In this issue
Witherow, amplified
Shelving the spending? Library system considers cuts
A-9
Local band goes electric for holiday
B-1
Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2015
SEQUIM GAZETTE www
Sequim’s Hometown Newspaper
com
75 CENTS
Vol. 42, Number 47
Sequim set for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday
Jeri Sanford, owner of Over the Fence, left, helps Debbie Weinheimer of Agnew shop for a new rug before Thanksgiving. Sanford and other local businesses participate in the annual Small Business Saturday by extending hours on Nov. 28, following the Thanksgiving shopping rush. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
Free dinners, Small Business Saturday and Santa are slated for this week
offering plenty of goodies and specials. Continuing this year are a few free meals on Thanksgiving along with the Sequim tree Sequim Gazette staff shopping on Thanksgiving or lighting, Santa Claus coming Black Friday or looking local on Shopping options abound this Small Business Saturday, many and a classic tractor procession. weekend in Sequim. stores in the Sequim-Dungeness See SHOPPING, A-6 Whether you are an early bird area are extending hours while
A future for Sequim’s farmland Challenges, efforts and successes to maintain local farms by ALANA LINDEROTH Sequim Gazette
Since 1950 the amount of farmland in Clallam County has declined by 70 percent, leaving about 20,000 acres accessible. At that rate, an average of about 1,000 acres per year of local farmland disappears, Tom Sanford, North Olympic Land Trust executive director, said. “Sequim is a farm town and our community reflects that in so many ways, even though farming isn’t anything like it once was,” Joe Holtrop, Clallam Conservation District executive director, said. “As we lose farmland, we lose a critical part of what helped create our character.” Sequim continues to be home to the oldest festival in the state, the Sequim Irrigation Festival that began when the first headgate on the Dungeness River was lifted to allow for irrigation in 1895 — A lingering indicator of the historic importance of agriculture in the valley. The Sequim-Dungenes Valley, once dotted with more than 500 dairies, now supports two, Sanford said. Although it continues to undergo change and face challenges, many individuals and organizations are working to protect and keep what farmland is left. The fertile soils of the Dungeness River delta and the river as a water supply make the SequimDungeness area, stretching to Agnew an ideal location for farming, Sanford explained. “We’re so lucky here in Clallam County with great resources,” Clea Rome, Washington State University Clallam County Extension director, said. “Soil and water are a farmer’s greatest resource and there is a large proportion of prime farmland in our county and we’re unique with
A historical aerial of Sequim in the mid-1900s shows the open and vast farmlands once sprawled across the Sequim-Dungeness Valley between the foothills of the Olympic Mountains and the Strait of Juan De Fuca. Since 1950, farmland in Clallam County has declined by 70 percent. Photo courtesy the Clallam County Historical Society At left, relying on creativity and collaboration, cooperative farm owners Anna Bunk, Noah Bresler, Sallie Constant, James and Liam Burtle founded River Run Farm off Woodcock Road in the fall of 2012 after being drawn to the Sequim-Dungeness area because of its proximity to urban centers, access to fertile land and water. Sequim Gazette photo by Alana Linderoth
our irrigation network.” The United States Department of Agriculture recognizes 32,961 acres of prime farmland based on an area’s soil type and 250,455 acres of farmland of statewide importance. “Prime farmland” as defined by the USDA is “land that has the best combination of physical and chemical characteristics for producing food, feed, forage, fiber, and oilseed crops and is available for these uses.”
A balancing act The area’s natural makeup conducive for farming, the flat, scenic land with mild weather and surrounding a town (Sequim) became an attractive place to live. By the 1960s and continuing into
See FARMLAND, A-3
YMCA reports positive results from SARC survey Pickering: Report is just ‘next step’ in efforts to reopening Sequim facility by MICHAEL DASHIELL
of the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center — had positive responses to a possible YMCA/SARC partnership. The majority of Sequim residents That’s the summation from Kyle polled in a telephone and online Cronk, CEO of the Olympic Peninsurvey — both users and non-users sula YMCA, after reviewing results Sequim Gazette
of a survey conducted in October by the Spokane-based Strategic Research Associates company. “The question we wanted to answer was, ‘Do you want to see a YMCA come to this community?’,” Cronk said. “Overwhelmingly you have said, ‘Yes.’” Cronk and Joanne Vega, director/ partner with Strategic Research
Associates, delivered highlights of the survey to a packed room at the Sequim Civic Center on Nov. 18. Nearly 70 percent of all surveytakers had a positive response to a possible co-management of SARC, a multi-use athletic facility at 610 N. Fifth Ave., that closed on Oct. 30 after running out of operating funds.
“There is an urgency now,” Cronk said. “SARC is closed. This is a community-wide solution to open its doors.” SARC still would be community owned, SA RC board chairman Frank Pickering said, while the YMCA would present a
See SURVEY, A-8
Sports B-5 • Schools B-8 • Arts & Entertainment B-1 • Opinion A-10 • Obituaries A-9 • Classifieds C-1 • Crossword Section C
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