Tom Welch to Revisit Pioneer Olga Days

The Olga Strawberry Council is sponsoring an OLGA HISTORY presentation on Saturday July 23rd.

(The OSC is charged with maintaining and preserving the Strawberry Processing Building at Olga, otherwise known as the Olga Artworks Building.)
By the Orcas Island Historical Museum staff
Tom Welch, local historian, will present 1 ½ hours of fascinating stories about Olga and surrounds. Tom particularly invites longtime islanders to join in with their memories of life in Olga.

The date is Saturday, July 23 from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m.  at the Olga Energetics Bldg.  Public invited.  Donations accepted.  The Olga Energetics Building is also known as the Olga Community Clubhouse, on Third Street, a left turn about half way from the Artworks Building to the dock, in the village of Olga.

Did you know that the first Marine Science Lab was at Olga….until it was ‘confiscated’ by Friday Harbor?  Or that there was a covered dance pavilion on top of Mt. Constitution, reached by trail from Cascade Lake.  Adventurers could travel to the lake, stay overnight at Mrs. Cox’s boarding house and climb the mountain the next day to dance all night.  Tom Welch has these and a trove of other stories about this area and has an enthusiastic way of sharing those with us.

Tom Welch commuted from Shaw Island to Orcas Island via mailboat until his high school graduation in 1966, when he embarked for other shores. Returning in 2001, Tom discovered a fascination for island history, had the time to indulge it, and the desire to write a book. The book “Orcas Island”, written for the benefit of the Orcas Island Historical Museum, was the result. Since then, Tom has spent time as a volunteer on various island non-profit boards, written a series of newspaper articles on Orcas Island history, and discovered it’s impossible to escape work when your wife starts a business. Tom and his wife Jenny live in Olga, near Buck Bay (originally Stockade Bay).

This is the final talk to be given by Tom Welch this summer.