Note: Most photos were taken at various 2024 WIGT locations by David Welton. Originating in 1996, the popular Whidbey Island Garden Tour was created to pay legal fees associated with saving Langley’s Saratoga Woods from development as an all-inclusive resort. After some tense times and much hard work, the 188-acre forested property finally became a permanently protected preserve in 2001. Since then, the WIGT has raised more than $550,000 in its 28 years of operation. Tour ticket sales allow the nonprofit to continue funding causes that promote conservation of our environment through restoration, beautification and education for stewardship of our…
Author: Kate Poss | With Photos by David Welton
Kate Poss | With Photos by David Welton
Kate Poss This Is Whidbey was founded by Kate Poss for readers who are interested in cultivating our island’s quality of life, including its land, sea, and air; its people, plants, and animals; and the bodies, minds, and spirits of its inhabitants. You may know Kate from her work in island libraries through May of 2016. Her background includes a career in newspaper reporting in Los Angeles for various weeklies and dailies, including The Los Angeles Times. She was a frequent contributor to the online Whidbey Life Magazine and still writes for the biannual print magazine. David Welton Stories are highlighted by David Welton’s excellent photography. David is a retired physician who was a staff photographer for Whidbey Life Magazine since its early days. His work has also appeared in museums, art galleries, newspapers, regional and national magazines, books, nonprofit publicity, and on the back of the Whidbey Sea-Tac Shuttle!
Note: Our South Whidbey Commons is a beloved gathering place for the community. Here’s a letter asking for support to keep this non-profit running as it should. –Kate Poss Dear Friends of The Commons, We are excited to announce that—thanks to the nearly 250 donations from our cherished community—recent pledges have brought our promised total to enough to pay off our building note! We are so close to meeting our original campaign goal, which also includes fundraising for our kitchen remodel. As often happens with such endeavors, both the construction costs and the required length of the cafe’s closure have…
Greetings Everyone, I’m sitting in the Sonoma County Branch of the Sebastopol Library with the intent of bringing you up to date on the past four days. We drove this morning through intense wind, noting downed trees along I-280 and flooding at various places including Mill Valley. This resulted in a power outage in Monterey County. Our friend Sheila who lives there sent an email Dec. 14: “The whole central coast from Big Sur north to the Bay Area has had/has outages. I don’t think our power will return soon. 45,000 customers out of power in Monterey County — a…
Hello Family and friends from beautiful Julian CA! We–Bajada Bill and Cactus Kate–arrived late in the afternoon Nov. 17 to this tiny San Diego County mountain town known for its homemade pies. Bill, as you know, loves good pie and had hoped to stop in at Moms Pie House for a couple of slices. But–like many small towns of character in proximity of a big city–the place was OVERWHELMED with tourists who packed the sidewalks of the tiny town standing in line to get a slice of love from from one of the half dozen pie shops. We kept right…
The public is invited to visit the new offices of South Whidbey at Home at an open house Oct. 3 from 3 to 5 PM. The inspired group is dedicated to providing quality of life for folks aging in place. The non-profit has offered services since 2016 to members 55+ who may need a ride to an appointment, light gardening, simple home repairs, companionship and more. Ross Godwin, a retired home repair man, has volunteered with South Whidbey at Home since its creation in 2016. He is currently the non-profit’s vice president. In a current phonecall, he mentioned that South…
This year’s Soup Box Derby in Langley held Sept. 15 was an homage to South Whidbey’s ingenuity, and one of its characters, Peter Lawlor, who may now be racing his rigs in the spirit world, perhaps singing salty sea shanties accompanied by his melodeon, and reunited with his beautiful wife, Valentine. This is Whidbey covered Peter’s last race in 2019. His life passed from his body in the summer of 2021, a few months short of his 100th birthday. Gretchen Lawlor raced in the 2019 event. At that race’s conclusion, Peter read this poem. Gretchen honored her father’s legacy once…
Until we met our friends Lori Barian and Lance Landquist for lunch at their cozy Greenbank home last week, I had not heard of the HONK! street band phenomenon. Lance plays trumpet for SOUND MACHINE, a HONK! genre band part of a growing international community. He mentioned he’d be performing at the September 15 Soup Box Derby in Langley. HONK! brass and drum street bands got their start in 2006 in Somerville, Massachusettes, where the annual HONK! Fest continues to take place. The idea has spread internationally with the formation of community bands such as our own SOUND MACHINE. Impressed…
David Welton took these photos of sunflower fields at Scenic Isle Farm in Coupeville. The farm, which has stood for more than 130 years, grows Sugar Hubbard squash, pumpkins and hosts the Scenic Isle Sunflower Stroll, which is open until Sept. 15. David phoned the other night and spoke rapturously about the 96,000 seeds planted last April to create an experience not to be missed. Visit Thursday-Monday from 10 AM to 5:30 PM. The $15 admission for those aged 13+ includes a stroll and 3 blooms to take home. U-Pick blooms are available for additional purchase. It is located at…
Come celebrate the inauguration Sunday, August 11, of artist Melissa Koch’s Wishing Wall, located behind the sculpture of Hope the Wishing Whale, at Anthes and First Streets in Langley. The Langley Arts Fund sponsored the art installation and reception, which takes place from10 AM to 4PM. Partnering with the Langley Creates Creative District, Langley Arts Fund received an $18,750 grant from the Washington State Arts Commission (ArtsWA), along with community contributions for a total of $54,000 to fund, design and create the metal art installation, an homage to our natural world. The powder-coated copper-hued metal artwork depicts our Salish Sea…
It’s a week later, and after seeing David Welton’s photos from the rodeo, held for the first time in a long while at the Whidbey Island Fair, I felt like I was back in the stands cheering the performers human and animal. Bravo! Thank you, Anne Madsen, for putting this event together for the fair and generating an interest in roping and riding. Opening ceremonies honoring the rodeo’s sponsors: A&J Western Riding, Madsen Enterprises, Whidbey Coffee, Eagle Builders, Sebo’s Do-it Center, Frontier Paint, and Hanson’s Building Supply. Pull the ribbon from the goat’s tail Barrel racing Breakaway roping–a popular rodeo…