Paws, pedals, and people this weekend at Orcas airport

||| FROM CHIP LONG for ORCAS ISLAND AIRPORT |||

Orcas Island airport has been part of our community since the 1940s. Most of us have stood at the fence, watched from Mt Baker Road, or picked someone up at our small terminal more times than we can remember. But almost nobody has ever actually stood on the runway. That’s always been for pilots and staff — and that makes sense, it’s a working runway, not a walking path.

But with the ‘Better, not Bigger’ project, we just spent a year planning and now executing a major rehabilitation of that pavement. Before any aircraft touches it, we want the Orcas community, you all, to experience it first.
So come walk it, run it, bike it, bring the dog. It’s 1.099 miles round trip, 20-25 minutes — and it’s a pretty strange and wonderful thing to stand at one end and look down 2,900 feet of runway with nothing coming at you.

Take photos. Let the kids ride their bikes or E-skateboard down. Think about all the flights that have come and gone over the decades, and all the memories Orcas Island Airport helped create.

This airport exists because this community supports it. It’s here for family and friend visits, it supports our island economy and, of course, the medical evacuations — all of it. For one morning, before we hand it back to the
aircraft, it’s just yours.

We’d love to see you out there. Paws, Pedals and People Sunday, Sept 20 th , 9:00 – 11:00, Orcas Island Airport, Free. Open to all. Dogs on leash welcome No registration required — just show up…

Parking off Schoen Lane, enter at the FedEx gate. Questions call Chip at 360) 525-5393.