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INDEPENDENT
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PORT ORCHARD
125 YEA
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2015 ✮ VOL. 124, NO. 44 ✮ WWW.PORTORCHARDINDEPENDENT.COM ✮ 50¢
Port Orchard is in a holiday glow Festival of Chimes & Lights to illuminate downtown on Saturday
T
By LESLIE KELLY
lkelly@soundpublishing.com
here’s no doing things small in Port Orchard. As is the case with Fathoms O’ Fun, Port Orchard’s Festival of Chimes & Lights is a big celebration — the largest holiday festival in Kitsap County, according to organizers. “Thousands and thousands of
people come from all over,” said Jerry Childs, the city’s retiring City Council member, who’s been helping with the festival since 2008. “It’s grown every year since it started in 1998.” It was then, according to committee chairwoman Cindy Lucarelli, that folks in town wanted to celebrate the city’s new town hall building. In December of that year,
the chimes in the clock tower were installed and everyone thought it would be a good way to show them off — by having a celebration of the chimes. When it was decided that the festival would include lighting a holiday tree, supporters came up with the name “Chimes & Lights.” And every year since, the city has hosted an all-day event on the first
Saturday in December. This year, the 17th annual Chimes & Lights will be from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Dec. 5, in downtown Port Orchard. “In the first years, it was more about lighting the tree and setting off fireworks,” Childs said. “Santa arrived on the Carlisle II and waved to the kids from the boat.” FESTIVAL, SEE A4
Port of Waterman’s new pier is a source of pride New metal structure replaces decaying wooden pier By BOB SMITH
rsmith@portorchardindependent.com
Earlier this year, motoring along Beach Drive NE near Port Orchard would invariably provide you a glimpse of the 90-year-old deteriorating wooden Port of Waterman pier, which had been closed to public use because of safety concerns. But today, the pier is a site for sore eyes, espeMcCarn cially for the area’s fishing enthusiasts. The 230-foot Waterman Pier has been transformed into a source of civic pride and now worthy of the beautiful scenery surrounding it. Instead of having creosote-coated pilings support a structure slowly
Have a great proposal? You could own the Dragonfly Cinema
being eaten away by saltwater and tiny sea life, this reincarnation features 30 steel pilings, a new concrete sea wall, composite floor grating and railings made of aluminum. The new steel piles have replaced 56 decaying wooden piles. This transformation was a long time coming, said longtime Port of Waterman Commissioner Jack McCarn. He said the old pier’s maintenance had become a serious issue — considering that the commissioners were the unofficial “maintenance men” for the site. “We had lots of problems with nails popping out and rusting off, and boards becoming loose,” McCarn said. “This new pier will eliminate almost any need for maintenance. We also had many sink holes to contend with in the parking area.”
by SARA MILLER
smiller@portorchardindependent.com
The Dragonfly Cinema on Bay Street is up for grabs. And if you have developed the best proposal, the owner, Gryphon Shafer, will hand the business to you.
OPINION IN THE INDEPENDENT Shop locally. A6
Bob Smith / Independent
Port of Waterman commissioners Jack McCarn (left) and Rod Reid stand at the “lollipop” end of the new port pier. Advancing the new pier project took about six years, the commissioner said, before the existing structure was replaced. Construction has
taken much less time; work began early in July. While the pier’s footprint remains the same, all of the existing pilings,
footings and decking were removed and replaced by a Marine Structures
Shafer said he and his family are moving on for personal reasons. “Basically, my family needs to be more mobile than we’ve been the past few years,” he said. “I’m looking to make sure we hand off the theater to someone who is able to keep it open.”
The Dragonfly Cinema has been a part of Port Orchard since 1914. Originally the Star Liberty Theater, the operation went through several names and owners before officially becoming the Dragonfly Cinema in May 2011. Shafer bought the theater
in December 2010, nearly five years to the day of Shafer’s announcement. “How I got involved in resurrecting the theater is I happened to drive down Bay Street when I saw it and
INSIDE
A video call for justice. A9
WATERMAN, SEE A7
DRAGONFLY, SEE A3
SPORTS
Wrestling preview. A19
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