Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
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When the Hardware Distillery and Hood Canal Events teamed up to stage the fifth annual Fjordin Crossin festival on June 17 at the Port of Hoodsport dock and marina, the community responded. Co-founder Jan Morris, who's also the co-founder of the Hardware Distillery with her husband, Chuck, said the festival drew 300 attendees, and more than 70 kayakers, paddleboarders and canoeists for the Paddle the Canal challenge, organized by Kerry Myers of Hood Canal Events. "It was our biggest turnout...
“Secret Invasion” began its six-episode run June 21 on Disney+, with new episodes dropping Wednesdays. Welcome back, Nick Fury. The Marvel Cinematic Universe wasn’t the same without you. While Samuel L. Jackson still brings the same fire to the role, he’s visibly a different Fury. He walks with a limp. His beard has gone gray. And he no longer bothers to wear an eyepatch to cover his scarred face and cloudy eye. These changes are verbally reinforced by the former spymaster being told he’s lo...
North Mason School District Superintendent Dana Rosenbach summed up the 2022-23 school year by declaring the district had ended the year "strategically, financially and systemically sound," while "keeping true to our mission, to educate, empower, inspire and prepare all our students to graduate, confident in their abilities to meet life's challenges and opportunities." Rosenbach deemed it "a tremendous year of growth" for North Mason, with high enrollment, which appears on track to continue, as...
The Port of Hoodsport Commission took a moment at its June 7 meeting to review the May 27 grand reopening for the Hoodsport Community Trail Park and the accompanying disc golf course. Port of Hoodsport Executive Director Kathleen Wyatt noted that tables had been stocked with discs and packages of pine tree seeds, stamped with the Port of Hoodsport logo, which were given to the public, along with an assortment of drinks and snacks Port Commissioner Terry Brazil had prepared near the entrance of...
Last week in streaming, the 21st century's best "Star Trek" series returned for a second season on Paramount+, and the honorary godfather of superhero comics was treated to a highly sympathetic documentary on Disney+. In some corners of the internet, I saw the second-season premiere of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" described as "underwhelming," and I can only wonder what alternate timeline version of this show those people were watching. Just as its first season did, the return of "Strange...
Many amateur — or “ham” — radio hobbyists develop their skills to provide lines of communication when other avenues of communication have failed, and they need to practice to keep those skills current. During the weekend of June 24-25, hams across the country will set up operations to make as many contacts as possible within 24 hours for this year’s American Radio Relay League Field Day. The Mason County Amateur Radio Club, which operates under the Amateur Radio Emergency Service, will join...
Seeing the Michael J. Fox biopic "Still" on Apple TV+ last month stuck with me, so I skipped the latest "Transformers" film to raid Fox's catalog for a couple of his lesser-loved films to see how they hold up in retrospect. Writer-director Paul Schrader's "Light of Day" cast Fox alongside rock 'n' roll musician Joan Jett in 1987, while Jay McInerney wrote the screenplay for the 1988 movie adaptation of his own novel, "Bright Lights, Big City," which starred Fox in 1988. Both films were released...
Cody Morris, head brewer and founder of Potlatch Brewing Co. in Hoodsport, credited Kelli Kohout, co-founder of the Hoodstock Music and Arts Festival on the Hood Canal, with inspiring him to brew custom ales for community events. It started with a recipe for last year's Hoodstock, and expanded for this year's Hoodstock and Fjordin Crossin events. Morris debuted his farmhouse ale, which employs a largely traditional Scandinavian recipe and kviek yeast, May 19 at Potlatch Brewing to lead into the...
When the Class of 2023 graduated from North Mason High School on June 9, its numbers included 32 multilingual-learner students, so this year’s graduation ceremony included a new accommodation for MLL students’ families. Amanda Marley-Clarke, communications specialist for North Mason School District, explained how this year’s high school graduation made the first use of district interpreters to provide simultaneous translation services, through 35 headsets, directly to the multilingual families i...
Port of Allyn Executive Director Lary Coppola reported progress on a few fronts at the June 5 port meeting, including the pier replacement project being allotted $515,000 in the port’s capital budget. Coppola summed up the port’s options as either replacing the pier with a new structure or sleeving the existing pilings, which would effectively remove creosote from the water in addition to halting the deterioration of the pilings. “However, we will have to drive new pilings for the ones that...
As the Hardware Distillery and Hood Canal Events team up to stage the fifth annual Fjordin Crossin festival on June 17, event co-founder Jan Morris wants to ensure returning and new attendees know the festival's features. Morris, co-founder of the Hardware Distillery with her husband, Chuck, said a free shuttle is set to run roughly every half hour from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. that Saturday to cater to those arriving early and to encourage them to explore the area later that afternoon. The shuttle...
Just as 2021’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” beat 2022’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” in introducing the concept of the multiverse to live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe fans, so did 2018’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” (and 2021’s “What If…?” streaming series for the MCU) beat both films in introducing the multiverse to Spider-Man and Marvel fans alike in animation. (Warning: Multiple spoilers ahead.) Between all those big (and small) screen works, plus 2022’s “Every...
In the wake of commissioner Ray Mow’s death April 8, fellow Port of Dewatto Commissioner David Haugen has been appointed to replace him as chair of the port’s board of commissioners, but Mow’s seat on the commission remains vacant. Port of Dewatto Manager Jeana Crosby reported to the remaining two commissioners that, as of May 10, she had not received any calls or mail requesting interviews or applications for Mow’s vacant seat. She’d submitted an invitation to apply for that seat within days of...
Alexis Newton is the featured artist for June at Belfair Self-Storage's art wall. Raised in Port Orchard, Newton was born in and spent "a huge part" of her childhood in Shelton, where most of her extended family has lived. "My parents have lived on Mason Lake for the last couple of decades," Newton said. "It's essentially where I 'return home' nowadays." Newton, whose website at www.DrawingAli.com shows a sample of her portfolio, describes graphite pencils as "my true love and passion, when it c...
After her unexpected but characteristically meditative revisionist Western "First Cow" in 2019, Oregon filmmaker Kelly Reichardt returned yet again to her stomping grounds with "Showing Up" in 2022, which I finally had a chance to catch in the Rose Theatre's Starlight Room in Port Townsend. This film could have been subtitled "The Portland Scene," because not only does it capture the subculture of working-class artists and the murmuring, occasionally circular conversations that define their...
It’s a tradition that has been put on pause just once, during the first year of the pandemic. Shelton Cinemas’ Summer Movie Mondays returns June 26, starting with the musical comedy “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile.” Brittney Kick, head manager of Shelton Cinemas, recalled how the event got started in 2013 as “our gift to the community,” with prices to match. “It’s a milestone for this program, but we hope we can continue it for many more years to come,” Kick said. “Regardless of the pandemic or the eco...
The return of the HUB Center for Seniors’ semiannual fundraising runway show May 13 drew 75 attendees, 19 models and raised $1,700 for the HUB. A significant portion of money came from a sponsorship by the Haven In Allyn Assisted Living, courtesy of founders and co-owners Debra and Ron Jamerson. The event included Belfair Self-Storage manager Barbara Treick’s BABS (Barbara’s Accessories and Bags Store), Birdi Nagy’s Birdi Designs, Jess Tomato’s Silver Crucible and Grace Wagner, who teaches j...
The Port of Grapeview has decided a review and update of the port’s comprehensive scheme is warranted. During the port’s May 16 meeting, Commissioner Mike Blaisdell included his draft of an update to the port’s goals and objectives for the commissioners’ review. Commissioner Jean Farmer, attending the May 16 meeting via Zoom, suggested board commissioners schedule a special workshop to review the draft update, “all three of us, in person, reading page by page together.” Farmer had already loo...
The Port of Hoodsport’s efforts to satisfy the conditions of renewing the lease on the port’s dock from the state Department of Natural Resources have yielded mixed results. Port Commissioner Cody Morris reported May 10 that he had found more than one engineering firm to receive bids on the dock pilings. He expressed optimism that this would enable the port to strive for “the best price possible.” Morris has reached out to state Sen. Drew MacEwen, and state Reps. Dan Griffey and Travis Couture....
'Mrs. Davis' on Peacock I promised I would offer a final verdict on Peacock's "Mrs. Davis" streaming series once it had aired all eight of its episodes. As of May 18, its entire run is now online, but I still find myself left with mixed reactions to the whole affair. First off, credit to series co-creator Damon Lindelof for not choking in the clutch on "Mrs. Davis" in the same way he did on "Lost," because it wrapped up with all its plot threads tied up so neatly that, in retrospect, it becomes...
The North Mason School Board's May 18 meeting saw Transportation Director Maurine Simons present data on ridership, maintenance and the costs of running her department. The district bought four new buses, getting rid of four buses that were 20 years old. Prior to that, 62% of those buses were off the depreciation schedule. That went down to 46%. Big buses run on a 13-year depreciation schedule. Small buses are on an eight-year schedule. The average age of the district's small buses is 9.1 years,...
When John and Katherine Yackel founded the YSS Dive Shop in Hoodsport in 2020, they saw it as their responsibility to protect and advocate for Hood Canal. Hood Canal - technically a fjord - includes what John said is "a very special underwater world," with its own diverse selection of life. Educating divers and nondivers about the need to shrink their carbon output became a priority for the Yackels. "Most people had no idea how much debris was at the Port of Hoodsport, until we started hosting...
It's hard to convey to those who didn't experience the 1980s firsthand what a huge deal Michael J. Fox was, and how much he seemed to remain a down-to-earth guy. I'd say (as a compliment to both men) that he was the Will Smith of his day, except Smith and Fox's heydays weren't that far removed - "Family Ties" ran from 1982-89, while "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" ran from 1990-96. And of course, Smith was never diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. The title of the Michael J. Fox biopic on Apple TV...
North Mason High School Theatre presents "Grease" at 7 p.m. on the Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays of May 18, 19 and 20, and June 1, 2 and 3, at the school in Belfair. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for ASB members and children aged 12 years and younger. North Mason High School Drama Club adviser Hilary Gennaro said "Grease" is "a rather expensive and large production, so it is often difficult for smaller schools like North Mason to produce," but fortunately, this year saw "a wonderful...
Port of Dewatto Manager Jeana Crosby talked about the search to replace Port Commission Chair Ray Mow, a port commissioner since 2017. Mow died April 8. “We have not had anyone apply as of yet,” Crosby told the Herald on May 12. “We do have a few people whom we are going to ask.” Crosby was not able to release those people’s names, she did note the replacement needs to be from Mow’s district. Mow represented Port of Dewatto District No. 2, which includes Haven Lake, Wooten Lake and the surroun...
