October 26, 2022 North County Outlook

Larsen visits two Marysville projects earmarked for potential funds

By Christopher Andersson christopher@northcountyoutlook.com

Two major Marysville projects could soon receive a large amount of their funding as federal money has been earmarked for a park at Mother Nature’s Window and a Grove Street over-crossing.

U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen visited the sites of the two projects with Marysville officials on Oct. 21 to talk about the progress on the funding.

The packages to provide funding for the two projects have passed the U.S. House of Representatives, but still have to go through the U.S. Senate.

The Mother Nature’s Window project has $750,000 earmarked cur rently.

M'ville Civic Center opens to public

By Christopher Andersson christopher@northcountyoutlook.com

Marysville’s new Civic Center construc tion is complete and city staff has begun to provide service there for residents and com munity members.

The facility has been under construction for more than a year now and will provide a consolidated location for the Marysville’s city hall offices, court, police offices, com munity development and public works.

Various departments are still moving into the building, but customer service of fices are available for the public now.

North Puget

Previous facilities were beginning to get crowded for city staff.

“The city has grown and we had depart ments located in three to four different buildings,” said Connie Mennie, communi cations manager for the city of Marysville.

“It wasn’t efficient for city workers and also it was confusing for members of the public."

Marysville officials had been planning the new facility for a couple of decades.

“When we were looking at one point, the city had looked at other city-owned prop erty and was considering a new city hall

Any Size or Shape

fitted to

North County Outlook publishes final issue

It is with great sadness that we must announce that after more than 15 years of serving the communities of North Snohomish County, this will be the final issue of the North County Outlook.

Since our first issue pub lished on Sept. 14, 2007, we have worked hard to provide a free community newspaper that informed and entertained our read ers. Our staff (both cur rent and former) worked diligently to meet the needs and expectations of our readers and advertisers.

We are very proud of the work we have done over the years, not only in the weekly newspaper, but also in the many special sections we produced, including the Marysville Strawberry Fes tival programs, the Arling ton Festival programs, our Healthy Living magazines, our Let’s Get Acquainted

sections, and so many more.

Community newspa pers, like so many other small businesses, were se verely impacted by the pan demic. Despite our best ef forts the economic impact proved too much for us to overcome.

We want to thank all of our readers. It was for you that we worked so hard to

FILE PHOTO Sue Stevenson See OUTLOOK

PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER ANDERSSON

Marysville’s new Civic Center facility.

See CIVIC on page 2

See LARSEN

PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER ANDERSSON

U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, right, and Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring make their way through the Mother Nature’s Window property on Oct. 21.

CIVIC

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where Grove Elementary is now,” said Mennie.

That plan didn’t work out, but the city returned to plans to build a new facility near Comeford Park.

“It’s been a pretty exciting oppor tunity. I think when people get here, especially the public, they’ll realize it was a good investment,” said Mennie.

The police, jail and court portions of the facility were paid for with the public safety tax that was approved by Marysville voters.

The other portions are meant to be subsidized by selling the other build ings that the city owns but no longer uses, such as the old city hall facility.

“Our monthly payments will re main the same as they were in the past because this is more energy efficient and we’re paying for one place instead of three,” said Mennie.

As of Oct. 19 the new Civic Center began accepting utility bill payments.

“Anything you need to do for util

LARSEN

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“Mother Nature's Win dow is important because we got that into public hands 23 years ago and now we fi nally have an opportunity to develop it into the regional park that we have all envi sioned over that time,” said Larsen.

The old-growth forest area was previously an area that Snohomish County owned before being annexed by Marysville.

The two government agencies have been prevent ing development in it to eventually turn it into a park.

“It’s not really open be cause there’s nowhere to park and the trails need to be reformed. We hope to build a picnic area and an educa tional area for the kids,” said Marysville Mayor Jon Neh ring.

The city has three planned phases for improvements to

ity billing or getting a building permit you can do at the Civic Center now,” said Mennie.

Those actions can be done in the lobby of the building.

“It’s a unified front counter so all of the customer service items are here,” said Mennie.

Offices for utility billing and com munity development are nearby on the first floor.

“Those are the people who have most of those kinds of meetings with the public,” said Mennie.

There will be a new City Coun cil chambers as part of the building as well, which the Marysville City Council hopes to begin using Nov. 7, although they are waiting on some equipment which means that date may have to be pushed later into the month.

The new chambers has a workroom attached which can be opened up for community gatherings.

“If we use it for some kind of pub lic function we can set out food and handouts,” said Mennie.

A balcony area connected to the chambers can also be opened to pro

the park and $750,000 could get them part of the way through those plans.

“It’s been closed for 20 years,” said Tara Mizell, di rector of Marysville’s Parks, Culture and Recreation De partment, so work needs to be done to redo the signage.

Mizell noted that peo ple who have traveled into the property recently have sometimes gotten lost in the trails that exist and have had to call to be helped out.

She said an educational area to encourage school visits is also planned for the property.

“And a bus turnaround so that they could drop kids off easily,” she said.

The biggest improve ments for right now remain public access.

“We’re working with the city to make improvements here so that there is better access and the city pursued an earmark at the federal level,” said Larsen. “They’ll use that federal money to re

vide additional space.

A plaza in front of the new Civ ic Center is also capable of hosting events.

Marysville’s annual Sept. 11 cere mony was held there and a drive-thru trick-or-treat event will also be held there on Oct. 27.

Seating installed in Comeford Park will also help the plaza host events, which officials hope will be open soon.

Mainly the new bathroom facility needs to be completed.

“We do have a big event planned for Merrysville for the Holidays,” said Mennie, who added the park is expect ed to be fully open by then.

Staff is adjusting to the new build ing and excited for the additional space, said Mennie.

“City staff should be moved in by the end of October,” she said.

Once the Marysville City Council begins using their space in November, all local officials will be moved into the building.

Mennie said they plan to have an open house sometime soon, after all city staff are in the building.

ally develop public access.”

The property in central Marysville would also allow the city to start constructing additional recreation op portunities away from south Marysville, where the major ity of parks are right now.

“The further north you go in Marysville, the less trail or park assets that we have here,” said Nehring.

The second project Lars en visited was the Grove Street over-crossing, which would provide a way for lo cal traffic to travel above the train tracks that run parallel to State Avenue.

The total cost for the project would be about $26 million.

“We’re looking at about $18 million for construc tion,” said Jeff Laycock, di rector of engineering and transportation services.

Three million dollars is currently earmarked in the federal funding package.

“It’s only $3 million of a much larger project but that

is going to be an important part of the whole project to connect Marysville,” said Larsen.

Currently, there is no way for Marysville traffic or first responder vehicles to get around a train going through the city.

“It’s going to give the city of Marysville and its first re sponders and its citizens the ability to access east and west even if there is a train going through town,” said Larsen.

A way to bypass trains is one of the most frequently requested items for the city, said Nehring.

“Everybody is so tired of waiting for trains,” he said.

City officials looked at the various ways to do that at the various crossings and ended up focusing on the Grove Street crossing as the other crossings would have been prohibitively expensive to build.

If constructed, the overcrossing would provide a huge benefit to emergency response vehicles needing to get to the other side during train traffic.

“The healthy and safety portion is huge. My husband was a firefighter for forever and it scared him because if you hit it wrong, then you’re waiting at the train tracks and that could be the differ ence in someone’s life,” said Mizell.

OUTLOOK

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Arlington plans to purchase land for new park

By Christopher Andersson christopher@northcountyoutlook.com

Arlington has started the pro cess to create a Smokey Point community park with their recent approval of the purchase of land in the area.

The Arlington City Council approved the purchase of about $961,000 during their Oct. 17 board meeting.

The land is owned by Smokey Point Community Church and is just to the north of their facility across 178th Place.

City officials have hoped to

bring a park space to the area for a while now.

“It makes me happy to make this motion. It’s been a lot of hard work from a lot of people. I’m just so thankful that Smokey Point is going to get their community park,” said City Council member Marilyn Oertle.

Staff have been looking at op tions to provide a Smokey Point park for more than a year now and decided on the land near Smokey Point Community Church.

Talks with the church have been proceeding for a while.

“This is a project that has been

ongoing,” said Steve Peiffle, Ar lington’s city attorney. “The city has been negotiating with Smokey Point Community Church for the potential purchase of the bare land to the north of their existing church facility,”

Staff was able to present an agreement to the City Council this October.

“At last, we’re able to bring to you an amended purchase agree ment,” said Peiffle.

There is one surveying discrep ancy with the property that still needs to be worked out before the agreement is signed and officials,

although Peiffle was skeptical dur ing the meeting that it would be a serious issue that prevents the pur chase.

The current owners are glad that the empty land will begin be ing used for a community purpose.

“I spoke with the property owner who was thrilled that the city was considering putting in a park at the location,” said Peiffle.

The city will still need to create a plan for the park.

“It will also require that we remove some trees,” said Peiffle, who said at least one tree has to be removed to create a proper fence

around the park.

During an earlier work session city staff said the city plans to seek grant funding to develop the park.

“We’re going to want to devel op this park so we’re going to need matching funds when grant mon ey comes up. Potentially we could get some grant money to help with this,” said city administrator Paul Ellis.

“This neighborhood fits the demographics of places the state legislature is looking to do invest ment for underserved neighbor hoods,” said Arlington Mayor Barbara Tolbert.

Mayor Nehring holds coffee klatch

By Christopher Andersson christopher@northcountyoutlook.com

Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring discussed homeless support programs, traffic projects and more at his Oct. 18 coffee klatch.

Nehring holds the com munity meetings regularly to field questions from Marys ville residents.

The traffic around 88th Street and State Avenue was one of the topics brought up.

“We recognize that as one of the areas that needs its traf fic addressed,” said Nehring.

There are other areas in the city that have traffic congestion but those have projects coming in the next few years meant to alleviate those burdens.

The 88th Street area re mains difficult to improve.

“It’s a tough area to get expanded,” said Nehring, who said the cemetery near by prevents too much road expansion.

The city is working with the Tulalip Tribes to make some improvements to traf fic flow and they have al ready secured some funds for some projects.

“There were some funds that were passed by the leg islative branch back in 2015,” said Jeff Laycock, Marys ville’s director of engineering and transportation services. “That will help improve ac cess to and from I-5."

Community members also had questions about services for homeless resi dents and how much Marys ville can do, such as a cold weather shelter.

“In a typical city, cold weather shelters are done by a private nonprofit,” said Nehring.

Nonprofit organization LINC NW will again man age this year’s cold weath er shelter with help from Generations Community Church.

“We’re searching for a more centrally located cold weather shelter,” said Neh ring.

Residents also asked about the possibility of tem porary pallet shelters for Marysville.

City officials have looked into that possibility, he said, but are unable to find an adequate property for it.

He said the city is open to the possibility, but it would like ly not be in a residential zone.

“It’s possible we will find a good location for a pallet shelter or tiny homes,” he said.

Marysville staff has de cided to focus on emergency housing shelters, which are small residential properties the city uses to help house homeless individuals tempo rarily.

“Essentially we’ve bought houses,” said Nehring. “The council just authorized an other one. These are places an individual can have their own room and the oversight of the Everett Gospel Mission."

One of the biggest road blocks for homeless individ uals remains what happens after that emergency shelter.

“It’s hard for people after temporary shelter to find more long-term shelter, especially with the cost of housing,” said Nehring.

Local residents also had

questions about the city’s work preparing for disasters.

Smaller cities in the coun ty work through the county’s Department of Emergency Management, but Marysville was able to hire their own in-house department a few years ago.

“We think it is a very valuable asset for our com munity and I just got an update on our 2022 commu nity connection efforts,” said Gloria Hirashima, chief ad ministrative officer with the city of Marysville.

The department has con nected with many locals over the last year, gone out to 42 different events and initiated the Marysville Ready Busi ness program to help pre pare businesses.

After the Ken Baxter Community Center was de molished, some were won dering when its replacement would open as well.

“The new community center will be the old court house,” said Nehring.

The facility is at 1049 State Ave., Marysville.

“We are hoping to move in sometime in December,” and be open to the public shortly after that, said Tara Mizell, director of Marys ville’s Parks, Culture and Recreation Department.

Marysville officials say the new building will be an improvement over the old community center.

“We’re refurbishing it and doing a little work on it now. There will be a lot more space and more room for programs there,” said Neh ring.

AHS drama presents 'Clue' in November

By Christopher Andersson christopher@northcountyoutlook.com

Arlington High School’s drama department will present a murder mystery this fall with their pro duction of ‘Clue’ in November.

The play will be performed on Nov. 4, 5, 11 and 12, at 7 p.m., at the Byrnes Performing Arts Cen ter at 18821 Crown Ridge Blvd., Arlington.

“The play is ‘Clue,’ which is based on the movie which is based on the board game,” said Arling ton High School student and actor Mackenzie Moff.

“It’s a comedy and it has a lot of eccentric-type of characters that are really fun to play and we’re having a good time making it,” she said.

The show is a locked-room mystery where characters try to solve a murder that happens early in the story.

“In some places it is the movie, practically shot-for-shot, but in other places it is vastly different. So it is a mix of familiarity for

some parts and parts that are to tally new,” said Devon Gerik, Ar lington High School student and actor.

He mentioned that it was “so hard living up to Tim Curry,” in one of the actor’s well-known roles.

Audiences will enjoy the com edy of the play, said student and actor Drake Mitchell.

“It’s really funny,” he said.

“I definitely feel like the audi ence will appreciate the humor and the sheer physical lengths that some of us have to go through,” said Gerik.

Moff said some of the comedic beats have changed from the film version.

“I think they improved on some of the jokes in some parts,” she said.

Students said they enjoyed be ing a part of the school’s drama department.

“It’s been quite the journey do ing this for the past few weeks,” said Gerik. “It’s been incredibly fun and I’m looking forward to

putting it on."

It’s good to be with other stu dents making something, said Ar lington High School student and actor Celina Meyers.

“The group makes it the most fun. People like getting to know people and working with friends,” she said.

Moff said it has been her first time on the big stage.

“For me, it’s my first show so I’m having so much fun and ev ery day I’m looking forward to rehearsal,” she said.

Students also were excited to begin a play with the school’s new drama director.

“This is our first year with a new director. We’ve had the same director for a ton of years,” said Meyers. "I think that will make it special. He’s a new fresh of light and really fun to work with."

Tickets for the Arlington High School play are $8 for students and $10 for adults. The show is rated PG-13 for some violence and sim ulated depictions of smoking and drinking.

MPHS drama presents 'The Play That Goes Wrong'

By Christopher Andersson christopher@northcountyoutlook.com

Marysville Pilchuck High School will bring a version of a current Broadway play to their stage this fall with their production of ‘The Play That Goes Wrong.’

The high school edition of the play will be put on by students on Nov. 3, 4, 5, 10, 11 and 12, at 7 p.m., at the Marysville Pilchuck High School auditorium at 5611 108th St. NE, Marysville.

Marysville Pilchuck High

School will be one of the first schools to present this modi fied version of the play.

“We’re excited that this is still a play that is still on Broadway,” said Marysville Pilchuck High School student and actor Nolan Crumrine. “While it is the high school edition, there are a lot of jokes that are for everybody."

The production presents the story of a ‘play within a play.’

“We’re playing actors in a theater company that is kind of janky and poor qual

ity. They think they’re really great, but they’re not,” said Marysville Pilchuck High School student and actor Annie Brediger.

The play tells the story of a group of actors who expe rience a series of disasters.

“The play that they’re do ing goes wrong. We’re drink ing paint thinner and people are forgetting their lines,” said Brediger.

Marysville Pilchuck High School student and actor Kate Kolasinski said she en joyed the amount of facial

acting and expressions she got to make.

“My character is the di rector of the play in a play,” she said. “They’re kind of just watching all of their dreams fall apart throughout the play.”

There is a lot of comedy that students said the audi ence will enjoy.

“It’s fun to work out some of the scenes because there is a lot of physical comedy,” said Kolasinski.

Crumrine also enjoyed working on the comedic

parts of his character.

“There is a lot of physi cal humor that my character gets to perform on stage,” he said. “Getting my hand stepped on and people pre tending to spit on me, and powder pretending to be dumped on me — my char acter goes through all of those things.”

Students said they have enjoyed taking part in the fall production at the school, es pecially with getting to know their cast mates.

“I like meeting new peo

ple,” said Crumrine.

“It’s really fun getting to meet new people since this is my first high school produc tion,” said Kolasinski.

Brediger said she has en joyed reconnecting with stu dents.

“I’ve enjoyed getting to reunite with a lot of my cast mates that I haven’t got to do productions with just because of split schools,” she said.

Tickets for the produc tion are $10 for adults and $8 for students with ASB cards.

Arlington students intern at local organizations

Nine students from Ar lington and Weston High Schools spent their summer interning at seven local busi

nesses and organizations to experience jobs in the area. Chanelle Carrasco and Kathleen Azpiri interned

with the Stilly Valley Cham ber of Commerce. Carrasco designed a coloring book for children which was given

out at the Arlington Farmer’s Market. Azpiri organized and promoted the Arlington Farm-to-Table Farm Tour Weekend in August which included a 5K fun run.

“The best moment for me was to see everyone come together for the event that I organized,” said Azpiri. “I would highly recommend any high school student to intern. It’s a great way to learn about the field you may want to enter.”

Zella Jones interned at the Happy Little Painter Co. Quynn Roberson interned at Fields Senior Living and is still working at the se nior housing facility in their kitchen.

“It was rewarding mak ing a six-course meal for the family,” said Roberson. “This experience has really solidi fied my career path. I want to attend a culinary school for baking.”

“We had such a great ex perience with the students,” said Diane Krieg, Stilly Val ley Chamber of Commerce Executive Director. “I’ve been talking with businesses in the area to see how they can use an intern at their business.”

Lisa Rodino, Arlington Public Schools School to Work Coordinator, said the students interned from the

end of school in June until the end of August. The stu dents have to intern for 90 hours and earn a half credit towards their graduation re quirements.

“We really want to grow the interest in the intern ship program,” said Rodino. “We want to make it as easy as possible for businesses to incorporate an intern into their business.”

PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER ANDERSSON

Arlington High School students and actors Mackenzie Moff, left, Drake Mitchell, center, and Celina Meyers react during a rehearsal of their fall production of ‘Clue’ on Oct. 20.

COURTESY PHOTO

Nine students from Arlington and Weston High Schools spent their summer interning at seven local businesses and organi zations to experience jobs in the area. From left, Zella Jones, Kathleen Azpiri, Chanelle Carrasco and Quynn Roberson.

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Shaughn Rice, Captain Paramedic Nich Sacha, Paramedic Jon Sato, Paramedic Matt Schimmel-Bristow, PP Fire fighter

Deklan Schoof, PP Firefighter

Zachary Schumann, PP Firefighter Blake Smith, Paramedic Joel Smith, Battalion Chief Cary Stuart, Captain Chris Taylor, Paramedic Jessica Taylor, PP Firefighter Josh Tcheng, PP Firefighter Doug Ten Hoopen, AC Logistics Jacob Terwilliger, Paramedic Josh Thuringer, PP Firefighter Michael Torrisi, Asst Mechanic Mattn Urtz, Firefighter Levi Wagner, PP Firefighter Jeff Walsh, Firefighter Ian Ware, PP Firefighter Curtis Welch, PP Firefighter Dan Welk, Firefighter Paramedic Corey Westerman, Captain Becky Wilbur, Captain Ian Wilson, Lead Mechanic Zander Woofenden, Firefighter Austin Young, PP Firefighter

filerinsurance.com

Jason Abrahamson, Captain Para medic

Chris Dickison, Asst. Chief MSA (not pictured)

honor our local firefighters. Salute to Firefighters

Snohomish County Fire District 19

Silvana,WA

Jim Bansbach, Dalton Baunsgard, Gino Bellizzi, Evan Bridgeford, Tyler Byrd, Frank Dahlquist, Samantha DeVoir, Jeff Gabriel, Grayson Goodwin, Hailey Gribble, Jamieson Haverfield, Kristian Helleren, Travis Hots, Deidre Korte, Jacob Kvek, Nicholas Lathrop, Chad Lee, Tanner Lind, Scott Loehndorf, Riley Long, Erik Lundquist, Brendan Magee, Nicholas Morin, Kevin Oswalt, Mauricio Padilla, Mitchell Pearson, Matthew Peterson, Scott Pilon, Morgan Ratcliff, James Stewart, Jeremy Stocker, Dillon Wade, Tagan Walker, Dennis Wojciechowicz

Front Row: Josh Smith, Justin Winterhalter, Melissa Berg, Sjersten Gunn, Jessica Woo, Makenna Chapman, Luis Arreola, Don Best.

Row:

Keith Strotz, Clayton Rennie, Cameron Anderson, Caleb Smith, Dylan LaVelle, Tyler Kirby, Zach Watson, Mark Norman, Captain Gino Bellizzi Not Pictured; Tyler Sharp, Kathi Otter, Kevin Glover, Cody Boober, Gabe Guevara,

From left: Asst. Chief Toby Hyde, Capt. Tim Harper, FF/EMT Carl Smith, FF Landon Harper, FF Gauge Smith, FF Mark Upthegrove , FF Kevin Fischer, FF/EMT Todd Mckeown, Training Capt/Chaplain Joel Johnson, FF/EMT Al Forar, FF Alex Pincus, FF Rhonda Robinson, FF/ Paramedic Jay Fischer, FF Levi Merritt, Chief Willy Harper.

pictured: FF/EMT MSO Cindy Reynolds, FF Kristina Cahail, FF/EMT Lt. Marcus Stein.

Salute

We are proud to honor our local firefighters. Salute to Firefighters Arlington Rural Fire District

Hutzell

Firefighter

Bucey, Crumrine named Students of the Month

By Christopher Andersson christopher@northcountyoutlook.com

In recognition of their community service and their dedication to school programs, Marysville Pil chuck High School students Brooke Bucey and Nolan Crumrine have been select ed as the October Students of the Month.

The Student of the Month awards are given out by the Marysville Soropti mist Club to recognize stu dents from the Marysville School District.

Brooke Bucey partici pates in the NJROTC pro gram at her school.

She has been recognized as Cadet of the Month and has five varsity letters for

various NJROTC teams and community service.

With the programs she has also received a Personal Appearance Award.

As an executive offi cer she is a member of the NJROTC staff line and has previously served as a pla toon commander.

Brooke has also been the Armed Drill Team com mander.

In addition to her work with NJROTC, Brooke has also participated in the school’s band and was awarded with a Gold Stan dard for Band.

In her community she has approximately 50 hours of community service at various causes.

She has helped with the auctions that help raise funds for the Marysville Ro tary and Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce, and also helped at Marys ville Soroptimist events.

As a member of the NJROTC color guard she has helped bring out the flag at about 45 events.

She has volunteered with the Marysville and Arlington community food banks. At the Salvation Army she has also helped with their sum mer school supplies drive.

Nolan Crumrine is also a big part of the NJROTC program at his school and has also been recognized with the Cadet of the Month award.

Last year he was the Fun draising Coordinator for the program and this year is a Platoon Commander and Action Officer for events.

At competitions he has placed third in both Dual Unarmed and Dual Armed exhibition drills.

Nolan has also helped with summer orientation and 2022 Military Ball

Also an accomplished singer, Nolan is a two-time All-State Choir participant. He also participated in the Honors Performance Series choir.

At his school he is also vice president of the MPHS Choir Council.

Nolan has received a Pres idential Service award for his

COURTESY PHOTO Brooke Bucey

work in the community.

He is a volunteer at Northwest Church’s kids camp and has supported auctions for the Marys ville Rotary and Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Com merce.

COURTESY PHOTO Nolan Crumrine

With the NJROTC color guard he has also brought out the flag for 25 events.

At MPHS Nolan is also co-president of the MPHS Drama Club and has been involved in plays at the school.

Festival of Trees raises money for hospitals

By Christopher Andersson christopher@northcountyoutlook.com

The Skagit Regional Health Foundation’s an nual Festival of Trees will feature elaborately decorat ed Christmas trees to raise funds for local hospitals.

Skagit Regional Health, which also includes Arling ton’s Cascade Valley Hospi tal, provides a wide range of medical services in the region.

The foundation raises funds to support those ser vices each year.

A Tree Stroll and Online Auction in downtown Ar lington will take place Nov. 1-27. The community will have the opportunity to bid for a mini tree outright at a guaranteed price or bid for a tree online via a silent auction.

The annual gala and auction will happen at Dwayne Lane Subaru on

Support

Nov. 25, with doors open ing at 6 p.m. The live auc tion begins at 7 p.m. and tickets to the event cost $100.

The auction features nu merous trees.

“We have 32 trees which are decorated by design teams that are all volunteer,” said Wendy Ragusa, stewardship and annual fund manager for the Skagit Regional Health Foundation.

Participants will have the opportunity to bid on those trees to take home for the holiday season.

“The themes span a big

variety, from the tradi tional holiday to the more whimsical,” said Ragusa.

Trees are decorated with themes such as the tradi tional woodsy holidays of ‘Over the Woods and Through the Forest’ to the playful ‘Mystical Unicorn Tree.’

Local sports teams from the Seahawks, and colleges such as the University of Washington and Wash ington State University are also represented in the trees.

Ragusa said volunteers come up with creative ways to illustrate their theme ev

ery year.

“You may get a Frosty the Snowman theme tree every year, but the decora tors will bring back some thing new for each event,” she said.

Decorated wreaths and mini-trees are also avail able for sell.

Many of the trees also come with additional items, such as a premade bar, board games or a weekend trip to the San Juan Islands, that auction winners will get to take home.

Ragusa said the event has become a tradition for many local families.

“It definitely is a fun way to kick off the holiday season,” she said. “We have generations of families that have come out to the last 33 years.”

She started organizing the event 18 years ago and has seen her own kids grow up going to the festival ev ery year.

Money raised this year will go toward improving cardiac surgery labs.

“We are raising funds for our Cardiac Cares Cap ital Funds campaign,” said Ragusa.

“We want to improve two of our cardiac cen

ter labs on the Skagit Val ley Hospital campus,” she added.

The cardiac center pro vides service to patients from 15 different zip codes all around the north Puget Sound region.

The hospital was origi nally built in 1958.

“And we have expanded and grown since then and we just want to continue with that growth by bring ing in some state-of-the-art cardiac equipment,” said Ragusa.

More information about the event is available at skagitfestivaloftrees.org.

Our FavOrite QuOtes

"Don't be dismayed by good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet

or

certain for those we are friends."

Author — Richard Bach

Submitted by North County Outlook editor Scott Frank. & RAVE

RAVE: Thank you to Mayor Jon Ne hring for holding another coffee klatch. It's a great way for members of the public to speak directly to him to let him know about their concerns. I hope he continues to have them in the future and that more members of the community attend.

RAVE: Don't forget to fill out and re turn your ballot for the Nov. 8 General Election, If you like, you can drop you bal

lot off at one of the local drop boxes. There is one in Arlington, three in Marysville, one in Smokey Point and one in Tulalip. For the location of the drop box nearest to you, go to https://snohomishcountywa. gov/5726/Find-a-Ballot-Drop-Box.

RAVE: It's great to hear that Marysville will be having their free Halloween DriveThru Trick-or-Treat on Oct. 27. My family is looking forward to going.,

utlook

Real People. Real Life.

North County Outlook is published every Wednesday and mailed direct to households and businesses in Marysville, Arlington, Smokey Point, Tulalip and Quil Ceda Village. Letters to the editor, community news and story ideas may be e-mailed to editor@northcountyoutlook.com, or sent to the mailing address below. The Publisher reserves the right to edit material for content, grammar, taste, style or length, and all submitted items are published at the sole discretion of the Publisher.

P.O. Box 39 • Marysville, WA 98270 1331 State Ave. #A • Marysville, WA (360) 659-1100 • Fax (360) 658-7536 www.northcountyoutlook.com News Deadline: Friday 5PM before publication editor@northcountyoutlook.com

Ad Deadline: Thursday before publication, 4 PM sue@northcountyoutlook.com

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Grace Academy spikers get another victory

By Nathan Whalen nathan@northcountyoutlook.com

Grace Academy re mained unbeaten in the Northwest B League after a win in the penultimate reg ular season game Oct. 19.

The Eagles topped Provi dence Classical Christian,

based in Bothell, in three straight sets 25-14, 25-16, and 25-10.

“They’ve been working in practice improving their fundamentals,” Grace Acad emy head volleyball coach Jamie Orth said.

She added the team has played more consistent and

players are learning to rally when they get behind.

“There’s a lot of growth with our team,” Orth said. “Everything is starting to click and working together.”

She complimented the leadership of the team’s three seniors – Sav Villase ñor, Karis Jones and Emily Niethamer.

“They are doing a great job and trying to set that bar high,” Orth said.

Orth added that Libero Kenzie Bayler did a great job against Providence Classical Christian perse vering through the match and Ally Baylor, a fresh man, had some good serv ing runs.

Brooklyn Crawford, who normally plays right-side hitter, moved to the middle against Providence Classical Christian. “She did a great job adjusting,” Orth said.

The win brings Grace Academy to 11-0 in the Northwest B League and 11-2 overall. The Eagles only blemishes came against

Grace Academy’s Kenzie Baylor, center, goes after the ball during a match Oct. 19 against Providence Classical Christian. Grace won in three straight sets.

Darrington and Mount Ver non Christian.

The goal for the season is to return to the state tour nament.

“They’ve gone to state twice in the past couple of years,” Orth said. In 2021, Grace Academy won a game and lost two in the

state tournament in Yaki ma. Orth said the team had about a half dozen seniors competing last year. This year’s squad is comprised of three seniors, as well as a number of sophomores.

Orth said the Eagles should have a first-round bye in the district tourna

ment. Grace Academy is also ranked 13th in the WIAA 1B Volleyball RPI poll.

Grace Academy wraps up its regular season Oct. 26 when the Eagles host Lopez Island before heading into the district tournament that starts Oct. 27.

Arlington duo captures Wesco North doubles title

By Nathan Whalen nathan@northcountyoutlook.com

Cooper McBride and Ty Rusko, seniors at Arlington, earned a spot in the Dis trict 1 3A tournament after capturing the Wesco North Double championship.

“They were very domi nant,” Arlington tennis coach Ben Mendro said of the four matches McBride and Rusko needed to win. “They only lost eight games total and that was really im pressive.”

The championship match, which took place Oct. 21 at the Mill Creek Tennis Club, saw Arling ton win against Stanwood’s Morgan Zill and Ethan Eichler 6-1, 6-2.

“I figured we were going to meet Stanwood in the finals,” Mendro said of the Spartans' doubles team that was the top seed in the tour nament.

The tournament started Oct. 18 at Snohomish where Rusko and McBride won three of their matches. Un healthy air conditions from smoke prompted officials to cancel the tournament Oct. 19 and Oct. 20. Then rain that doused the region Oct. 21 forced the tournament to be moved to an indoor facil ity in Mill Creek.

McBride and Rusko spent season as Arlington’s number-one and numbertwo singles competitors but moved to doubles for the post-season.

New Briefs

Arlington High School renews accreditation

Arlington High School (AHS) renewed its accredi tation for another six years through the Washington Association of Educational Service Districts. Larry Francois, Northwest Educa tional Service District 189 Superintendent, presented the accreditation plaque to the high school administra tion during the Arlington Public Schools Board Meet ing on Sept. 12.

“The AESD board mem ber panel highlighted Ar lington High School’s excel lent work with supporting

freshmen,” said Francois. “Helping students suc cessfully transition to high school in their first year is so important.”

The goal of accreditation is to communicate an inde pendent, external standard of quality that creates a valid, credible reputation for the school and the community that it serves. Schools going through accreditation work with an AESD coach who works with school leader ship to facilitate the develop ment of a meaningful school improvement plan. The SIP development involves staff, students, and families.

Mendro said the play ers talked about making the postseason switch weeks ago.

“We feel like they have a better chance advancing further,” Mendro said. “Ul timately, I left it up to them.”

Arlington had several other tennis players com pete in the Wesco North Championships.

Sophomore Avery Alfa ro, who was Arlington’s top junior varsity player, upset the number-five seed in the tournament before los ing his next two matches, Mendro said.

Sophomore Robbie Bal deras, who is a new tennis player, also won his first match and then lost a close second match but had to default his third match,

Mendro said.

Arlington’s second dou bles team, Tyler Uffens and Bookie Cramer, won their first match before losing their next two. “They strug gled a bit. They didn’t have their best day,” Mendro said.

Up next for McBride and Rusko is the District 1, 3A tennis championships, which includes teams from the Wesco North, Wesco South and the three 3A schools from the Northwest Conference.

“I think they have a real ly good shot at advancing,” Mendro said.

The District 1 champion ships are scheduled to take place Oct. 25 at Snohomish. If the rain returns, Mendro said the tournament might

Arlington High School's Cooper McBride and Ty Rusko won the Wesco North Championships that took place last week. They head to the district tournament that began Oct. 25 at Snohomish.

be moved to an indoor fa cility.

Once the district cham pionships are complete, then players wait. The state

tournament is scheduled to take place in late May. Al locations and the venue for the 3A tournament is to be determined.

“Our Arlington High School staff have been fo cused on consistent, ongo ing School Improvement Goals centering on the suc cess of our freshmen as a solid foundation for their continued growth,” said Marilee Herman, AHS Prin cipal. “Partnered with our emphasis on rigor, equity, safety and belonging for stu dents in all grade levels, our SIP helps support the com munity we build for Every Eagle. We work diligently to include staff, community, and student voices as we make decisions to build a solid network of support for

our students that will help accelerate them toward their futures. Continuing our ac creditation is one important way we demonstrate a con tinual commitment to pro viding quality whole child education for our students.”

City launches ‘Best in Business’ e-news

Marysville business own ers and managers now have a new tool to access. The City of Marysville debuted its local business e-newsletter, ‘Best in Business,’ this week. The free monthly e-news cel ebrates Marysville business es, provides updates about

city projects, and shares business resources that may be helpful.

“With 16 years of busi ness and management ex perience in the private sec tor before I became Mayor, I understand firsthand your concerns and continually advocate for local business es,” Mayor Jon Nehring said.

“Over the past several years, the City Council and I have worked to ensure that Marysville is a businessfriendly city. Our goal is to provide excellent customer service and to streamline processes as much as pos sible. I truly hope that has

been your experience.”

View the October is sue and subscribe online at https://www.marysvillewa. gov/1242/Best-in-BusinessNewsletter.

Crossword answers from

COURTESY PHOTO

PHOTO BY NATHAN WHALEN

PHOTO BY NATHAN WHALEN

Grace Academy’s Karis Jones sets the ball during a 3-0 win against Providence Classical Christian Oct. 19.

weather spoil

I would never have dreamt that I would be talking about such a “dry” subject (pun intended of course) as watering in the middle of October, but here we are, dealing with one of the longest stretches of no rain that I can remember in the 30 plus years that I have lived in the Pacific Northwest. Not only is it dry, but it is also unseason ably warm, with records be ing broken going back decades. Whether this is an anomaly or our new normal, the effects are what we have to deal with. The most obvious to me is that we can’t continue to do as we have for years and sit around and wait for the rains to come and rescue our landscapes, especially if we

By Steve Smith

are planning on add ing new plants to our yards. This became shockingly apparent to me the other day when I was planting some more perennials and bulbs (yes, there is always room for more plants) in the upper garden and discov ered, that despite almost daily ir rigating, once I dug down more than a few inches, the soil was absolutely parched.

Now, I should tell you that I consider myself an above aver age gardener who typically has a pretty good handle on the water needs of my plants. You can find me on the end of the hose, vir tually every day, where I am wa tering some part of my garden. But because I have such poorly

draining soil (despite yards and yards of amendments prior to planting), I have to be careful not to apply too much water or my soil will become too satu rated, causing the roots to suf focate, and the plants to suffer. That is exactly what happened to me in the summer of 2021, when it got into the triple digits and I had the sprinklers running constantly. Several of my newly planted trees actually defoliated. Thankfully they recovered, but this year the opposite seems to be the issue. The Weeping Beech, Katsura, and Magnolia all look stressed, with 50% of their leaves burned or prematurely falling off. It appears now that I might have erred on the too little side.

It is really difficult to know when we have watered enough or

when we need to apply more to our landscapes. The only surefire way to know is to dig into the ground and see what you get. You might be surprised to dis cover that what you thought was a deep watering was in reality only a one- or two-inch wetting of the soil. The goal is to get that water down at least a foot into the soil. It takes time and repeat applications to make it happen.

October is a fabulous month to add new plants to our land scape, and all of this sun and dry weather makes it just that much more enjoyable. But here is the catch. Never place a new plant in a dry hole and surround it with power-dry soil — it is the abso lute kiss of death. Instead, once you have your hole dug, fill it with water and let it soak in. A

12-inch-deep hole could take as much as 12 hours to drain. Once the water has drained, place the root ball in the hole and return half of the soil, add more water, replace the rest of the soil, and build a generous moat (watering well is the technical term), fill ing it with water several times. If you do it right you may not need to water again for a week.

Don’t miss out on this “sec ond planting season." Just make sure you add plenty of water to the new stuff, as well as the es tablished ones — it could be the difference between life and death.

Steve Smith represents Sun nyside Nursery in Marysville and can be reached at sunnysidenurs ery@msn.com.