A season to share; shop at home for the holidays By Steve Wehrly
A
ll of us at the Journal, the Sounder and the Island’s Weekly extend to you our warmest wish that your 2013 holiday celebrations are joyful, loving and blessed. This special holiday edition is aimed at informing you of the many events and celebrations, some of them long traditions here, that you and yours might enjoy from before Thanksgiving to after New Year’s. One of those traditions that our community has observed during this season is the generous spirit of giving to the less fortunate in our community. We encourage you to support the many organizations that devote their time and talents to making all of our lives better – especially at Christmastime. Another tradition is represented by the advertisers that make the holiday edition (and every other edition of the paper) possible. Your friends and neighbors in their shops, stores and restaurants want to make your holidays merry, and they need your patronage to make the season a merry one for themselves and their employees and families. Islanders support local businesses because those businesses sell quality products at fair prices, and because islanders know that if they don’t buy locally, those businesses simply can’t continue. Every October, local shops and restaurants are forced to close their doors, some for months and some forever. Even the bigger establishments have to furlough employees or even lay people off for good. Merchants in the San Juans are much more dependent on you for their livelihood
San Juan Holiday Tree Lighting 3 Holiday Recipes 6 New Year's Celebration 8 San Juan Holiday events 11-12 Christmas Bird Count 12-13
Colleen Smith Armstrong photo
Handmade ornaments on Orcas Island
than those on the mainland. Two-thirds of the money you spend here stays here. For most merchants and their families, that money puts food on the table and clothes on their children. One hundred dollars spent in Friday Harbor, Eastsound or Lopez Village means a lot to those communities. That same one hundred dollars doesn’t have anything close to the same effect on the mainland. And the five or 10 percent you think you’re saving simply goes into ferry fares and fuel. Plus, you get the exhilarating seasonal experiences of crowded parking lots, empty shelves and long lines at the cash register. Do yourself and your fellow islanders a big favor: shop locally. If you really want to take a ferry, take it to one of the other islands. Tell them the newspaper sent you.
Orcas Holiday Events Holiday Reads Orcas Giving Tree Lopez Holiday Events Lopez Spirit of Giving
Contributors
Publishers: Roxanne Angel, Colleen Smith Armstrong Writers: Colleen Smith Armstrong, Cali Bagby, Scott Rasmussen, Steve Wehrly Advertising Sales: Roxanne Angel, Colleen Smith Armstrong, Phil Hankins, Howard Schonberger Graphic Artists: Scott Herning, Kathryn Sherman
Publication Information The Journal of the San Juans 640 Mullis St., Friday Harbor, WA 98250 P: 360‑378‑5696, F: 360‑378‑5128 - www.sanjuanjournal.com The Islands’ Sounder 217 Main Street, Eastsound, WA 98245, P: 360‑376‑4500, F: 360‑376‑4501 - www.islandssounder.com The Islands’ Weekly 217 Main Street, Eastsound, WA 98245, P: 360-468-4242, F: 360‑376‑4501 - www.islandsweekly.com
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