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EDITORIAL | Reporter Raechel Dawson says good bye [7]
Training | MoveFree parkour classes expand to Education | Kirkland STEM scholars honored [14] FRIDAY, MAY 16, 2014 Kirkland [9]
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Artist to have first show after losing paintings in house fire BY RAECHEL DAWSON rdawson@kirklandreporter.com
A
bout one year after David Tracy lost his life’s work - about 1,000 paintings - in a house fire, the Kirkland resident will have his first art show
featuring the new art he’s created since. “He’s an oil painter,” said Ken Stodola, the owner of Tsuga Fine Art in Bothell, where the art show will take place. “He paints all landscapes now. He just has this great style, realism, but with
this impressionistic twist on them now.” Last April, Tracy, 76, not only lost his paintings, 750 of which were listed on eBay at the time, but he lost his two-story house with a private studio and his beloved husky Max in a
“burning inferno.” “I did it,” Tracy said. “I was smoking on the back porch. I had all the rooms repainted so I didn’t want to smoke inside.” Tracy said he placed his cigarette in a big tub where he kept the butts but not
quite carefully enough. “An hour later, the dog went racing through and usually he would run up if there was someone standing at the front door,” Tracy recalled. “But the fact that he ran through the house bothered me, so I thought
maybe there was someone in the backyard.” An intruder wasn’t in the backyard but a raging fire was. It had reached from the back porch to the attic, near his art studio. Frantic, Tracy ran to his [ more ARTIST page 2 ]
Kirkland’s first French Macaron parlor Lady Yum to open this June BY RAECHEL DAWSON rdawson@kirklandreporter.com
Dog detectives sniff out Juanita Creek Above, trainer Karen Reynolds’ specially trained dog Crush “analyzes” samples with her nose taken from Juanita Creek for human sewage at Juanita Beach Park in Kirkland on Monday. Crush, who was originally a Hurricane Katrina rescue dog, found two of the first seven samples from the creek that contained human bacteria. The dogs use their sense of smell to search each of the samples and lay down when they come across a positive test. King County and city of Kirkland officials are attempting to find the source of the bacteria in the creek with the use of the dogs. MATT PHELPS, Kirkland Reporter
Striking a similar resemblance to the CBS comedy “2 Broke Girls,” Lady Yum owners Megan Gordon and Shan S. Foisy are raising funds to turn the former downtown Kirkland Cefiore space into the home of their popular macarons. They hope to have their grand opening on June 14. Although Gordon and Foisy’s situation is a little less dire than characters Max and Caroline on “2 Broke Girls” - and they sell macarons instead of cupcakes - the women are similar in that they have created a business from passion, they’ve honed in on a niche and they’re on the cusp of a baked goods craze. “There was a cupcake craze and now I’m hoping to start the macaron craze here,” Gordon said, adding that macarons are quite
trendy in California and New York. The entrepreneurs use the french spelling of delectable treat. Already, the two have surpassed their kickstarter goal of $25,000 in just 16 days. Unfortunately, after putting all of her own money into the rebuild of their store, Gordon discovered it’ll cost an additional $10,000 to raise the ceiling. “First, it needed new floors and paint,” she said. “But then we dug around and found this cool old brick and high ceilings and it just adds so much character.” The donations have come from past customers, friends, family and her Facebook fan base. One of her most memorable backers was a man from Mercer Island who donated $5,000. “I made a cake for his daughter a year ago,” Gor[ more MACARON page 3]
Kirkland kitchen fire prompts street closure off of Juanita Drive BY MATT PHELPS mphelps@kirklandreporter.com
Firefighters laid 500 feet of hose on the morning of May 9 to douse a house fire on Finn Hill. “When the first units arrived on the scene the flames were visible,” said Kirkland Fire Department Battalion Chief Mike Dettmer. “The driveway was very tight and the closest
hydrant was 500 feet away on Juanita Drive.” The fire took place in the 12600 block of 80th Ave. NE. All the responding units were forced onto the street, along with the supply line. Kirkland police blocked access from Northeast Juanita Drive to 128th Avenue Northeast for a few hours that morning. The call came in to 911
dispatchers at 7:32 a.m. and three departments, including Kirkland, Bellevue, Redmond and Northshore, were called to respond. In all, seven units responded to the scene. “Nobody was hurt and all the occupants were evacuated,” Dettmer said. “It was a small kitchen fire and it was put out pretty quickly.”
Firefighters respond to a kitchen fire on Finn Hill on the morning of May 9. Courtesy of the Kirkland Fire Department