At our annual La Conner Rotary Farmers and Merchants Night, March 3, 2025, we had a variety of speakers present after our buffet dinner. Doug Moore introduced club President Audrey Gravely. Audrey thanked many volunteers, but especially honorary member Cathy Jo Squires. Audrey described some of our Rotary’s work including scholarships that we award each spring, and a supply of weekend food packs that we provide for elementary kids throughout this year. Rotary is striving to make a difference every day. If you're not interested in what our club is doing, there are so many opportunities to support people in other ways.
First up was La Conner Schools Superintendent David Cram.
He thanked the community for passing the Feb. 11 school levy with 79%, the second-highest pass rate in the state. He described the Yonder pouch being used to stop cell phone usage during school hours and how many more conversations he sees during lunch now. He described the solar panels and battery backups being installed. He described the La Conner Learning Community program allowing more flexible education opportunities. On March 19, the school is going to have its very 1st Agriculture Day with tractors out front.
Next speaker was Kristen Keltz
They're promoting a sustainable tourism path forward where we're not changing the landscape and negatively impacting the place that we all live and work and play, but they also want to help promote the people that have businesses here that rely on those visitors that come. While La Conner relies heavily on tourists, those visitors that are coming to visit, we want to make sure that we're maintaining our quality of life for the people that are here and also grow that economy.
MISSION STATEMENT
Skagit Tourism is dedicated to sharing Skagit Valley's authentic story with reverence and pride. We celebrate and preserve the integrity of our vibrant communities, where all visitors are welcome to experience our charm and wonder. We are the leader in all tourism related activities and support economic growth through sustainable tourism. We promote the Skagit Valley for overnight stays and unforgettable experiences while maintaining our quality of life for residents and protecting our natural resources.
VISION STATEMENT
To be a premier, diverse destination with a robust tourism economy, strong and vibrant communities, and excellent year-round visitor experiences.
SKAGIT VALLEY
Spend time in Skagit Valley and you almost won't believe your eyes.
Here, the unspoiled natural views are truly amazing to behold, with colorful fields of flowers stretching endlessly into the distance.
Seaside sunsets dancing hypnotically over gentle waves.
And tree-covered mountains rising majestically to the heavens.
Not to mention countless other sights, sounds, smells, and flavors certain to surprise and delight your senses.
How did Mother Nature do this? How did she manage to put so much beauty into one place - where it can be explored, experienced, and enjoyed by all?
Far be it from us to reveal her secrets. It's up to you to DISCOVER THE MAGIC OF SKAGIT
The Farmland Legacy Program started in 1997 to protect the farmland in Skagit County from residential and commercial development. Today over 15,000 acres of farmland is protected and approximately 400 acres a year goes into the program. This valley has some of the most productive agricultural land in the world. If we want to keep agriculture here, we've got to keep a critical mass of farmland to keep the local infrastructure in place. More than 80 different crops are grown here commercially in the valley, and these are shipped around the United States and the world.
How do I benefit from the Farmland Legacy Program? There are four ways that businesses benefit from the program. It puts hundreds of billions of dollars into our local economy, providing jobs for farm services like consulting, fuel research, equipment dealerships, green companies, veterinary services, and, of course, all the businesses that come into your place to buy supplies for farmers.
For every cow that you see out there, $3,000 to $4,000 a year is spent on that animal that goes into our local economy. Every acre of potatoes that you see out there is $4,000 to $6,000 of revenue that's spent in local businesses. Secondly, we've got 115,000 acres of Natural Resources Land in rural reserve land in Skagit Valley. There is an additional half a million acres of resource land and forest land. This land provides many outdoor recreation opportunities to the people in our community, and is expanded on with our tourist bureau. Thirdly, the program also puts money into our local economy, because when developed land rights are sold, people have that money available for spending. Lastly, the bank is taxed at the lower rate when business isn't residential.
Our final speaker was La Conner Mayor Marna Hanneman
who previously served on the planning commission for 10 years. We have an emergency management commission, that has worked really hard to prepare. Do you have your bag packed? I love where I live and I know we all do. We've got the most amazing volunteers in our La Conner parks commission. I'm also proud of our arts commission. Our planning commission is doing an amazing job with our comprehensive plan.
We're a town of less than a 1,000 people. We have the same problems and the same concerns that larger cities have. We focus on public safety.
I want to say the biggest accomplishment from last year, for me anyway, was purchasing a fire boat. Our town’s community pulled together in the chili cook-off to get over $12,000, so the fireboats happened.
