Moving past pandemic, 2021 floods and straight into 2023

summer festival set up vendors in the park, the parade continued, and a Nooksack Valley Farmers Market started with a growing list of food vendors, flowers and produce, crafters and musicians.

Jesse Johnson Knapp has been farming at Sunset Farm and is responsible for developing the Saturday market.

In other Everson/Nooksack news:

• Since the Everson-Nooksack Chamber of Commerce ceased operations near the end of the pandemic, the community and the cities took over the local festivals.

The public likely didn’t see much of a difference as the

(Tribune file photo)

• The City of Everson has stepped back into a mitigated city hall after floods. It has also utilized more technology and instituted the Voyent Alert system which is available online at Voyent.alert. us and by downloading an app from Google Play or the Apple app store. It is a multipurpose communication serAlthough Sumas Elementary School didn’t officially open until fall 2023, the newly finished campus was the site of the school’s fifth grade promotion ceremony in June 2022.

Neil McKay, left, of Whatcom County Library System’s podcast, interviews Carl and Sally Crouse at the Sumas Library grand reopening, Feb. 15. Carl Crouse, a retired pastor, read from his book “The Waters Are Rising” at the library’s reopening. The library had been closed since the November 2021 floods. (Bill Helm/Lynden Tribune) vice provided by the city to keep residents informed of critical events such as fires or floods as well as day-to-day communications for road maintenance and closure, water advisories, and more.

• With a vacant city council position, at the Jan. 10 meeting, Everson Mayor John Perry administered the oath of office to David Sarna to fill the vacant seat for the remaining unexpired term.

• The City of Everson continues to consider annexation. Jake DeHoog has requested two parcels, totaling 65 acres, to be added to the city.

The acreage is adjacent to other areas being developed at present and in the current Urban Growth Area (UGA).

This was heard and tabled in January but is showing a pattern of growth for Everson to the south of the River in the Strandell neighborhood.

Sumas

The City of Sumas moved back into the renovated City Hall in the past year and the Sumas Library reopened officially to the public with a Feb. 15 ribbon cutting and celebration. A part of the recent celebration, Crouse read from his book.

The Sumas Library shares its building with the city’s senior center. While the library was closed, Whatcom County Library System used the bookmobile for Sumas’ distribution.

In other Sumas news:

• Sumas Mayor Bruce Bosch took office in January of 2022 as the flood mitigation was still continuing.

• Nine months after flooding, Lyndenbased Faber Construction finished work on the new Sumas Elementary School which was started pre-flood. It opened for the fall 2023 school year after students had been divided and sent to different schools within the district following the flood.

• From the minutes of the Jan. 23 Sumas City Council meeting, one Request for Price Quotation was received for the surveying and clearing of the Sumas River from the Canadian border to Morgan Road for the pre-disaster restoration.

• Patricia Mullett, formerly a staff member of former State Sen. Simon Sefzik, has taken the position of local disaster recovery manager for the City of Sumas. She posted an online survey with 55 responding to look at the Community Development Block Grant.