Here’s a thought…
“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king. The palace turns into a circus.”
TURKISH PROVERB
Adrift | The housing search, sadly, goes on
||| ADRIFT by LIN MCNULTY, theORCASONIAN EDITOR ||| With only a couple of weeks before our moving deadline, the search goes on for housing on the island where I have been living since before the turn of the last century -- 1991. With the passing of our landlord, we have
Balance, aging, chair yoga, meditation, ukuleles at Orcas Senior Center
||| FROM LENA KASSA for ORCAS SENIOR CENTER ||| Ukulele Kanikipila: Join the Musical Fun Experience the joy of making music at Ukulele Kanikipila, Hawaiian for "play music," Mondays from 1 to 3 pm at Orcas Senior Center. This gathering is open to everyone with an interest in playing music
Wildfire Awareness Month in the San Juans held community event Saturday
Island Readiness event with DNR, Fire Depts., Conservation Dist., and more ||| FROM ANGIE REQUENA for WILDFIRE READY ||| Saturday, Orcas Island Fire & Rescue (OIFR), Washington Department of Natural Resources (WA DNR), and other local partners from across the islands hosted a community event to engage the San Juan
Paper Airplane Contest soon at Orcas school gym
||| FROM MAURICE AUSTIN for KEY CLUB ||| Do you have a sure-to-win paper airplane design? Come to the new gym on May 21 at 2:00 pm to build and how off your airplane. Categories: Teen/Adult, Middle School, and Elementary School Criteria: Accuracy, Distance, and Creativity Three winners will be
Have a garden question? Ask an Orcas Master Gardener
||| FROM JULIA TURNEY and JAY LUCAS FOR ORCAS MASTER GARDENERS ||| Do you have a question about your soil, have a problem with your fruit tree, or are thinking about starting a garden? Is something bugging your plants, or you are curious about identifying a plant or insect? Master
2025 Orcas Island Garden Tour | Orcas beauty, bounty, and sanctuary
Interactive and educational opportunities at each location! ||| FROM ORCAS ISLAND GARDEN TOUR ||| During the 2024 - 2025 season, the Orcas Island Garden Club has been proud to fund speakers for nine programs always free and open to the public, award community grants, and sponsor projects such as citizen
OIFR responds to structure fire on Buckhorn Road
||| FROM BEN LUNA for ORCAS ISLAND FIRE & RESCUE ||| At 10:45 AM on Friday, May 9 Orcas Fire responded to reports of a fire in the Buckhorn Road area. The initial fire report came from a vessel off the north shore. Chief Kimple was first to arrive on
Letter to Editor | We need your help
||| FROM SAN JUAN COMMUNITY HOME TRUST ||| The Town is blocking our development of affordable housing. For the past two years, we have been diligently trying to satisfy the Town of Friday Harbor’s requirements so that we can sell 8 completed homes to homebuyers in our HolliWalk neighborhood who
Fidelio at Orcas Center
||| FROM BETHANY MARIE for ORCAS CENTER ||| The Metropolitan opera’s production of Beethoven’s Fidelio comes to the Orcas Center’s screen on Wednesday, May 14 at 6pm. Filmed live in HD, these on-screen events from the Metropolitan Opera offer a diverse sampling of the world’s best performers at the height
In Memoriam | June Cale West, May 8, 1927 to April 26, 2025
||| FROM MARCIA WEST ||| June Cale West “Fly me to the moon” the song begins; however, June’s daily walks and hikes on Orcas Island earned her enough miles that she could have walked there. Her love for the island forests, wildlife, and watching the moonrise over Olga
Fraud Prevention | How to spot and stay safe from scams
||| FROM LENA KASSA for ORCAS SENIOR CENTER ||| In today’s digital age, scams, and fraud are more prevalent than ever. Protecting yourself and your loved ones from these threats requires knowledge and vigilance. Fortunately, the Orcas Senior Center and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are here to help. Join
Open house for six soon-to-be-completed homes on Crayfish Way, Lopez Island
||| FROM BRETON CARTER for LOPEZ COMMUNITY LAND TRUST ||| Lopez Community Land Trust and Oystercatcher housing co-op invite you to join us for an open house for the six soon-to-be-completed homes on Crayfish Way, Lopez Island. May 18 from 3-6pm. Crayfish Way is located north of the Lopez Village,
Fun, free, Rotary Spelling Bee is coming to Orcas
||| FROM SUZANNE OLSON for ROTARY CLUB OF THE SAN JUAN ISLANDS The Rotary Club of the San Juan Islands invites the community to attend its 19th Annual Spelling Bee at 4 PM, May 15, at the Orcas Island Grange. Watch the excitement as 3th-7th graders from Orcas Island Schools
Don’t forget your septic system inspections in 2025
||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS ||| Did you add inspecting your septic system to your 2025 to-do list? If you didn’t, don’t worry! Your local health department will be sending reminder postcards to properties with installed septic systems. Regular septic inspection protects the public health of our islands. It
‘It will ruin the charm of our island’ | Decatur islanders push back on solar grid
||| FROM KING-TV NEWS ||| Locals on Decatur Island in the San Juans worry a sizable chunk of their island is being sacrificed for green energy and are pushing back against a proposed solar grid expansion. Decatur Island, located due west of Anacortes, is just 3.5 square miles. Like most
Larsen releases report on his work in Congress this year
||| FROM THE OFFICE OF REP. RICK LARSEN ||| WASHINGTON – Today, Rep. Larsen released the following report on his work in Congress so far this year: "I have been working hard in the 119th Congress to stand up for families and fight back against President Trump. "Here is a
Support island youth, sustain island trails | Help fund Orcas Youth Conservation Corps
Fundraising Bake Sale at Island Market on May 13, 2:30-6:30pm ||| FROM JULIE CURTIS for YOUTH CONSERVATION CORPS ||| The San Juan Islands Conservation District’s Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) is proud to participate in the 2025 GiveOrcas campaign, hosted by the Orcas Island Community Foundation. We are working to raise
