OPERA RETURNS Northwest stars take to the Vashon Opera stage. Page 10
NEWS | Bike shop closes its [3] doors after 18 years. SPORTS | Junior wrestlers continue to win big. [16] COMMUNITY | Decades of census data is now online. [5]
AN EGGCELLENT TOUR See chicken coops, support a nonprofit. Page 13
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 2014
Vol. 59, No. 19
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
Kiwanis looks back as club comes to an end
Vashon pot shop chosen in state lottery
By SUSAN RIEMER Staff Writer
After nearly 70 years of serving the island, Vashon’s Kiwanis club will disband this month because of a lack of members. For decades, the club — which formed in 1946 — was a thriving social and service organization that provided an array of good deeds for the community. For many years, Kiwanis members have been behind some staple events of island life, offering a free holiday dinner to seniors each December, running the Christmas toy drive and serving the popular pancake breakfasts during the Strawberry Festival. They have provided lesser-known services as well, buying books for Vashon’s school libraries, awarding annual scholarships to graduating seniors and helping fund a variety of service projects others carried out. Once there were more than 40 members at every meeting, but the group’s numbers have been declining for years, those involved say, and membership has shrunk to just 10 people, making it difficult to fulfill the club’s mission and falling short of the 15 members Kiwanis International requires. Though sad to see the club come to an end, Jan Lyell, the club’s president, said it is not a surprise. “The writing has been on the wall for many years,” she said. In recent weeks, as remaining SEE KIWANIS, 21
75¢
Company must complete licensing process before opening By NATALIE MARTIN Staff Writer
alcoholic drink made from pears. “It’s totally unexpected,” Lubbert said. “But it’s fun.” Sitting on their patio overlooking an orchard of about 200 Asian pear trees, the couple described how they purchased the property in 2005, about a year after they first saw it. They were eager to move to Vashon after coming up from southern California, and the place was one of the only properties that Lubbert, who coowns a healthcare communications company, and Gerlach, a commercial landscape architect, liked on the island.
Vashon is one step closer to having a recreational marijuana shop in town. One of two companies that applied to open retail marijuana stores on Vashon was selected in a state lottery for retail marijuana licenses, according to a state Liquor Control Board (LCB) announcement last Friday. Emerald Botanicals LLC, which is registered to a Seattle woman, applied to open a marijuana store at the former Vashon Family Practice building at the south end of town. The building has been for sale for about two years. Being selected in the lottery doesn’t guarantee a shop will go in at that location, said Mikhail Carpenter, an LCB spokesman. Emerald Botanicals must still complete the application process, which includes criminal and financial background checks of everyone involved with the new business. The company must secure the building, provide business plans that meet LCB requirements, install security systems and pass a final inspection before doors can open.
SEE ORCHARD, 20
SEE MARIJUANA, 15
Natalie Martin/Staff Photo
Cheryl Lubbert and Jim Gerlach in their Asian pear orchard. The couple now uses the fruit to make perry.
Making perry on Wax Orchard Road
Orchard takes on a new purpose By NATALIE MARTIN Staff Writer
When Cheryl Lubbert and Jim Gerlach first looked at their Asian-style home on Wax Orchard Road, they passed on buying it. The 27 acres of land and large pear orchard, they decided, would require too much upkeep. “It was just too much,” Gerlach said, noting they both had full-time jobs. “It was a lot to bite off.” Now the two have bitten off more than they ever imagined they would. A decade later, the 27 acres is not only the married couple’s home, but the home of Nashi Orchards, one of only a handful of Northwest perry makers. Perry is an
ART EVERYWHERE: DOORS OPEN AT LOCAL STUDIOS The two-weekend spring Art Studio Tour began last Saturday, when a slate of Vashon artists opened their doors to meet visitors, show works in progress, discuss their craft and sell art. Kristen Reitz-Green, a popular painter known for her colorful paintings of animals and food, transformed her Dilworth home studio into a small gallery for the tour, pictured at right. “I really love talking to people and getting to meet people that at normal shows I might not,” she said. Reitz-Green said last weekend wasn’t as busy as some years, but many artists are hoping for high traffic next weekend during Mother’s Day and the annual Chicken Coop Tour. New on the tour this year is that many participants have invited guest artists to join them in their studios, and a group of artists is displaying work together at the north-end Grange Hall. Reitz-Green noted that art is often offered at discounted rates during the tour and more goes directly to the artists, rather than a gallery, so it’s a good time to pick up a gift. “Mother’s Day is always really sweet,” she said. “People bring their moms and say pick something.” Juli Goetz Morser Photo