonquist said. “A lot of people are finding out about it.” While many describe paddleboarding as calming and even meditative, Croonquist says it’s also fun to cut through the water fast, and paddling quickly
Ken Maaz, a much-admired administrator who has played a lead role in the social services arena on Vashon, is stepping down from the helm of Vashon Youth & Family Services to take a position as the head of an Enumclaw-based agency. Maaz said it was a difficult decision to leave VYFS, where he has served as the executive director for a little more than two years. But the offer he received from The Ashley House, which runs five residential homes for medically fragile children, was an attractive one, in part because the organization offers health insurance and other benefits. VYFS does not provide health insurance to its employees. And because Maaz has what the insurance industry considers a preexisting condition, he’s been unable to purchase insurance as an individual, he said. “I’m very happy where I am. I love Vashon,” said Maaz, who’s 57. But the offer he received from The Ashley House “was substantial,” he said. “It included
SEE PADDLEBOARDS, 22
SEE VYFS, 22
Natalie Johnson/Staff Photo
Lollie Groth, who lives part-time on Vashon, says paddlebaording on Quartermaster Harbor is relaxing. mainland United States, and now most surf shops and kayak retailers in the Puget Sound area offer special paddleboards as well. The standing paddlers — sometimes clad in wet suits, other times in no more than a bathing suit — are frequently spotted on Lake Union and at other hot spots for water sports. Some kayak centers even offer classes teaching people how to do yoga and pilates on the floating boards.
In recent years the trend made its way to the quiet shores of Vashon. On calm days, paddlers can often be seen at KVI Beach, Tramp Harbor and Quartermaster Harbor. “It’s becoming more and more popular around where we are,” said Mia Croonquist, a high school rower who lives on inner Quartermaster Harbor. Croonquist’s family has a couple of paddleboards and their
In Burton, a sense of place connects people By WILL NORTH For The Beachcomber
G
Natalie Johnson/Staff Photo
Coffee stand owner Kathy Kush, right, is an anchor of Burton.
ertrude Stein, the renowned author and art collector who lived in Paris most of her life, famously said of Oakland, Calif., the place where she spent her childhood, “There is no there there.” America is full of placeless places, the kind of communities or neighborhoods you could be parachuted into and, because they are so homogenized and soulless, you’d have no idea where you were.
Vashon isn’t one of them. And yet there have been losses. There used to be lots of “theres” here on Vashon Island, by which I mean small but distinct communities anchored by the kinds of businesses Posters at the Burton and services that act as Coffee Stand speak to life’s many mysterthe pivots around which ies. See Will North’s community life revolves. column, page 8. But with the construction of Vashon Highway linking north and south and the decline of the 30 steamer docks served by the Mosquito Fleet, Vashon SEE BURTON, 9