Washington North Coast Magazine - Spring 2019

M AG A ZIN E

Supplement to The Daily Herald © 2019

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WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019 • 3

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WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019

WHAT'S INSIDE 9 Bee best A Snohomish teen helps newbie beekeepers.

14 Visit Terrace This bedroom community still beckons families 60 years on.

16 Finding her voice An Everett indie musician strikes out on her own.

18 Signature Dish Cowboy Caviar eats like a delicacy — with no fish eggs.

20 Chimes of freedom

OLIVIA VANNI / COAST

Everett musician Sarah Feinberg. See Page 16.

Nazi resister's courage inspires a new novel.

26 Family business Travel is part of the Steves family's DNA.

30 Magic Skagit The mighty river is honored on a new U.S. Postal Service stamp.

34 Whidbey Comfort A couple builds a destination winery and B&B.

38 San Juan-dering Leave your car on the mainland and explore the island.

42 Artist's muse

OLIVIA VANNI / COAST

A working barn at Comforts of Whidbey. See Page 34.

The countryside outside Snohomish inspires her.

44 Go fish How to introduce kids to fishing — even if you're no angler.

IN EVERY ISSUE 7 Editor's Note 8 Everett Sketcher 48 Our Favorite Events 50 Why I Love it Here

SAN JUAN VISITOR BUREAU PHOTOS

San Juan Island highlights include Hotel de Haro at Roche Harbor and the Cattle Point Lighthouse. See Page 38.

WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019 • 5

Spring Issue: An afternoon on the Skagit River

I

don’t buy a lot of stamps, but then again, I don’t mail a lot of letters.

Nevertheless, I’ve made myself a note to pick some up at the post office this year.

That’s because Washington’s own Skagit River will be featured on a U.S. Postal Service forever stamp.

The Skagit will be one of a dozen rivers pictured in a new Wild and Scenic Rivers stamp collection.

The forever stamps — now 55 cents each — commemorate the 50th anniversary of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers ANDY BRONSON / COAST Act. It was signed into law Sara Bruestle takes in the view of the south fork of the Skagit River. in 1968 to preserve forever some of America’s most beautiful rivers. Fitting, isn't it?

In this issue of Washington North Coast Magazine, you’ll The Skagit River was honored with a stamp because it see photographer Tim Palmer’s shot of the Skagit River to was the first Washington river to be protected by the Wild be featured on that much-anticipated stamp. He snapped and Scenic Rivers Act in 1978. the breathtaking photo while on a canoe journey on the Having only driven on bridges over the Skagit River on river. my way to somewhere else, I visited the river this spring for You’ll also meet Rita and Carl Comfort, the owners of a close-up.

Comforts of Whidbey, a farm, winery and bed and breakfast on a 22-acre estate in Langley. The Comforts also have The 150-mile-long river isn’t in Snohomish County, but a tasting room and cellar, and host weddings and events two of its three main tributaries are. The Sauk and Suiattle there. rivers flow right by Darrington.

Or read about Olivia Hawker, an Edmonds-Woodway If you’re in the Everett area like me, you don’t have to drive far to see the Skagit. I only ventured as far as Conway, High School grad who has written no fewer than 15 historical novels. Her new book, “The Ragged Edge of Night,” is just across the county line. about her husband’s grandfather who dared to defy the Here’s how to get there: Take I-5 north for about 30 miles Nazis during World War II. He helped bury the 600-yearto Exit 221. Turn left onto Pioneer Highway. Enter the old bells of their village’s church so they wouldn’t be roundabout and exit to continue west toward La Conner.

The South Fork Bridge is about a quarter-mile ahead. There melted and turned into war armaments.

Then there’s our feature on Rick and Andy Steves, the is space to pull over and park on either side of the bridge. father-and-son duo who have built travel businesses If you have a boat or kayak, you’ll find river access below around a love of exploring Europe. If you’re planning to the bridge on the east bank. There also are Washington vacation in Europe this summer, you’ll want to check out Fish & Wildlife access points nearby. Check their website the Steves’ travel advice, including pitfalls to avoid and for more on those. sights to see.

At the river, I made a point to stand on the South Fork I may not get to Europe this year, but I’ll be sure to visit Bridge for a while. I watched as the south fork of the Skagit more of our wild and scenic rivers.

River flowed underfoot. I thought of the water making its way through the North Cascades, through the Skagit Valley and then into Puget Sound.

It was a beautiful thought.

It got me thinking about visiting more of the state’s rivers recognized by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act — Sara Bruestle Illabot Creek, Klickitat River, Pratt River, Middle Fork of the Editor editor@washingtonnorthcoast.com Snoqualmie River and White Salmon River.

6 • WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019

Exploring Exploring Snohomish Snohomish && Island Islandcounties counties

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WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019 • 7

THE EVERETT

SKETCHER

Spring comes to town While running errands, I was appreciating the sounds of lawn mowers and the sight of dark shadows on the bright ground and blooming flora spilling over fences. But it wasn’t until I saw three city workers, bent over a planter, that I realized that spring has truly arrived in our city.

Brion, Spencer and Robin work for the Everett Parks & Community Services department. They were up to their elbows in plants and dirt, beautifying the historic, cityowned Van Valey House at 22nd Street and Colby Avenue. They had multiple stops in their

day, with a full spring schedule of plantings and maintenance around the city.

In fact, the city hosts Viva Color each spring — a community event where Everett residents of all ages can help parks staff by planting flowers around the city. Typically, the downtown planting is in May, and a Mukilteo Boulevard planting will follow in late May or early June. Check out the city website, everettwa.gov, for details on participating in this spring civic event.

— Elizabeth Person

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Brandon Wight works the shelves at the Snohomish Bee Co. in Snohomish. Wight, 19, helps new hobbyists with their beehives. He has four hives of his own.

Busy with the bees Want to get into beekeeping? This Snohomish teenager is ready to help

BY MEGAN CAMPBELL • PHOTOS BY KEVIN CLARK

B

▼

randon Wight is as hard-worktheir hives. His price? Whatever they ing and busy as the honeybees he think appropriate. keeps.

“I love talking about bees,” he said.

When the 19-year-old from Snohomish He keeps four hives — two at home isn’t in school or studying, he’s at one of and two at his grandparents’. (He had five, his three jobs. but the most recent hive didn’t survive “I’m kinda crazy,” the AIM High School the winter.) senior said on a recent Sunday night after “It’s so fun. I love it,” he said, adding finishing an evening shift at Snohomish's that he hopes to double his number of Pilchuck Drive-in. beehives within the next two years.

Locally produced beeswax for During the week, after school, you He started with one hive in April 2017. sale at Snohomish Bee Co. can find Wight manning the counter at “A month later, I thought, ‘This is pretty Snohomish Bee Co. awesome,’ so I got a second,” he said.

It’s here where he meets clients for his third job — a side His favorite part of beekeeping is identifying the queen. gig, really — which he does for the love of the hobby.

He’s met and marked all of them in his hives.

Wight, a beekeeper since 2017, helps new hobbyists with He has a special wooden tool that gently holds the

WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019 • 9

If you go Snohomish Bee Co. is at 403 Maple Ave., Studio A, Snohomish. Spring hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Call 360-568-2191 or go to snohobeeco. com for more.

More resources Northwest District Beekeepers Association, nwdba.org Washington State Beekeepers Association, wasba.org Puget Sound Beekeepers Association, pugetsoundbees.org Whidbey Island Beekeepers, whidbees.wordpress.com Washington State Department of Agriculture, Apiaries Division, agr. wa.gov/plantsinsects/apiary/default.aspx The Xerces Society, xerces.org NW Honeybee Habitat Restoration, nwhoneybee.org

queen in place so he can mark her butt with a special kind of ink, which he gets from a craft store. As the queen ages, he uses a different-colored ink to mark her, tracking her lifetime.

“Oh, it’s so interesting,” he said.

His first year, he helped a couple of people with their hives. By his second year, now with two more hives to manage himself, he had the confidence to help more wannabe beekeepers.

“I help mostly new beekeepers,” he said.

Before he landed his job at the supply store, he would wander into the Snohomish Bee Co. shop to pick up tools. Eventually he asked for a job, but the owners, Cory and Sarah Marchand, were wary of hiring a minor. They told him to come back when he turned 18; he did, and he’s been working there since. “(Brandon) is great,” Cory Marchand said. “He’s very patient and open-minded. Hardworking.”

When Wight goes out to aid new

beekeepers with their hives — he assisted about 10 clients last year — he helps them with everything from hive positioning to mite control.

If he can help them in the store, he will, but when the situation seems “desperate,” he gives them a card and tells them to give him a call.

Most of the time, people don’t know what they’re looking at, which is one of the most common issues new beekeepers face, Marchand said.

That’s why his store offers on-site help. And pretty soon, they’ll make Wight their official Snohomish Bee Co. on-site support expert.

“We love that he goes out and works with new beekeepers,” Marchand said. “He just dives in head-first.

He’s a tremendous resource.”

While Wight plans to pursue a medical degree after he graduates from high school this spring, he says beekeeping is something he’ll never tire of.

There are many reasons someone might get into beekeeping. For

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Wight, bees had been a childhood fascination.

“I can’t even count how many times I got stung when I was little because I was so curious about them,” he said.

For others, it’s a natural part of country living, Marchand said. They have the land and the time, so why not add beekeeping to the mix?

“Snohomish County is probably one of the most prolific counties for beekeeping,” Marchand said.

He estimates there are about 160 members registered with the Northwest District Beekeepers Association, whose mission is to promote honeybees and beekeeping throughout Western Washington. Marchand, of Monroe, is on the association’s board.

Some people get into beekeeping because they want the honey.

“By harvesting your own honey, you get to choose how you want to consume it,” Marchand said, adding that honey is most nutritious when it’s raw.

Others are just looking to save the bees, honey and native.

If they don’t have the space for a hive, Dave Pehling, secretary of the association and a retired Washington State University researcher, suggests bee enthusiasts plant a garden for pollinators.

“If you just want to save the bees, plant some plants,” Pehling said. “Just leave patches of dandelions in the yard.”

He said that native bees are actually better pollinators than honeybees, anyway, if that’s what you’re after.

“Bumblebees are the best pollinators,” he said. “Plus, they’re really cool.”

Pehling has been a beekeeper since the late 1970s. He has both native mason bees and honeybees.

“They’re amazing insects all the way around,” he said.

Honeybees are a little more work, he added. You have to harvest the honey and keep watch for mites year-round.

With native bees, he said, all a beekeeper really needs to do is drill some holes for them to burrow.

“My own mason bees are a start from some ‘shipworm’ holes in some lumber I recycled in 1983,” he said.

“I raise several hundred each year just for fun.

They all go dormant about July and one just stores the nests until the following March.”

Since adult mason bees are only active for a month or two, Pehling says it’s important for him to have honeybees. In the winter, he says he goes through “bee withdrawal.”

“Nice things about honeybees: They’re always doing something,” he said. “When it’s cold out, I go out and put my ear to the hive to hear them.”

Above: Honey is most nutritious when it’s raw, bee experts say. Below: Brandon Wight is into bees, but medical school is his long-term plan.

SO YOU WANT TO BE A BEEKEEPER? Of all of the challenges facing beekeepers, fighting off and treating for mites is probably the biggest one.

It’s a year-round concern, Pehling said.

All hives have mites, so it’s a matter of managing their population.

“The same way you would treat goats for mites or worms, you have to treat honeybees,” Marchand said. “These are living, breathing insects that need you.”

That means using pesticides. Most new beekeepers don’t like the sound of that, Pehling said. But it’s either lose the hive, and possibly infect others, or treat the mite problem at its source.

There are options, though. The Washington State Department of Agriculture has a list of approved pesticides for controlling or suppressing mites. The list includes Apivar, MiteAway Quick Strips and Apiguard.

Information overload, common for new beekeepers, is another hump to overcome when entering the hobby, Marchand said.

First of all, different beekeepers will have different answers and best practices for different questions and scenarios. That’s one thing that

Marchand, a beekeeper since 2012, and Pehling, the beekeepers association secretary, agree on.

Most of a beekeeper’s advice is anecdotal. By joining an organization like Northwest District Beekeepers Association and taking classes, beekeepers can narrow down the advice to follow.

But don’t get derailed by all of the “need to know” information. Marchand suggests starting simple.

“Egyptians kept bees,” Marchand said. “This is a simple hobby. There is no reason to overcomplicate it.”

The last great challenge to beekeeping is the cost. Marchand estimates you’ll have to invest around $1,000 to get started.

The essentials to have are a place to put the hive, something to cover your face when you handle the hive, a few hive tools (like a box opener to remove frames) and a bee smoker, a device that calms the critters.

“After that, it’s just maintenance,” Marchand said.

And don’t freak out if you kill a few bees along the way, he said. ■

WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019 • 11

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WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019 • 13

The Pavilion Place 60 years on, Mountlake Terrace and its signature Recreation Pavilion are still making a splash with families

COAST FILE PHOTOS

The Mountlake Terrace High School swim team works out at the Recreation Pavilion pool.

BY GALE FIEGE

I

t’s not fancy, but it’s my hometown.

My parents bought their two-bedroom house in Mountlake Terrace for about $10,000 in the 1950s, when World War II and Korean War veterans and their families were settling down.

Terrace was a suburb for the working class.

My father was an assistant postmaster and served on the Mountlake Terrace City Council in the 1960s.

He worked to hold strip malls to a minimum and pushed to have a parks system. At the city’s Recreation Pavilion, 5303 228th St. SW, the building’s dedication plaque from 1968 lists my dad’s name alongside the others who made sure it was built.

This past fall, the city celebrated the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Pavilion — arguably Mountlake Terrace’s best draw. People travel from around the region to use the facility.

From the moment the Pavilion swimming pool opened, we kids rode our bicycles from the outer reaches of Terrace’s 4 square miles to swim and hang out.

Today it’s one of the few indoor municipal pools in Snohomish County. And it’s still in pretty good shape, though because of its relative warmth, it is best loved by children and seniors. Maybe it’s not the best lap pool, but swim teams work out there.

Commercial artist Tari Williams Gordon, 61, of Edmonds, grew up in Mountlake Terrace. She was on various swim teams, taught little kids to swim and was a lifeguard at the Pavilion. She even designed the city’s logo

14 • WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019

— featuring a mountain, a lake and a terrace — which remains in use today.

“I got paid $50,” Gordon said. “I’m still proud of the logo.

It represents what the city meant to me and reminds me of how the Pavilion influenced my life. I’ve always had an interest in architecture. Fifty years later, the design of the Pavilion still holds up.”

The Pavilion offers a long list of swim classes, activities and events. It’s also home to an indoor playground, dance classes, a weight room, an espresso stand and swim shop.

In my day, we also pedaled our bikes uptown near the intersection of 56th Avenue W. and 232nd Street SW to eat at the burger joint and spend our coins at the five-anddime. The central area of Mountlake Terrace has changed a lot, in part because of arsons in the 1990s.

But family-owned Double DD Meats is still there, bigger and better than ever. After the Pavilion, it’s arguably the main visitor attraction in Mountlake Terrace.

Along with being a full-service, old-style meat market, Double DD sells row upon row of stuff to put on your meat: More than 3,000 kinds of hot sauce, over 1,000 sorts of barbecue sauce, 600 dry rubs and hundreds of marinades, steak sauces, salsa, ketchups and spices from around the world.

Owner Kim Nygard says she and her crew of 25 sell lots of steak, as in “tons of rib-eye.”

But carnivores can get just about anything they want at Nygard’s meat shop, which first opened in 1955.

She sells lunch meats, sausage, jerky, bacon, hamburger, ribs, roasts, steaks galore, pork, lamb, chicken, rabbit and wild game.

PLACES OF INTEREST Mountlake Terrace City Hall, 6100 219th St. SW, Suite 200, cityofmlt.com Mountlake Terrace Recreation Pavilion, 5303 228th St. SW, mltrec. com Mountlake Terrace Library, 23300 58th Ave. W., sno-isle.org Diamond Knot Brewpub, 5602 232nd St. SW, diamondknot.com Double DD Meats, 5602 232nd St. SW, doubleddmeats.com Snohomish Pie Co., 5602 232nd St. SW, snohomishpieco.com

Kim Nygard owns Double DD Meats, a Mountlake Terrace landmark since 1955. The shop sells meat of all kinds, plus thousands of condiments and spices.

Right next door is the family-friendly Diamond Knot Brewpub. The Mukilteo-based craft brewery opened the pub in 2013 and it has fast become a destination for people in south Snohomish County. Along with a meal, you can enjoy beer fresh from the conditioning tanks in the restaurant. In the summer, outdoor seating is available.

The pub serves hearty breakfasts on weekends and lunch (try the Brewpub Cobb salad) and dinner daily. Check out the stone-grill specials. The server brings to the table a 750-degree stone, on which you cook your food. It’s a Viking thing, say the owners.

The city is promoting the establishment of a new downtown, one with the shops along the sidewalks and apartments in the stories above. It’s working.

A short distance from the pub is the Mountlake Terrace Library, which is worth a stop just for the artwork displayed there. Also catch the Arts of the Terrace Juried Art Show there in September and the Tour de Terrace summer festival in July.

Behind the library is Veterans Memorial Park, with its 100-year-old trees and nice trails.

Most of the area that makes up Mountlake Terrace had been completely logged by 1900. Some of it was divided into small chicken and mink farms.

Developers began in the late 1940s to build the concreteblock houses and mid-century ranch-style homes found throughout the city. From some lots one could see Mount

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Rainier and Lake Washington, views that inspired the community’s name.

By the time the city incorporated in 1954, there were 5,000 residents and few amenities. A lot of work had to be done.

Back to those city parks my dad cared about.

Arguably the best of Mountlake Terrace’s 262 acres of parkland is the mile-plus-long Terrace Creek Park, located at 232nd Street SW and 48th Avenue W. I remember going with my dad to help clear the land for the candy-cane colored playground equipment. The park includes paved and natural hiking trails, a gazebo, picnic area, a big open field and an 18-hole disc golf course. Its north end is adjacent to the Recreation Pavilion.

Another great park is the city’s former golf course on Lake Ballinger in Terrace’s southwest corner.

On a sunny day not long ago, Shirley Rybock was out for a walk with her dogs in Ballinger Park. Around her neck were binoculars.

“The bird watching here is great. You can see geese of all sorts, kingfishers and more,” she said. “It’s very peaceful out here.”

In November, Mountlake Terrace will celebrate the 65th anniversary of its incorporation.

At 25,000 people now, surrounded by Brier, Lynnwood, Edmonds and Shoreline, the city won’t grow much more. It remains a place for working-class families. ■

WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019 • 15

GOING HER OWN WAY Everett musician Sarah Feinberg expresses her desires and frustrations as a solo singer-songwriter.

Sarah Feinberg rehearses in the basement of her Everett home.

B

efore I could see her, I could hear Sarah Feinberg.

She was playing an upright piano as I walked up a few stairs from the tree-lined street to her craftsman-style home in north Everett. Music played softly from a speaker near the living room in her house.

The 34-year-old Everett musician is known for fronting the band TELLERS and its former iteration, Preacher’s Wife. She also sings in I Will Keep Your Ghost. With those acts, she’s performed dozens of times up and down the I-5 corridor, including plenty of hometown shows in Everett.

This spring, she will release her first solo work. It taps into her feelings of frustration and yearning to be free of “cages” she put herself in.

She’s had the urge to sing since she was a Southern California choir kid. She tried out for choir solos in elementary school, formed an a cappella group in middle school and, after her family moved to Arlington, started bands in high school.

Later, she busked at Pike Place Market. It was a lesson in performance and perseverance.

“That was a good experience, just getting out and playing,” she said.

16 • WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019

BY BEN WATANABE PHOTOS BY OLIVIA VANNI

On good days, she and a friend averaged $20 an hour. On bad days, they didn’t make it to $20 per day.

“It made me think, ‘If I’m good enough, they’ll stop and listen,’ ” she said of playing for the market crowd. “But if they don’t, then you’re kind of like, ‘Yeah, we suck.’ ” Busking set her up, at least in a small way, for the general experience of being a musician, of wanting to express herself.

Feinberg has something to say, and she’s ready to sing it on her own. After years of performing with others, she is preparing her first solo album.

At five tracks, the untitled project under the moniker Sylvi (chosen because she likes the way it sounds), is just the beginning of her self-discovery.

“I was ready to have something that was just mine,” she said. “With Sylvi, it feels nice to be able to express myself untethered to another’s preferences and point of view.”

It’s become a balancing act. The wife and mother of two young children also has a massage business, not to mention her commitments to two bands. It’s been hard to find time to work on new songs for her solo project.

“I was exhausted, every day, from the kids, regular band

“If someone is listening and paying attention or just gaining something out of it, anything, that would make me feel so good.”

— Sarah Feinberg

stuff — we had our vinyl release show in that time,” she said. “But I pushed myself a lot and worked into the night.”

A deadline and a poolside vacation helped spur a flurry of creativity. During a week’s vacation in Florida, she took her guitar and “spent a lot of time by the pool, with beverages, listening to albums for inspiration.”

She had six weeks to write five songs. That’s from the time she learned she would be working with musician and Skagit County native Karl Blau to record the songs — Blau is one of Feinberg’s favorite artists — to the time she first entered the studio.

“Sure, it could have been different if I had all of this time,” she said. “But this is what I had, and this is what I gave, and this is where I’m at in my life: I’m a mom, I’m in a couple of bands.”

Bryan Bradley, one of her TELLERS bandmates and frontman of I Will Keep Your Ghost, is one of the few who have listened to the unmastered tracks. He was enthralled.

“She worked with the right people at the right time,” he said. “I keep thinking, ‘When do I get to hear it again?’ ” Feinberg recorded the guitar and lead vocals, Andrew Dorsett of LAKE took care of the drums and pedal steel guitar, and Blau assigned himself every other instrument.

He’s responsible for some of the hard-to-place sounds, such as a broken accordion that sounds almost like a horn.

He even brought in his mother, Feinberg said, to play French horn on a track.

“I think it brought out an excitement to try new things, try new instruments and play around with sounds,” she said.

“He lives seemingly in another creative realm where he’s hearing lots of things,” she added. “It felt sort of sacred working with him.”

She offered a preview of a few tracks, burned on a CD. Without a disc player in her home, she walked me out to listen to it in her car on that tree-lined street. Each song featured her commanding and piercing timbre.

“Someone recently told me that when they listen to my voice singing, there was a lot of beauty and a lot of pain,” she said. “That was a really helpful thing to hear, and is so true about how I feel.”

Her sound evokes Joni Mitchell, Neko Case, even Alanis Morissette. Bradley, however, said Feinberg’s voice — which he called heartfelt and emotional with an incredible vibrato — is too distinct for a clear comparison.

Even in a lullaby-esque, then-unnamed track, there is a noticeable adoration and longing: “I’ll hold you while you weep, be a witness baby. You teach me how to be free.”

Other songs are about suppressed desires and frustrations, about pursuing freedom and loving oneself.

“A lot of my songs are kind of tough, they’re intense and sad, but there’s hope, too,” Feinberg said.

Soon, these songs will be heard by more than her family and friends (and this reporter). It’s a frightening prospect, but one she is learning to embrace.

“If someone is listening and paying attention or just gaining something out of it, anything, that would make me feel so good,” she said.

As songwriting for TELLERS has become more collaborative, Feinberg has leaned into becoming and being Sylvi.

“I definitely plan on pursuing it,” she said of recording and performing apart from TELLERS and I Will Keep Your Ghost.

Though the album doesn’t yet have a release date, Feinberg said she is targeting April. Eager listeners can also expect some shows, so that they, too, can hear her and see her. ■

WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019 • 17

Signature Dish Favorite recipes from local chefs COLIN EVANS

Amarillo Restaurant & Tavern, Monroe

BY EVAN THOMPSON PHOTOS BY OLIVIA VANNI

T

hey call it Cowboy Caviar, but don’t worry: No one’s asking you to eat fish eggs.

It’s a Tex-Mex-style chunky salsa with a lime-infused dressing that eats like a delicacy at Amarillo Restaurant & Tavern in Monroe.

The dip, served with tortilla chips, is made with a colorful mix of roasted corn, black beans, avocado, tomatoes, cilantro, red onion and smoked jalapenos.

“A lot of people send their family and friends in just for that,” said Connie Adams, who owns the Texas-style barbecue restaurant with her husband, Brian. “We use our smoked jalapenos that we smoke in-house here, which makes it more of a signature dish for us.”

A chipotle vinaigrette, which combines citrus and smoky flavors, ties the medley of vegetables and beans together.

Cowboy Caviar, also known as Texas Caviar, was introduced in 1940 by a chef named Helen Corbitt. She was a cookbook author and among the first to advocate

18 • WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019

Colin Evans preps vegetables for Cowboy Caviar in the kitchen at Amarillo Restaurant & Tavern in Monroe.

for cooking with all fresh ingredients.

Colin Evans, executive chef at Amarillo, said Cowboy Caviar is a healthy alternative to the barbecue, steaks and burgers also on the menu.

“They just love the texture, fresh crunch, the beans, the house-fried chips — all of it works so well together,” Evans said. “It’s such a wonderful, refreshing dish compared to all of our heavy, smoked meats.”

True to its Texas roots, this Cowboy Caviar has a kick to it — mostly because of Amarillo’s smoked jalapenos.

“These things have power,” Evans said. “We smoke them whole. All of the seeds, all of the pits are still in there. That concentrates it and seeps into it and creates an intense heat profile.”

He said the key to a good Cowboy Caviar is balance.

Equal flavors between the ingredients keeps the heat factor in check.

Presentation is equally important.

“Everyone eats with their eyes first,” Evans said. “It doesn’t look like we just threw it on a plate and sent it out the window.”

The Cowboy Caviar has been a popular item on the menu ever since Amarillo Restaurant & Tavern opened in September in a 115-year-old building on E. Main Street.

If the restaurant’s name sounds familiar, that’s because the original Amarillo Restaurant, owned by Gordon Campbell in Omaha, Nebraska, was known for serving the best barbecue in the city and had a celebrity following.

The Adamses, of Lake Stevens, bought the rights to the restaurant in a proxy auction after Campbell retired.

They remodeled the Monroe building, a former tavern, hired Evans and sent him to Texas to learn

from pit masters.

Evans, 29, has been a cook all his working life, starting out as a prep cook and weekend dishwasher at a place called the Black Sheep Cafe. The Lynnwood native’s grandmother stirred his passion for cooking, but not in the way you might expect.

“She was a very old-school cook — grew up in the Depression — and she would never let me in the kitchen,” Evans said. “I would have to stand there and watch. It was like a forbidden fruit.”

He learned to cook for himself when he was 11. When he was old enough to get a job, he worked in local restaurants.

His passion caught the eye of his culinary teacher and assistant principal at Scriber Lake High School in Edmonds (he graduated in 2009), who helped him attend Le Cordon Bleu — one of the top culinary schools in the country at the time — in Portland, Oregon.

After graduation, Evans worked at a few more restaurants, including Diamond Knot Brewpub in Mountlake Terrace, before he was hired at Amarillo.

He said making Amarillo’s Cowboy Caviar at home is easy, even without access to a restaurant-quality smoker.

The smoky taste of the jalapenos and roasted corn can be achieved by grilling them in oil in a saute pan on medium to high heat until they are slightly charred.

“That will add the depth of flavor you’d be looking for,” Evans said.

He recommends rinsing the black beans and draining the juices from the tomatoes to ensure the dip’s longevity.

And one more tip: “You really want to put your heart and soul into it,” Evans said. “That’s where the true flavor comes out.” ■

Cowboy Caviar

avocado in half, remove the seed and dice the flesh. You’ll want the avocado to be cut into larger chunks than the onion, tomato and jalapeno.

1 cup canned black beans 2 ⁄3 cup red onion 1 ⁄3 cup tomato ½ cup yellow corn, thawed if frozen 1 tablespoon cilantro 3 tablespoons jalapeno 1 avocado ¾ cup chipotle dressing For the chipotle dressing: 1 ⁄3 cup canola oil 4 teaspoons adobo (or chipotle puree) 1 teaspoon apple vinegar 1 teaspoon kosher salt ½ teaspoon ground black pepper 4 teaspoons fresh lime juice

Add the cilantro and avocado, plus the cooled corn and jalapeno to the mixing bowl.

until slightly charred. Set aside to cool.

Making the dressing: Put adobo, vinegar, spices and lime juice into a blender and mix until smooth. While the blender is on, slowly add the oil to the mixture. This will emulsify the oil, making the dressing stable. Makes about ¾ cup.

Place the black beans, red onion and tomato, minus its juices, in a mixing bowl.

Add the chipotle dressing to taste. Mix thoroughly. Serve chilled with corn chips.

Chop the cilantro. Slice an

Serves 4.

Cowboy Caviar features the Amarillo’s house-smoked jalapenos.

Rinse the black beans thoroughly, then drain. Dice the red onion and tomato.

Seed and dice the jalapeno.

Saute the corn and jalapeno separately in a pan with oil

WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019 • 19

He rang the bell of resistance An Edmonds-Woodway graduate’s new novel is based on the story of her husband’s grandfather, who risked certain death to defy the Nazis during WWII.

BY SHARON SALYER

Above: Josef "Anton" Starzmann as a Franciscan friar.

Below: Anton Starzmann and Elisabeth Hansjosten Herter on their wedding day in 1941.

A friar forced from his order during World War II who later answered the newspaper ad of a German widow seeking a husband to support her and her three children.

A man who ignored implied threats to his safety and organized a youth marching band in his village — a subterfuge to prevent them from being enrolled in Hitler Youth, a Nazi organization that was funneling 17-year-olds directly to the front lines.

Historic bronze church bells buried to prevent them from being melted and turned into ammunition — an act of German resistance that could have led to the deaths of all involved, if the plot had been discovered by the SS. These are some of the stories told in “The Ragged Edge of Night,” a historical novel by Edmonds-Woodway High School graduate Olivia Hawker.

Perhaps most astounding of all, these stories are true, and they happened to one man.

20 • WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019

KEVIN CLARK / COAST

Olivia Hawker’s novel, “The Ragged Edge of Night,” tells the story of someone who “fought back against the worst impulses of the human heart,” she says.

Hitler initiated the T4 Program to exterminate all physically and intellectually disabled people in 1939.

Wendlingen, there was a person who spied for the government, reporting people he thought weren’t loyal to the Nazis.

Nevertheless, with help from the village mayor and a local priest, they buried the bells of St. Kolumban, the local parish. They were determined to prevent the 600-year-old bells from being melted and turned into war armaments.

When an SS officer ordered with seizing the church bells came to the village and found them missing, Starzmann told him another SS officer had taken them. This act of defiance nearly cost Starzmann his life, Hawker said.

Questions over the disappearance of the church bells caught the attention of the village “spy.” A letter he wrote accused Starzmann, the village’s mayor and the local priest as being

traitors, disloyal to the party and calling for their arrest.

The letter was discovered — and the three were saved — because it was found the day after Hitler’s death was announced and the town spy had fled.

Starzmann’s children said they knew their father somehow was linked to a plot to kill Hitler, but the details remain a mystery.

Even after the war ended, it was dangerous to discuss such things in a country with many former SS men and Hitler sympathizers still at large. “So for his safety, he never told anyone,” Hawker said.

Anton and Elisabeth stayed together for the rest of their lives, and remained in the village. He continued to teach music and play the organ, and also became a tailor later in life. He died in 1988. She died in 2002.

Their unlikely match gave birth to two more children. Of their five children, one remained in the village where her parents lived. Another married an American GI who served in Germany.

They moved to Seattle, and eventually she convinced four of her siblings to join her in the Puget Sound region, Hawker said. ▼

Hawker’s book is based on the life of Josef "Anton” Starzmann, her husband’s grandfather.

He was forced from his life as a Franciscan friar, although the exact reasons aren’t known.

His order may have been disbanded by the Nazis. Or it may have been caused by him witnessing soldiers forcibly removing physically and developmentally disabled children from the Franciscan school where he taught music — likely to be shipped to their deaths.

“It was a tossup — extermination camps or being hospitalized where they would be euthanized,” said Hawker, who lives in the San Juan Islands. “He just knew once they took them away, they would be killed.”

When Starzmann asked why the children were being taken away, one soldier implied that his wife and daughter would be raped or killed if he didn’t comply with the order.

Hitler initiated the T4 Program to exterminate all physically and intellectually disabled people in 1939.

The soldiers’ raid on the school occurred in 1940 or 1941, Hawker said.

It was an act of brutality Starzmann could never rid from his conscience.

“It haunted him for the rest of his life,” she said. “It ate at him forever that he couldn’t save those kids.”

After leaving the Franciscan order and his happy days as a friar, he answered an ad in a Catholic newspaper from Elisabeth Hansjosten Herter, a widow seeking a husband to support herself and her three children. They married in 1941.

Starzmann’s deep hatred of Hitler led him to join the German resistance. The danger this posed was ever-present.

“It was deadly to resist,” Hawker said.

“You would absolutely be killed if you were caught.”

One of the most widely known German resistance groups was the White Rose student organization.

People were killed on suspicion of being a friend of a White Rose member, she said.

Even in the small farming village in southern Germany where Anton and Elisabeth lived, now known as

WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019 • 21

One of them raised her family in Edmonds. Her son attended Edmonds-Woodway High School, the same school were Hawker was a student. They would later marry.

Hawker’s husband’s relatives told her that after the war, the bells eventually were returned to the church. A parade was held to commemorate the event.

Anton composed a song commemorating the church bells and their history. The work, called “Bell Song,” is performed annually in the German village where they lived.

“They still sing the song and have a memorial ceremony to remember Anton, the mayor and

priest who all played a part in resisting,” Hawker said.

In 2017, with help from Google’s online translation service, Hawker interpreted the lyrics, working to keep some of the rhyme and rhythm of the German verses as it was translated into English.

Hawker said she hopes that readers come to know more about the German resistance from the book, and that it can help inspire people when they’re feeling frightened or helpless to remain true to their ideals.

She calls her book the story of an ordinary person “who fought back against some of the worst impulses of the human heart.” ■

‘Bell Song’ This song, written by Josef “Anton” Starzmann, commemorates the church bells at St. Kolumban in Germany.

Early in the morning, the brazen bell will ring.

At noontime hour we hear her call, sweetly echoing.

And in the weary evening, we hear her soft behest: “Remember your Creator before you go to rest.”

On Sunday morning, bold she cries, “Give God what God is due, So that the Father’s blessings will come again to you!”

Every day her song reminds the mighty and the meek That God, who made the Earth and sky, is here for us to seek.

Day by day, in every hour and season of the year, The bell inspires hearts to praise and fills us with good cheer.

She greets the newest baby with her pealing, glad and bright, When he is carried to the church for baptism’s first rite.

Her joyful chant ascends the clouds to Heaven up above: “Let the children come to me, and learn the Savior’s love.”

The bell rings out when two young hearts are bound in wedded bliss, And seal their sacred marriage with ring and vow and kiss.

Whatever blessing, beautiful and blithesome, Heaven brings, The sound of God’s love echoes in the joyful song she sings.

And even in our darkest hour, she’s faithful in her call — In need and danger, her sharp voice alerts us, one and all.

When storm and tempest threaten, when men cower in their homes, She calls through cloud and thunder in her broad, consoling tones.

When fires rage, when waters rise, when hearts are cold with fear, It is the bell who summons aid, from friends both far and near.

And when a soul departs from Earth, and flies to Heaven’s lee, She sings our loved ones gently to a sweet eternity.

In joy and grief, in rest and need, at home or far abroad, The bell rings out a sense and song of a true and loving God. And in these days of sorrow, in our bleak extremity, Let the bell’s song bring us peace, we pray — peace and unity!

22 • WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019

Author took a different path to writing success “The Ragged Edge of Night” is the 15th book of historical fiction written by Olivia Hawker, one of 36 books she’s published under various pen names, including Libbie Hawker.

The San Juan Island author is a 1998 graduate of Edmonds-Woodway High School, which she credits for helping lay the foundation for her writing career.

At the time, the school was experimenting with arts-based education — a typical curriculum save for the teaching of science and math, which was taught with artistic applications, Hawker said.

Even as a high school student, Hawker said she knew she wanted to be a writer. But being able to immerse herself in the curriculum “allowed me to view it as a career, not a “The Ragged hobby.”

Edge of Night” Hawker said she

By Olivia Hawker didn’t attend college Lake Union because she didn’t Publishing. 329 have the money to do pages. $11.99. so, and she couldn’t guarantee that going into debt for a degree would get her any closer to being a professional writer.

So she took a variety of jobs — among them dog training, working as a zookeeper in Seattle and Tacoma, and data entry — while writing part-time.

In 2008, when she was 28, she began to seriously consider making the leap to writing full time. Six years later, she was doing so.

By 2014, she had published six books and was approached by Lake Union Publishing, an imprint of Amazon Publishing.

Some 50,000 copies of “The Ragged Edge of Night” have been bought in hardback, trade paperback and e-book editions, Hawker said.

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24 • WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019 3 Opening Night attendees 4 Kelly Johnson and Shirley Ayres

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Father-and-son travel experts Rick (right) and Andy Steves stand in front of Rick Steves' Europe headquarters in downtown Edmonds.

ANDY BRONSON / COAST

Travel's in their blood A Q&A with Europe travel expert Rick Steves and his equally wanderlust-minded son, Andy

BY EVAN THOMPSON

L

ike father, like son.

Renowned travel guru Rick Steves didn’t know it, but while he was exploring Europe and building his travel business, he also was inspiring his son, Andy, to follow in his footsteps.

Father and son now share the same passion: encouraging Americans to venture beyond the U.S. border.

Rick Steves, 63, is best known for his television series “Rick Steves’ Europe,” which airs on PBS. He owns and operates a travel business in Edmonds, hosts a radio show called “Travel with Rick Steves” and has authored numerous travel guidebooks. His European travel column runs Sundays in The Daily Herald.

Andy Steves, 31, studied industrial design and Italian

26 • WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019

at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. In college, he found a niche helping students plan weekend trips while studying abroad. In 2010, he launched his own travel business, WSA Europe, which specializes in weekend student adventures.

The younger Steves also has authored a couple of travel guidebooks, including “Andy Steves’ Europe: City-Hopping on a Budget.”

Here, Rick and Andy Steves talk about summer travel in Europe, including pitfalls to avoid and sights to see.

Why go to Europe?

Rick: Europe is the wading pool for world exploration for Americans. That’s the first place to go. I love it. I’ve loved it since the first edition of my book “Europe Through the

Back Door” in 1980.

Is summer a good time to visit Europe?

Andy: Europe is a very popular summer travel destination, so planning ahead is the name of the game. It’s a huge market. Mass tourism is really changing the face of certain cities. That’s not to say you can’t find hidden corners.

However, if you’re going through cities like Barcelona, Venice, Madrid, Paris, Amsterdam, those cities really fill up. What you gain in great weather, and a perfect time to be there, and lots of festivals and events, you’re sacrificing the flexibility of the “fly by the seat of your pants” style of travel.

What’s your No. 1 tip for first-time travelers?

Rick: Assume you will return. Otherwise you try to see everything. You shouldn’t try to see everything — it’s a blessing not to see everything. You have a lifetime of travel ahead of you. Equip yourself with good information and expect yourself to travel smart.

Is there a trick to finding authentic experiences?

Andy: Say “yes.” Europe is your chance to not continue your routine as you do wherever you’re coming from.

It’s your chance to do something unusual, do something unique, whether that’s going on hikes in the opposite direction of where everybody else is going, or trying food you’re not necessarily used to. The list goes on. It’s really about bringing that right mentality that can make a huge difference in your travel experience. Your attitude and the

Italy

Switzerland way you adapt to unfamiliar and sometimes uncomfortable experiences is your way to grow and have a better time.

Can talking with locals improve your experience?

Rick: It can make it bad if you talk with the wrong people.

My goal is to be a temporary local. The inclination is to talk to other tourists, which is really fun, and you can get to know people from around the world. But if you can actually connect with locals in a bar, in a restaurant or at a museum or park, that’s golden. Andy is really good at that. It’s the whole young way of traveling.

Andy: It shows you a whole different human face to the city. No matter how good the information guidebooks can provide, when you meet somebody who is living there, I love making those interpersonal connections.

How do you get over language barriers?

Andy: There is no easy remedy to that. It takes effort, but I always say it’s worth the effort. Even knowing just the basics: “hello,” “how are you?” “goodbye,” “please.” When you show that you’ve put in the effort to understand the local culture, people and their language, it really opens people up, I find. They recognize that immediately. And there are apps. Google Translate is great.

Rick: I met an old man in Tuscany. His daughter ran an agriturismo bed and breakfast on a farm, and he would hang out and flirt with the older ladies (tourists staying ▼

England

Germany

EUROPE PHOTOS COURTESY RICK STEVES' EUROPE

WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019 • 27

France there who don’t speak Italian) with his app.

Andy: You just have to be mindful that phones are a double-edged sword in the sense that they can be a barrier between you and your experience. You have to use it specifically and deliberately as a tool, and know when to put it away.

Where do you go to escape the hubbub of tourism?

Andy: I love southern Spain or the lake district in Italy away from Lake Como or Krakow in Poland. There are going to be thousands of people there for sure, but not quite the flood of others.

Rick: You’re going to go to the famous places, but you can go to the famous places in an off-the-beatenpath kind of way. Andy was just in Venice, frustrated by the cost of hotels.

So he realized for the cost of hotel, he could rent a sailboat and sail on the lagoon. That’s an experience.

How can travelers save money?

Andy: You’ve got to watch out for the small, incremental costs that permeate websites now. Opting to fly to the cheaper airport, but then realizing the bus into town costs 40 Euros — which is more than the original ticket.

Bring that big-picture approach for just about any transaction that you’re thinking about, whether it’s a tour, flights or lodging.

Rick: So, “big picture” meaning more smartly assess the cost. There are a lot of budget tricks. Also, related to that, your time is money. Our most limited resource is time.

Andy: A lot of students will opt for a 14-hour bus from London to

Ireland

Amsterdam to get there. But it takes 14 hours en route. When you only have a couple of days to experience a city, that’s real value and very expensive, relative to the cost of your trip.

Your childhood experiences traveling abroad with your dad must have stuck with you.

Andy: I couldn’t imagine a better teacher. There were plenty of lessons to be had.

Rick: I didn’t know he was paying attention.

Andy: My sister and I grew up going to Europe every summer of our lives. By the time I studied abroad my junior year at Notre Dame — I was in Rome — all of my friends started coming to me asking how they could go to Switzerland to ski or to Prague, or to Amsterdam. I had been to these places, so I knew which way to point them and say, “Hey, you’ve got to look up this bar” or “Stay at this great hostel.” The niche market for travel on the weekends while you’re studying abroad essentially fell in my lap.

What was it like to see your son follow in your footsteps?

Rick: My dad had a piano store here on the same street, and he wanted so badly for me to work in the same piano store as him. I was pressured by that. I wanted to, but it just wasn’t right. I’m sensitive to the fact that fathers would love their sons to do what they do. I never wanted to pressure Andy. Andy’s education just kind of all contributed to his bag of personal skills that helps him run his business and his writing.

It’s just an exciting thing. There’s a new generation and there’s a new style of travel. ■

28 • WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019

Rick Steves’ Europe The older Steves’ business, at 130 Fourth Ave. N., Edmonds, involves his European travel guidebooks, television series and radio show. It offers tours throughout Europe, operates a travel store and teaches free travel seminars. It is not a travel agency, so the business doesn’t book flights, hotels or rental cars. Founded in 1976 as a one-man operation, it now employs 100 experienced travelers.

More at ricksteves.com.

Andy Steves Travel The younger Steves’ business was founded in 2010 as Weekend Student Adventures.

Headquartered in Seattle, it has since expanded to include his European travel guidebooks, podcasts and blogs about travel, entrepreneurship and the nomad lifestyle, and a travel store. The business also offers Europe tours and travel tips geared toward young adults.

More at andysteves.com and wsaeurope.com.

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Tim Palmer camped overnight on a gravel riverbank to capture this shot of Mount Baker looming majestically over the river. This image was used for the Skagit forever postage stamp.

Stamp of honor

The magic Skagit River is one of 12 scenic and wild streams to be honored by the U.S. Postal Service

BY SARA BRUESTLE • PHOTOS BY TIM PALMER

T

he Skagit River may just be the state’s most beautiful river.

The 150-mile-long river flows through North Cascades wilderness, forested hillsides, and the open valleys and farmlands of Skagit County on its way to Puget Sound. Its pristine blue-green waters and cottonwood-lined river banks provide habitat for salmon and eagles.

Soon you’ll be able to send the Skagit’s unique beauty in the mail along with your letters and birthday cards, or just add to your stamp collection.

The Skagit River will be featured on a U.S. Postal Service forever stamp this year.

The Skagit will be one of a dozen rivers pictured in a Wild and Scenic Rivers stamp book to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, which protects more than 12,700 miles of our free-flowing rivers.

The Skagit River stamp features a photo taken by Tim Palmer, an Oregon landscape photographer who specializes in photographing rivers.

“Photographing rivers is definitely my thing,” said Palmer, who has been taking photos of rivers for 45 years. “Rivers are the lifelines on which so much else depends.”

30 • WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019

The Sauk River, of the Skagit's main tributaries, is also preserved by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. It flows through Snohomish County near Darrington.

Palmer, 70, took the photo featured on the stamp during a canoe trip from Marblemount to La Conner in the fall of 2017.

In the picture, a glacier-capped Mount Baker towers over the river. It’s a shot Palmer took special care to get.

Eight miles from where the Sauk River flows into the Skagit, Palmer found the only spot on the river where you can clearly see Mount Baker. He decided to camp right there on a gravel bank and wait for the perfect light to capture the riverto-mountain view with his camera.

Palmer couldn’t believe his luck. The iconic peak often is cloaked in clouds, but when he stopped for photos, there wasn’t one cloud in the sky.

It was breathtaking.

“That is the one place on the 100-mile river where The Cascade River tumbles down a mountain valley on its way to the Skagit River you really get a killer view near Marblemount. The Cascade also is protected by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. of Baker,” he said. “It’s extraordinary.”

Palmer is one of three photographers whose work is featured in the Wild and Scenic Rivers series. His photos of the Snake River in Idaho and Oregon, Flathead River in Montana and Ontonagon River in Michigan also were selected for the stamp collection.

Of Palmer’s stamps, the Skagit photograph is his favorite.

“I was really drawn to the Skagit photo,” he said. “The river is just extremely beautiful and photogenic.”

PRESERVING RIVERS

Tim Palmer took the photo of the Skagit River featured on the stamp while on a canoe journey from Marblemount to La Conner near the river's mouth.

River, they total 197 miles of the state’s 70,439 miles of rivers and streams.

A ‘RIVER LOVER’ Palmer is an award-winning author, photographer and river conservationist. With tens of thousands of photos of rivers, he has one of the most complete collections of river photography in the United States.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in landscape ▼

By the 1960s, it was clear that decades of damming, development and diversion had taken their toll on our nation’s rivers. As concern mounted over the loss of free-flowing rivers, Congress decided to intervene. Thus the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 was signed into law to preserve forever some of the nation’s invaluable rivers.

The Skagit was the first river in Washington state to be protected by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, in 1978.

Today, 209 rivers in the U.S. and Puerto Rico are protected by the act. That might seem like a lot, but it’s not; less than a quarter of 1 percent of America’s rivers are protected by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. By comparison, dams have blocked about 17 percent of American rivers.

In the Skagit watershed, a total of 158.5 miles of river are protected, including the Skagit River, from Bacon Creek near Marblemount to Sedro-Woolley, plus three tributaries — the Sauk, Suiattle and Cascade rivers. The protected part of the Skagit lies just downstream from three dams operated

by Seattle City Light.

Six of Washington’s rivers are now recognized by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. Five more were added after 1978 — Illabot Creek, Klickitat River, Pratt River, Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River and White Salmon River. With the Skagit

WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019 • 31

architecture from Pennsylvania State University, Palmer worked for eight years as a planner on land use and environmental topics from 1971 to 1980.

He then made writing and photography his life’s career.

Palmer, who lives in Port Orford, Oregon, has since published 26 books on rivers, conservation and the environment, including “The Wild and Scenic Rivers of America.”

“I’m kind of the authority on the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act,” he said. “I’ve written the only books on the subject.”

In fact, when the Postal Service was working on its Wild and Scenic Rivers stamp book, planners checked their research with him.

Two of Palmer’s books, “Wild and Scenic Rivers: An American Legacy” and “America’s Great River Journeys: 50 Canoe, Kayak, and Raft Adventures,” The protected stretch of the Skagit River extends from near feature chapters on the Skagit River.

A self-described “river lover,” Palmer has canoed, Marblemount to Sedro-Woolley. kayaked or rafted on more than 300 rivers in the Rivers Act of 1968.

United States and Canada. He lived for 22 years in “These exceptional American rivers run freely throughhis van, traveling throughout North America to do research, out landscapes without man-made alterations and have writing and photography for his books. contributed greatly to this country’s growth and success,” His work — including magazine articles, studies and wrote U.S. Postal Service spokesman Roy Betts in an email brochures on river conservation — has led to the preservation of the Kings River and the South Yuba River in to Washington North Coast Magazine. “These are among California. the best of our nation’s rivers.”

As a landscape photographer, Palmer is drawn to rivers Betts said the addition of a Skagit River stamp to the Wild because they’re the only part of the scenery that moves. and Scenic Rivers collection was an easy choice.

“They’re the dynamic part of the landscape,” he said. “The “Skagit River deserves this high recognition among these rest is basically a still life out there, but the rivers are always American treasures because of its unique beauty and alive.” (because it) was the first river in the state of Washington to receive the Wild and Scenic designation,” he wrote.

So, what about Snohomish County’s own Stillaguamish, FOREVER STAMPS Snoqualmie, Snohomish and Skykomish rivers? Why According to a U.S. Postal Service spokesman, all of the weren’t any of them turned into a stamp? rivers honored with a stamp hold “scenic, recreational, They’re not protected by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural or similar yet. values.”

“I have pictures of all of them,” Palmer said. “Those are all The 12 stamps, which don’t have a release date yet, repre- really notable rivers that are significant in their own ways sent the nearly 210 rivers protected by the Wild and Scenic and certainly deserve protection in their own right.” ■

The river stamps Here’s a list of the 12 Wild and Scenic rivers that will appear in the 2019 forever stamp collection. ◆ Merced River, California ◆ Owyhee River, Oregon ◆ Koyukuk River, Alaska ◆ Niobrara River, South Dakota/Nebraska ◆ Snake River, Idaho/Oregon ◆ Flathead River, Montana

◆ Missouri River, Montana/ South Dakota/Nebraska ◆ Skagit River, Washington ◆ Deschutes River, Oregon ◆ Tlikakila River, Alaska ◆ Ontonagon River, Michigan ◆ Clarion River, Pennsylvania

32 • WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019

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Carl and Rita Comfort own and operate Comforts of Whidbey in Langley.

Whidbey Comfort This couple’s hard work and dedication pay off with a destination B&B and winery

BY CELESTE GRACEY • PHOTOS BY OLIVIA VANNI

I

f you turned at a vineyard, meandered through a meadow, passed a pair of alpacas and parked near walnut trees, you’ve probably found the Comforts of Whidbey.

Follow the sounds of hard work — perhaps a grape crusher or lawn mower — and you might also find the Comforts, that is Rita and Carl Comfort, the two farmers, vintners and bed-and-breakfast owners responsible for

34 • WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019

this idyllic Langley estate.

Their tale is that of two earnest people, both Army veterans, who went big when giving up was the only other option. But before delving into their story, consider the completed dream. Their three-story business, styled with steel beams and timber, opened about three years ago. It plays host to a B&B, tasting room and cellar, all under the same roof.

One of six rooms on the top floor at Comforts of Whidbey. The beds are dressed with handmade quilts.

eventually settled in Australia for 16 years. Just as their two children were approaching middle school, they knew the window on returning stateside was closing. The fear, Carl confessed, was that their kids might fall in love with their high school sweethearts in Australia and stay forever.

Carl hails from Whidbey, and the couple purchased land on the island with plans for a house. However, an ad for a boat they didn’t buy led them to the farm that would become their home.

They couldn’t compete with developers in the hot real estate market, but the farmer wanted to see his vineyard continue.

▼

The top floor with its six rooms promises a relaxing stay, with views of Possession Sound instead of TVs. The clutter-free rooms are finished in simple Northwest style, with natural-edge wooden headboards and handmade quilts.

When the tasting room isn’t pouring wines made from the Comforts’ German-French grapes, it hosts breakfast for guests. Rita cooks with eggs from her 80 chickens, fruit from her orchard and vegetables from her garden.

In season, the garden also fills with dahlias, which are picked for special events. Rita cleared out her potting shed, which (like most things on this estate) has a view, so a wedding party could assemble bouquets with the flowers.

From the tasting room, which comfortably hosts parties of 100, visitors can wander onto an expansive covered deck for the view, perhaps best taken in with a glass of wine.

Stairs lead down to two massive oak doors, complete with artisan iron handles, that conceal the wine cellar.

The lucky patrons who convince the owners to give them a tour of the winery will find a cool and tidy cellar packed with steel drums and wooden barrels. The unmistakable smell of sweet oak and fermenting grapes fills the air like perfume. With arched doorways, painted walls and concrete floors, the space is a mixture of craftsmanship and industry.

The estate has outgrown the vision the Comforts had when they purchased the 22-acre farm more than a decade ago.

The couple met in the Army, married in Turkey and

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“It took us eight months to convince him that we were silly enough to keep the farm a farm,” Rita said.

It didn’t take long for the Comforts to realize the cost of growing grapes exceeded the money they made from selling them. Then, just two weeks before a harvest, their biggest buyer fell terminally ill and backed out. With 16 tons of fruit and no reasonable offers, they made a snap decision to launch a winery, and in 2010 they bottled their first wine.

Carl reached out to John Patterson, a household name in Washington’s wine industry, who, in addition to running his namesake winery, also offers consulting support to boutique wineries.

“They’ve had this consistent drive, whereas other people would tap out,” Patterson said of the Comforts. “They have a solid background and understanding. I have no problem recommending their wines.”

A small space off their garage and three parking spots played the role of tasting room, but the numbers still didn’t add up, Rita said. “It wasn’t sustainable.”

Carl had the idea to host weddings and events. They had a beautiful location, he said, but they lacked the infrastructure to support it.

Their thought process went something like this: An events business could support the wine, which could support the farm, and a B&B could provide a steady revenue stream. That’s when the vision for the estate came together.

The Comforts make wine from angevine and sylvaner grapes grown on the farm.

Today it’s one of the nicer facilities of its kind, Patterson said. “It’s a fun place. I love going over there and hanging out… I’m always jealous.”

For the Comforts, the farm and winery have always been about creating community. On harvest day, they invite friends, family and a few strangers to help, rewarding them with a prime-rib lunch. They’ve since learned that it’s cheaper to hire hands than feed volunteers, but the annual event brings the community together. They couldn’t let the tradition go.

“It’s not what you do,” Carl said. “It’s why you do it.” ■

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Comforts of Whidbey is at 5219 View Road, Langley. Spring hours are 1 to 5 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Call 360-969-2961 or go to comfortsofwhidbey.com for more information.

The Whidbey Island Vintners & Distillers Association is hosting a local gourmet food and wine pairing at each of its wineries and distilleries, including Comforts of Whidbey, Spoiled Dog Winery and Whidbey Island Distillery in Langley, Greenbank’s Holmes Harbor Cellars and Blooms Winery in Freeland, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 18 and 19. Tickets are $25 in advance at brownpapertickets.com, or $30 the day of, at the venues.

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A day on SAN JUAN ISLAND Leave your car on the mainland and explore the island by bus, bike or scooter.

BY SHARON SALYER

W

hen the cherry blossoms begin to bloom and azure blue skies bound Mount Baker, we Northwesterners tend to forget the long gray slog of winter.

But let’s admit it: We’ve been dealing all winter with a case of cabin fever.

So what better way to celebrate the onset of spring than a trip to San Juan Island?

Even a day trip gives you a sense of a true getaway. It’s easy to catch a morning ferry in Anacortes and arrive in time for a quick lunch before exploring the island — or just hanging out in Friday Harbor.

Here’s one other incentive. The island, the archipelago’s most populous, gets half the rainfall of the Everett area.

“It’s true. We do have better weather here,” said Barbara Marrett, a spokeswoman for the San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau.

So what are you waiting for? Here are some places to consider for a day or weekend trip:

FRIDAY HARBOR The islands’ only incorporated town is easy to explore on foot, so feel free to leave your car in Anacortes.

You’ll find restaurants and shops a short walk from the ferry landing. Other walkable

38 • WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019

Go cycling at Cattle Point on San Juan Island’s southern tip.

SAN JUAN ISLANDS VISITOR BUREAU PHOTO

destinations include: San Juan Islands Museum of Art: About four blocks from the ferry terminal, the museum at 540 Spring St. has earned a reputation for staging top-notch exhibits in its three galleries.

Opening April 5 will be “My War: Wartime Photographs

by Vietnam Veterans,” a series of wartime photographs and other personal artifacts from 25 Vietnam veterans from around the nation. In the north gallery will be a local component to “My War,” focused on personal items from

AROUND THE ISLAND If you drove on the ferry, here are places you won’t want to miss. And even if you walked on, there are ways to get around the island. More about that later.

Lime Kiln State Park: The 42-acre park at 1567 West Side Road is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

It’s named for the lime kilns that operated there from the 1860s to the 1920s. The park’s lighthouse is one of the most photographed on the West Coast, Marrett said. It

▼

SAN JUAN ISLANDS VISITOR BUREAU PHOTO

If you’re lucky, you’ll spot orca whales swimming off Lime Kiln State Park on the island’s west side.

veterans who live in the San Juan Islands. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday to Monday through May. Call 360-370-5050 or go to sjima.org for more.

The Whale Museum: The museum at 62 First St. N., about three blocks from the ferry dock, promotes the stewardship of whales in the Salish Sea through education and research. It’s open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Call 800-9467227 ext. 30, or visit whalemuseum.org.

San Juan Historical Museum: This is a 15-minute walk from the ferry landing, at 323 and 405 Price St. It’s open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, May 15 through September. Call 360-378-3949 or go to sjmuseum.org for more information.

Jackson Beach: Find this beach at Jackson Beach Road off Pear Point Road. If you’re willing to stretch your legs a bit, enjoy a sandy beach 1.6 miles from the ferry. More at visitsanjuans.com/attractions/jackson-beach.

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traditionally has been known as a place to spot whales, but because there’s currently a shortage of chinook salmon, the orcas’ primary food, the resident whales are more dispersed. “If you want to see whales, the best thing to do is go on a tour boat,” Marrett said. “Seeing them from shore is really hit and miss.” They’re typically spotted June through early October. More at visitsanjuans.com/members/ lime-kiln-point-state-park.

San Juan Island National Historical Park: The park is split into two sections on either end of the island.

It commemorates joint U.S. and British control of the island in the mid-19th century. The Americans were headquartered at the south end of the island, and the Brits occupied the northern tip. Eventually, the entire island was awarded to the U.S. by a third-party arbitrator.

American Camp is due south of Friday Harbor on Cattle Point Road. The Visitor Bureau’s Marrett said she always steers visiting friends to Cattle Point Lighthouse at American Camp. “There’s this incredible view of the lighthouse, and then the prairies of American Camp, and in the background all of southern Lopez Island,” she said.

“It’s a beautiful view.” Call 360-378-2240 or go to nps.gov/sajh/learn/historyculture/american-camp.htm for more.

English Camp, the other half of the historical park, is located near Roche Harbor at the island’s north end. “I like to (hike) up Young Hill with its amazing view of the

Canadian Gulf Islands,” Marrett said. “That’s a 1-mile hike, fairly steep, but gives you a great view.” More at nps.gov/sajh/learn/historyculture/english-camp.htm.

OTHER SAN JUAN SITES Roche Harbor: While you’re at English Camp, check out the Hotel De Haro, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. There’s also a pioneer cemetery, the John S. McMillin Memorial Mausoleum, and the Roche Harbor Lime Works, where lime processing began in the 1850s. With its cafes, restaurants and artist kiosks in the summer, “it’s a charming village,” Marrett said. “It has a formal garden that’s often voted the premier wedding destination in the Northwest.”

Pelindaba Lavender: Some 35,000 lavender plants grow on the 20-acre farm at 45 Hawthorne Lane, which opens in April. Its busiest times are Memorial Day through Labor Day. English lavenders begin blooming in June, but the peak season for the fields is mid-July to mid-August. Call 866-819-1911 or go to pelindabalavender.com for more.

Scenic Byway: This driving tour of San Juan Island hits all the highlights we’ve already listed and adds a few more, such as the hike to the summit of Mount Finlayson on the island’s southern tip. More at visitsanjuans.com/what-to-do/experiences/ touring-islands-scenic-byway.

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40 • WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019

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GETTING THERE If you’re driving aboard the ferry, Washington State Ferries recommends you make a reservation. Go to secureapps.wsdot.wa.gov/Ferries/Reservations/Vehicle, or call 888-808-7977.

If you walk or ride a bike on the ferry, you don’t need a reservation, but you will need to park your car for a fee in one of several parking lots at the Anacortes terminal. You also can park for free at the March Point Park & Ride and ride a Skagit Transit bus to the terminal. For more about that, go to skagittransit.org/route-410EW.

GETTING AROUND San Juan Transit: The spring schedule starts in May, with routes that connect the ferry dock in Friday Harbor with Roche Harbor, Alpaca Ranch, English Camp, Lavender Farm, San Juan County Park, Whale Watch Park, Snug Harbor, Sculpture Park, American Camp, Lakedale Resort and San Juan Vineyards. Call 360-378-8887. More at sanjuantransit.com/schedules.html.

Jolly Trolley: These decorated buses are scheduled to begin its round-the-island trips May 17, although weekend service may be available earlier. Check the website for details. Four trolleys will operate this year, two going clockwise and two going counterclockwise around the island. Passengers can hop off, take a look around and then grab a trolley to move on. Trolleys will be available

Ethical, Rigorous & Compassionate

to pick up passengers at designated spots once each hour.

Tickets are available at a kiosk near the ferry terminal.

Visitors can catch the trolley to Lime Kiln State Park and pick up a box lunch for $9. Call 360-298-8873. More at fridayharborjollytrolley.com.

Moped, electric bike and car rentals: Susie’s Mopeds, at 125 Nichols St., Friday Harbor, rents electric bikes, mopeds, car-like “scoot coupes” and a small SUV. Call 360-378-5244 or 800-532-0087. Go to susiesmopeds.com for more.

Kayak rentals: Discovery Sea Kayaks, 260 Spring St., Friday Harbor, rents bikes, too. It opens in May. Call 360-378-2559 or 866-461-2559. Visit discoveryseakayak. com.

LODGING If you decide to spend more than a day, some local businesses offer spring break discounts, starting in March and continuing through April. More at visitsanjuans.com/spring-break-specials-events.

GENERAL VISITOR INFORMATION For more information on San Juan Island’s attractions, restaurants and lodging, contact the San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau at 888-468-3701 or go to visitsanjuans. com. ■

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DAN BATES / COAST

Jackie Cort works in a cozy studio behind her home in Snohomish.

A ‘full-time creative’ Artist Jackie Cort says the quiet Snohomish countryside inspires her Who: Jackie Cort, 53, aka the “Wax Slayer.”

I’m a full-time artist and work in my studio in Snohomish on the Pilchuck River. I teach there as well as the Schack Art Center in Everett. I love abstract and work in every medium I can get my paws on, but primarily in encaustic, which is the use of melted beeswax and a torch. It has a tactility like no other medium that inspires me every time I touch it.

What: My practice includes my husband, Todd, making my substrates, then when the inspiration hits, I go out back and get to work. I like to rotate mediums to keep things fresh, and I’m not one who can work in a very cohesive manner. Mostly because my emotions and inspirations are all over the map. I used to worry about that, but have come to decide that it’s more authentic for me to paint from the heart at its momentary place than to make it match my last painting. Because I’m a major empath, it’s best for me to isolate myself when I’m working to keep me on track.

42 • WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019

Walks in the woods are always my favorite way to freshen my palette.

When: I guess it started as a child when I would constantly draw pretty girls in long gowns with big hair, and get yelled at a lot for doodling on all my parents’ mail and important papers and pimping out my jeans with Sharpies. But it was when my mom passed away too young that I took the plunge and quit my full-time job to be a full-time creative. I’ve never regretted that decision. Admittedly, it’s easier to jump when your kids are grown (Sarah is 35 and Taylor is 28) and you have a supportive husband. I’m super grateful for them and their encouragement.

Where: I live in Snohomish, such a beautiful area. My creative energy always comes from these surroundings. We live in the country. My studio is on the greenbelt of the river with goats, chickens and, finally, now bees. This area has all we need to keep an inspired sense of gratitude. We love weeds and we love simple. And sometimes we love weed.

Why: Leads me to my teaching. I’ve been teaching different art workshops for over five years now. Talk about inspiration. Teaching really fuels me. I learn so much from my students. I love people and really enjoy connecting with other creatives as well as beginners. We are all just trying to express ourselves.

Art is truly such a gift to bring people together and give space to communicate one’s feelings in a safe environment. I am of the belief that “make art not war” isn’t just a mantra, it’s a real possibility. Let’s try it and see. This summer I will be hosting art retreats that include meditation and painting for process. I’m looking forward to some painting in the mountains.

How: I am completely fulfilled when I’m alone for a long stretch of meditating, observing, writing, walking, seeing all the “little” things. I need to feel grounded and grateful. I love lying in grass looking at the sky and flipping over to see the alive world we walk on. From all of this comes the art, grounding one’s self is how we feel safe, and ready to speak in whatever way we choose: art, song, words, dance …

Favorite painting: Hands down, “A Fire Within” inspired by the 2017 Women’s March in Seattle. A day I will never forget, it truly did cause a fire for us all to do better — and we are and we will. It was sold at an auction to support the arts and children’s programs.

— Compiled by Andrea Brown

ANDY BRONSON / COAST

Cort puts a coat of varnish on a painting.

Coming up Jackie Cort will have a booth at the Artists’ Garage Sale at the Schack Art Center in Everett on June 1 and paint live at Fresh Paint at the Everett Marina on Aug. 17 and 18.

More encaustic art: See more of Cort’s work at fineartamerica.com/profiles/jackiecort.html.

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Teach a child to fish With trout season opening April 27, here’s how to get youngsters hooked on the sport — even if Mom and Dad don’t fish themselves.

T

STORY AND PHOTOS

BY MIKE BENBOW

aking a kid fishing is great family fun.

It’s also a rite of passage: Many of us have fond memories of learning how to fish with Mom and Dad. We look forward to the day it’s our turn to teach, thus passing the reel and rod to the next generation.

Whether you’re an avid angler or your family has little to no experience fishing, you’ll want to mark the fourth Saturday in April on your calendars.

April 27 is one of the bigger events in Washington state’s outdoors calendar: the opening day of trout season.

While some lakes open early and others are open year-round, the 27th is the start of fishing season for the vast majority of lakes in the state. To get ready, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife stocks the lakes with millions of trout.

If you’d like to get a child involved in fishing, but don’t really know much about it, don’t worry. The state sponsors a number of free fishing events for kids up to 14 from April through

A dad helps his son try to hook up with a trout at the Everett fish-in.

June, including several in Snohomish and Island counties.

No license is required in Washington for anglers younger than 15.

The Everett Steelhead and Salmon Club hosts some of the county’s more popular kids fishing events. The club’s fish-ins and classes, scheduled each spring in Everett and Marysville, attracted more than 1,200 children in 2018, according to Barry Martin.

Martin, who coordinated the fishing events for the city of Everett for years, now supervises them for the Everett steelhead club.

44 • WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019

He said that not only are the events great family fun, they help foster in children a love of the outdoors.

“It’s something really positive you can do as a family unit,” Martin said.

The kids fish-ins are held in memory of the late Jim Brauch, a retired Everett police lieutenant who was instrumental in getting club members to help teach children to fish at these events.

Gary Medema, a member of the Evergreen Fly Fishing Club in Everett, has volunteered at the kids fishins for many years. He said Brauch’s

FREE FISHING EVENTS FOR KIDS Here are six kids fishing events in Snohomish and Island counties this spring. For a calendar of events around the state, go to wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/kids/events.html.

Everett APRIL 24 The Everett Steelhead and Salmon Club hosts a fishing class prior to the trout opener. The class will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at Silver Lake’s Thornton A. Sullivan Park, 11405 W. Silver Lake Road. Kids will learn how to fish, hear about the rules and get suggestions about where to go. They will also receive some free tackle and equipment. Call the Everett Parks Department at 425-257-8300 ext.

2 to register.

A girl displays her catch at the Everett Fish-in.

the fish and just about anything else they would need.

“It’s actually fun,” Medema said. “It’s great seeing kids go out and catch their first fish.”

Medema, of Marysville, said kids of all ages and abilities can and should learn to fish. It’s fun and easy to do. ▼

excitement over helping kids learn to fish was contagious — it’s one of the reasons why Medema keeps coming back.

“He really had a passion for seeing kids get involved in the outdoors,” Medema said.

Volunteers help kids prepare the equipment, cast their rods, unhook

MAY 11 The Everett steelhead club’s kids fish-in is from 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., also at Sullivan Park. The state will stock an enclosed area at the Silver Lake beach. Kids without equipment can borrow a rod and reel. Bait will be provided.

Volunteers will help children where needed, including cleaning the fish so kids can eat their catch.

Call Everett Parks to register for a time slot.

the same time. Cost is $3 for kids, $5 for adults. Call 360-363-8400 or email dhall@marysvillewa.gov for more.

MAY 18 The Everett Steelhead and Salmon Club will also hold a fish-in for kids at Twin Lakes (Gissberg Ponds) at 16324 Twin Lakes Ave. The event is in the north pond from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The fish-in will include plenty of stocked fish, volunteers to provide help and fishing equipment available for loan.

Monroe APRIL 28

Marysville

The Sky Valley chapter of Trout Unlimited will host the Monroe Kids Fishing Derby from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Lake Tye. Meet at Lake Tye Park, 14964 Fryelands Blvd.

For kids 13 and younger. The lake will be stocked with fish. Fishing equipment is provided. Volunteers help children with their catch.

Prizes awarded. Search for Trout Unlimited-Sky Valley 654 on Facebook for more information.

MAY 4

Whidbey Island

Marysville’s fishing derby, co-hosted by the Everett steelhead club, will be 8 to 11 a.m. at the pond at Jennings Memorial Park, 6915 Armar Road. Kids can use their own equipment, but there will also be loaner tackle. Bring a donation for the food bank. Leave pets at home. For kids 2 to 12 years old. The Marysville Kiwanis Club hosts a pancake breakfast at

MAY The Holmes Harbor Rod and Gun Club’s Kids Fishing Derby is typically held the Saturday before Mother’s Day at Lake Albert.

Bring your fishing gear and bait to the lake in Maple Glen at 5291 Hawthorne Lane, Langley. For kids 2 to 14. Call 360-221-8494 for more information.

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WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019 • 45

A few years ago, he helped a kid with a disability cast their rod. He was happy to see the child come back to the event several times since.

The fish-ins are also helpful for parents who don’t know anything about fishing but want to get their children involved in outdoor activities, Medema said.

“A lot of single moms are so happy to get somebody to help,” agreed Ron Pera, of Camano Island, a fish-in volunteer who is also a member of the fly fishing club. “Grandparents, too.”

He loves helping children who haven’t fished before.

“They reel the fish in like crazy,” Pera said, “and they sure are happy when they get it in.” ■

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Volunteer Ron Pera removes the hook from a nice trout.

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OUR FAVORITE

MARCH

EVENTS

“Five Women Wearing the Same Dress” MARCH 1-17 Five very different bridesmaids find themselves hiding together in a bedroom, hoping to escape the wedding reception of a bride that — they soon realize — none of them actually like. Red Curtain presents Alan Ball’s comedy at the Red Curtain Arts Center, 9315 State Ave., Suite J, Marysville. Tickets are $18 for adults, $15 for seniors, students, military. redcurtainfoundation.org

“I Do! I Do!” MARCH 1-24 Village Theatre presents a musical about marriage at the Everett Performing Arts Center, 2710 Wetmore Ave., Everett. Starting on their wedding day, this Broadway classic chronicles Michael and Agnes’ 50 years of life and love together. Tickets are $29-$69. villagetheatre.org

Chad Prather 7 P.M. MARCH 2 The comedian, armchair philosopher, musician and observational humorist will perform at the Historic Everett Theatre, 2911 Colby Ave., Everett.

Prather is often referred to as a modern-day Will Rogers. Tickets are $35-50. historiceveretttheatre.org

Sol de México 7:30 P.M. MARCH 2 Sol de México, led by maestro Jóse Hernàndez, brings mariachi music to the Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 Fourth Ave. N., Edmonds. Sol de México was the first mariachi band to be nominated for a Grammy. Tickets are $34-59. edmondscenterforthearts.org

DeMiero Jazz Fest 7 P.M. MARCH 7-9 More than 60 jazz choirs will perform at the 43nd annual festival at the Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 Fourth Ave. N., Edmonds.

International star Dee Daniels will headline three evening concerts.

demierojazzfest.org

Pearl Django 7:30 P.M. MARCH 9 The Hot Club-style band performs the best of gypsy jazz at the Tim Noah Thumbnail Theater, 1211 Fourth St., Snohomish. Tickets are $20.

thumbnailtheater.org

Cascade Symphony Orchestra 7:30 P.M. MARCH 11 The “Petrushka: A Puppet’s Life” concert will be performed at the Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 Fourth Ave. N., Edmonds. Program includes Stravinsky’s “Petrushka” featuring soloist Nathan Chan on cello. Tickets are $27 for adults, $22 for seniors, $15 for students, $10 for youth.

cascadesymphony.org

Sno-King Community Chorale 3 AND 7 P.M. MARCH 16 Sno-King Community Chorale presents “Musica da Coro: Changing Seasons” at Trinity Lutheran Church, 6215 196th St. SW, Lynnwood. Program includes Jake Runestad’s “The Secret of the Sea” and “The Hope of Living.”

Featuring “Frostina,” seven poems

by Robert Frost set to music by composer Randall Thompson.

Tickets are $25 for adults, $22 for seniors and $15 for children 12 and younger.

sno-kingchorale.org

Booker T. Jones 7:30 P.M. MARCH 16 Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Booker T. Jones fronts a 10-piece band at the Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 Fourth Ave. N., Edmonds. This performance features the music Jones helped record and produce for Stax Records in its 1960s heyday. Tickets are $34-$69.

edmondscenterforthearts.org

48 • WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019

Aegis 7 P.M. MARCH 17 Aegis is a Filipino rock band whose songs have been featured in the award-winning musical “Rak of Aegis.” The band will perform at the Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 Fourth Ave. N., Edmonds.

Tickets are $78. VIP tickets are $98 and include a photo op. edmondscenterforthearts.org

George Noory 5 P.M. MARCH 23 The national radio talk show host of “Coast to Coast AM” covers stories the mainstream media doesn’t touch: paranormal phenomena, time travel, alien abductions, conspiracies. Noory will interview Peter Davenport, Jonny Enoch, Dannion Brinkley and John Hogue about all things curious and unexplained at the Historic Everett Theatre, 2911 Colby Ave., Everett.

Tickets are $40. historiceveretttheatre.org

Low Lily 4 P.M. MARCH 24 Low Lily plays acoustic music that is deeply rooted in tradition yet sounds refreshingly contemporary.

Hear her at Tim Noah Thumbnail Theater, 1211 Fourth St., Snohomish. Tickets are $20. thumbnailtheater.org

“Ripcord” MARCH 29-APRIL 20 Phoenix Theatre presents David Lindsay-Abaire’s comedy at the Edmonds theater of the same name, 9673 Firdale Ave., Edmonds.

Marilyn and Abby couldn’t be more different — and they’re forced to share a room at a retirement home.

The adversaries try to out-prank each other in a wager over who will move out and who gets the bed by the window. Tickets are $30 for adults and $25 for students, seniors, military. tptedmonds.org

Everett Chorale 3 P.M. MARCH 30 The “We Are the Storytellers” concert will be performed at the Everett Performing Arts Center, 2710 Wetmore Ave., Everett.

Program includes original theater in the dell’arte fashion by Shannon and Stephen O’Bent of the Flying Karamazov Brothers. Featuring the

Snohomish County Youth Chorus.

Tickets are $21 for adults and $16 for seniors, students, military. everettchorale.org

“New Works” 7 P.M. MARCH 30 Olympic Ballet Theatre performs an evening of new works at the Everett Performing Arts Center, 2710 Wetmore Ave. Featuring a variety of styles that showcases the ballet company’s versatility and expands its repertoire. Tickets are $24-38. olympicballet.com

APRIL Danilo Brito 7:30 P.M. APRIL 5 The mandolin soloist and composer will perform music of Brazil at the Edmonds Center for the Arts, 401 Fourth Ave. N., Edmonds. Tickets are $19-$44. edmondscenterforthearts.org

Randy Hansen 7 P.M. APRIL 6 For more than 30 years, Randy Hansen has been performing a tribute to Jimi Hendrix. Hansen and his band will play the Historic Everett Theatre, 2911 Colby Ave., Everett. Tickets are $30. historiceveretttheatre.org

“New Works” 7 P.M. APRIL 6 Olympic Ballet Theatre performs an evening of new works at the Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 Fourth Ave. N., Edmonds. Featuring a variety of styles that showcases the ballet company’s versatility and expands its repertoire. Tickets are $24-40. olympicballet.com

Gypsy Soul 7:30 P.M. APRIL 6 Hear genre-defying music at Tim Noah Thumbnail Theater, 1211 Fourth St., Snohomish. Tickets are $20. thumbnailtheater.org

Pacifica Chamber Orchestra 3 P.M. APRIL 7 The “Spring Concert” will be performed at First Presbyterian Church, 2936 Rockefeller Ave.,

Everett. Program includes Giacomo Puccini’s Chrysanthemum and Robert Stark’s Wind Quintet Op. 44.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students and seniors. pacificachamberorchestra.org

artist under this pseudonym. Catch his act at the Historic Everett Theater, 2911 Colby Ave., Everett.

Tickets are $8. historiceverettheatre.org

“The Addams Family”

7:30 P.M. APRIL 24 Sitar player and composer Anoushka Shankar, daughter of Ravi Shankar and half-sister of Norah Jones, will perform Indian music at the Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 Fourth Ave. N., Edmonds. Tickets are $29-$64. edmondscenterforthearts.org

APRIL 12-MAY 5 The Edmonds Driftwood Players present a musical based on Charles Addams’ macabre family at the Wade James Theatre, 950 Main St., Edmonds. It’s every father’s nightmare: Wednesday has fallen in love with a “normal” man and wants Gomez to keep it a secret from wife Morticia. Tickets are $28 general, $25 youth, senior, military. edmondsdriftwoodplayers.org

“The Mikado” 7:30 P.M. APRIL 13 New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players present “The Mikado,” a comic opera in two acts, at the Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 Fourth Ave. N., Edmonds. Though the opera is set in Japan, it is a satire of 19th century British politics and institutions. Tickets are $39-$69. edmondscenterforthearts.org

Cascade Symphony Orchestra 3 P.M. APRIL 14 Musicians will perform in a variety of chamber ensembles at Edmonds United Methodist Church, 828 Caspers St., Edmonds. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students, $5 for youth. cascadesymphony.org

Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra 7 P.M. APRIL 14 Cuban percussionist Ignacio Berroa leads the band in a concert at the Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 Fourth Ave. N., Edmonds. A superstar on the drums, Berroa plays in all the New York big bands looking to mix Latin grooves with their jazz sounds. Tickets are $36 for adults or $10 for students. srjo.org

Caspar Babypants 1 P.M. APRIL 20 Chris Ballew is best known as the former frontman of The Presidents of the United States of America, but he also performs as a children’s

Anoushka Shankar

“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time” APRIL 26-MAY 19 Village Theatre presents this sensory drama based on the award-winning book of the same name at the Everett Performing Arts Center, 2710 Wetmore Ave., Everett. When 15-year-old Christopher is wrongfully accused of murdering his neighbor’s dog, he sets off to solve the mystery and prove his innocence. Tickets are $29-$69. villagetheatre.org

Jefferson Starship 7 P.M. APRIL 27 The rock band once known as Jefferson Airplane will perform their greatest hits, including “White Rabbit,” “Somebody to Love,” “Volunteers” and (infamously) “We Built This City,” at the Historic Everett Theater, 2911 Colby Ave., Everett. Tickets are $40-$55. historiceveretttheatre.org

MAY Alan Doyle 7:30 P.M. MAY 3 The Canadian musician and actor is best known as the lead singer of the folk-rock band Great Big Sea. Doyle, on tour with his third solo album, “A Week at the Warehouse,” will perform at the Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 Fourth Ave. N., Edmonds. Tickets are $19-$49. edmondscenterforthearts.org

Everett Philharmonic Orchestra 3 P.M. MAY 5 The “Listener’s Choice” concert

will be performed at the Everett Civic Auditorium, 2415 Colby Ave., Everett. Program includes Richard Wagner’s Overture to Rienzi and Tristan and Isolde: Prelude & Liebestod. Featuring soloist Melissa Plagemann, mezzo-soprano. Tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors and military, $10 for students and free for children 12 and younger. everettphil.org

Cascade Symphony Orchestra 7:30 P.M. MAY 6 The “Mozart and Mahler” concert will be performed at the Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 Fourth Ave. N., Edmonds. Program includes Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 2 in D Major and Mahler’s Symphony No.1 “The Titan.” Featuring soloist Alexander Lipay on flute. Tickets are $27 for adults, $22 for seniors, $15 for students, $10 for youth. cascadesymphony.org

Boris Can Dance 7:30 P.M. MAY 11 This band plays R&B, soul, pop and funk — with a twist. They’ll perform at Tim Noah Thumbnail Theater, 1211 Fourth St., Snohomish. Tickets are $15. thumbnailtheater.org

Heart by Heart 8 P.M. MAY 11 The band featuring original Heart members Steve Fossen and Michael Derosier will perform at the Historic Everett Theatre, 2911 Colby Ave., Everett. Heart’s radio hits include “Magic Man,” “Crazy On You,” “Dreamboat Annie” and “Barracuda.” Tickets are $20-$35. historiceveretttheatre.org

Arts, 410 Fourth Ave. N., Edmonds.

Born in Tel Aviv, Anat is a rising international star in contemporary jazz. Tickets are $19-$49.

edmondscenterforthearts.org

The Fabulous Thunderbirds 7 P.M. MAY 18 The blues rock band, featuring sole original member Kim Wilson, will play such barnburners as “Tuff Enuff” and “Wrap It Up” at the Historic Everett Theatre, 2911 Colby Ave., Everett. Tickets are $25-40.

historiceveretttheatre.org

Ronnie Spector 7:30 P.M. MAY 23 The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and lead singer of the Ronettes will perform at the Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 Fourth Ave. N., Edmonds. Expect to hear such hits as “Be My Baby,” “Baby, I Love You” and “The Best Part of Breakin’ Up.” Tickets are $29-$64.

edmondscenterforthearts.com

“Women in Jeopardy” MAY 24-JUNE 16 Phoenix Theatre presents this slapstick comedy at the Edmonds theater of the same name, 9673 Firdale Ave, Edmonds. Mary and Jo think their best friend Liz’s new beau, Jackson, is a serial killer.

When Jackson announces plans to take Liz’s 19-year-old daughter on a camping trip, the women snap into FBI mode to apprehend him.

Tickets are $30 for adults and $25 for students, seniors, military.

tptedmonds.org

Fisherman’s Village Music Festival

“[Title of Show]”

MAY 16-18 The multi-genre music festival hosted by the Everett Music Initiative is now in its sixth year. An estimated 60 bands will perform in downtown Everett. Early bird wristbands are $69. thefishermansvillage.com

This one-act musical chronicles its own creation as an entry in the New York Musical Theatre Festival.

It follows the struggles of the author and composer/lyricist and their two actress friends as they write the musical. Red Curtain presents the post-modern workin-progress at the Red Curtain Arts Center, 9315 State Ave., Suite J, Marysville. Tickets are $18 for adults and $15 for seniors, students, military.

Anat Cohen 7:30 P.M. MAY 17 Clarinetist-saxophonist and jazz musician Anat Cohen will perform at the Edmonds Center for the

MAY 31-JUNE 16

redcurtainfoundation.org

WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019 • 49

Why I Love It Here

Frances Wood

ANDY BRONSON / COAST

Frances Wood has a view of Hat Island from her home on Whidbey Island.

S

alt water beaches, seabirds, views of Hat Island across Possession Sound. Really low tides and really high tides. I love it here on Whidbey Island because all this and more has settled deep into my soul, possibly even my DNA. I was born in Everett, and my family visited a cabin across the bay on Whidbey every summer. Those summers on the beach seduced me: sand in my salty, straggly hair; putting on my bathing suit as I took off my jammies each morning; the freedom to roam like a beach rat; floating in rowboats or just on my back gazing at the puffy clouds. The memory of those childhood summers has pulled me back to that same beach most every summer of my adult life, even when I lived across the country or overseas.

My great-grandmother left Oakland, California, and settled in Snohomish in the 1880s. I’ve been asking myself why she would up and move like that for decades. I’ve recently become so obsessed with the question that I included a fictionalized account of my great-grandmother’s decision in my recent novel, “Becoming Beatrice.” It tells the story of a young school teacher finding her way in a roughand-tumble mill town.

My ancestors came here because of the big old-growth trees around Snohomish. They were in the lumber business, filling jobs across the spectrum, from mill owners to cabinet

builders and casket makers. They valued the trees for the lumber they could produce and sell. I value the remaining trees as an important keystone in the ecology of our natural world.

The family stories my grandmother told me about Snohomish and Clinton Beach prompted me to later write “Down to Camp: A History of Summer Folk on Whidbey Island,” and that led to writing histories of Bayview Corner and Langley on Whidbey Island.

Perhaps it was the great blue heron stalking the beach in front of our cabin, or the gulls floating around our heads as we cleaned fish, or the barn swallows nesting on the rafters of the cabin porch that caused me to notice wild birds. Later I studied them in college and then spent much of my life painting and writing about our avian friends and teaching others the skills and joys of birdwatching.

During a conversation on my deck overlooking Possession Sound, a friend and I began designing the radio series about birds and birdsong called “BirdNote,” now aired daily across the country. Would that have happened in a conference room in downtown Seattle?

I love Whidbey Island because it is a place where I can get close to nature, be inspired by it and find a doorway into the longings of my soul.

That’s why I love it here. ■

More about Frances Wood: The 74-year-old naturalist and author is well known for her work on birding. Wood has written five books, including “Brushed by Feathers: A Year of Birdwatching in the West” and, most recently, “Becoming Beatrice,” her first novel. She was a co-founder of and wrote nearly 100 scripts for “BirdNote,” a daily radio segment on the intriguing ways of birds.

Wood writes a bird and nature column for the South Whidbey Record, a Sound Publishing newspaper. She and her husband live in Langley, where they tend a vegetable garden, a small vineyard and a flock of chickens.

50 • WASHINGTON NORTH COAST MAGAZINE • SPRING 2019

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