POULSBO — For the past nine years Mariann Samuelsen has watched the Midsummer bonfire burn on the shores of Liberty Bay, but this year will be her last.
Nonethless, as the embers fade to black and she moves on, Little Norway will always be kindled in her heart.
After 17 years in Poulsbo, the former Sons of Norway administrator and her family are moving to western Norway.
PORT GAMBLE — In Port Gamble, history seems to whisper out from the buildings. Even today in the 21st century, one gets the feeling of bygone days. One could almost believe that events from the past still play over and over again in the quiet town.
KINGSTON — In the wake of tragedy, positivity shall rise.
Today, on the final day of the 2005-2006 school year at Kingston Junior High, both the school and Kingston communities are still reeling and recovering from the shock of two student deaths and ensuing problems at the KJH.
As the dust of confusion and sadness settles, the clarity of Cavalier community action has been manifesting.
Cappella Choirs, based in Port Orchard, is offering a wide variety of summer singing activities for youths from kindergarten through high school age.
How about a singing summer camp? Cappella Camps offer a mix of traditional summer camp activities, such as crafts, competitions and water games, with choir and music classes. Each camp session concludes with a family concert put together during the week.
Author Patricia Klindienst contends that the garden as we know it is presented as a “province of the privileged and white.†Martha Stewart come to mind.
She feels garden writing, by extension, tends to bypass the experiences of the ethnic peoples and their contributions to our landscapes. “As a result, the idea of the garden has been stripped of its cultural weight.â€
POULSBO — Of all of the pomp, prestige, processionals and parties of graduation this past weekend, one of North Kitsap High School’s three valedictorians, Jack Ramsey, offered some of the most blunt and brilliant advice to the North Kitsap class of 2006.
“Live with passion, seek out those things that make you happy. Go out into the world and just rock it!†Ramsey said closing his valedictorian speech at the NKHS graduation ceremony June 17.
“The Nutcracker†and “Coppélia.†They are the bookends of the classical ballet canon, both de rigueur for any serious dancer’s portfolio. While dance companies throughout Kitsap County regularly stage “The Nutcracker†during the Christmas holiday season, fewer take on “Coppélia,†although it is just as captivating.
Kingston’s Grand Old Fourth of July celebration isn’t grand for nothing — after all, the event isn’t just about the fireworks that burst and boom over Apple Tree Cove every year.
Certainly, Independence Day there just wouldn’t be the same without them and the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe is to be thanked profusely for personally making sure the 2006 show will go on. Even so, the event’s appeal goes far beyond the “rocket’s red glare.â€
SUQUAMISH — Nestled deep in the Suquamish Elementary School Library, a dozen individuals started to plan. Though the group was small, its hope was to enact big change in the community, and now it finally has the means to do so.
The “inaugural†meeting of the Suquamish Community Advisory Committee took place Thursday evening, and members are just raring to go.
In search of the great outdoors, Kitsap style.
My boss told me recently I needed to get out more. Huh? Moi? The self-annointed A&E Diva of Kitsap County? I try to get out every weekend and take in at least one of the fine theatrical performances, art shows or concerts that I preview. Sometimes I even drag myself off the couch to go to something mid-week. What was he trying to tell me?
POULSBO — For years Doug Morse saw something missing in the hodgepodge of retailers, restauranteers and professional services of Little Norway’s historic downtown.
Finally in January, Morse filled that perceived void when Ya Betcha Korner Cafe opened its doors.
“I wanted to do something with a Viking theme and I had an idea, but I needed a cook that could bring my idea to life,†Morse said as he sat with the cafe’s head cook Jim Suchanek.
POULSBO — At the conclusion of the Special Olympic state Summer Games June 2-4 in Tacoma, all of North Kitsap’s contestants left the King County Aquatic Center with medals swinging and clinking from their necks.
And two of the nine contestants from the NK Special Olympics swimming club — Katie Burton and Chad Steyer-Morgan — are waiting to hear if they will be selected to compete in World Games, which will be held in Shanghai in the People’s Republic of China in October.
INDIANOLA — When Mary Catherine Kolb had her hip replaced earlier this school year, she said she could only think about one thing: getting well so she could get back to her kids — all 34 of them.
Perhaps this way of thinking is why Kolb is now preparing to celebrate the 25th anniversary of her business, and by default, her children.
Go fly a kite. That’s not usually considered career advice, but in the case of Greg Kono it would be.
Kono is a master kite maker who takes the childhood pastime of kite flying into the realm of fine art. A selection of his creative handmade kites are on display at Bainbridge Arts and Crafts Gallery through the end of the month, and he will lead a Japanese bamboo kite making workshop at the gallery June 24.
POULSBO — As a first-grade teacher at Christ the King Academy, Judy Driscoll took her students on a tour of the city’s downtown historic buildings as part of their local history studies.
When she retired, Driscoll met up with AJ Waatland from the Poulsbo Historical Society and an instant bond was formed.
While their peers may be spinning on their heads practicing their latest break dancing moves, or too cool to dance at all, a large multi-age group of students meets every Monday at the Sons of Norway Hall in Poulsbo to work on their hambos, polkas and other traditional Scandinavian circle folk dances.
LITTLE BOSTON – The Little Boston Library will soon have new pages, bindings and a spine as the old place of learning will soon become the newest and final building in the House of Knowledge complex.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the new Little Boston Library will pitch shovels of dirt at 11 a.m. Tuesday. Soon after, construction on the library will begin, and its books will have new shelves to sit on.
POULSBO — The proverbial lump of coal local officials received when the bids for the State Route 305 widening project were opened turned into a diamond Friday.
Stan Palmer Construction of Port Orchard was the apparent low bidder June 1 at $14.9 million, which was $3.5 million more than the state engineer’s estimate of $11.4 million.
Even so, news that the necessary funding for the project had been secured reached Mayor Kathryn Quade early Friday morning.
KINGSTON — Every year, the Kingston Fireworks Fund struggles to light the fuse for the big show.
And more often than not, it takes a big last-minute burst to bring in enough money to set the show off over Apple Tree Cove.
KINGSTON — Kingston Junior High School principal Ed Serra announced plans to resign from his post June 13 and pursue one of his career goals of becoming a superintendent.
Serra’s resignation comes at the tail end of a North Kitsap School District hiring frenzy that began at the start of 2006 with a quest to find leaders for two other resigned secondary principalships at North Kitsap and Kingston High schools and one vacated office after an interim period at Poulsbo Junior High.