–by Minor Lile, Orcas Issues reporter–
It was a relatively quiet Saturday afternoon in Eastsound when I set out to interview a random selection of people visiting the island. And there were fewer visitors out and about than I had anticipated. Of the 14 families or individuals that I approached in the area around the Brown Bear Bakery, 10 were island residents and four were visitors.
Here are the questions that were asked of everyone: Where are you from? What brings you to Orcas Island? How long are you here for? Where are you staying while you are here? What have you been doing while you’re here? How are you doing with the facial covering rules?
Amy, her husband and two children came over from Skagit County earlier in the day and were planning to head back home on Sunday. They came to Orcas because her husband was repairing a piece of equipment at Brown Bear Bakery. They were going to be staying the night at West Beach resort, using a credit from a previously planned trip in April that they cancelled because of the pandemic. Amy said that they felt good about the facial covering guidelines.
Tiven and Ann were visiting from Davis, California. They keep a boat in La Conner and generally come up from Davis ‘every couple of months.’ They have been in the islands for the last three weeks and will be returning home next Friday. Normally they take their boat up north to Canada, but with the border closed they have been exploring on the US side of the border.
This was their first day on Orcas and they were in town to go to the grocery store and stock up on food before heading to Bellingham tomorrow. They said that they appreciated the facial covering guidelines. ‘It’s working. We go in a place and we put the mask on, but outside we just like to talk and we try to social distance.” Tiven added that the guidelines are basically the same as back home in Davis.
Kerri and her daughter Chloe were over from Anacortes for the day. Kerri said that this was, ‘the first time we’ve been anywhere’ since the pandemic started. They had last been on Orcas a year ago when Chloe was on her way to Camp Orkila, and ‘of course camp was cancelled this year and we thought we’d zip over here and make a day of it.’ In addition to having a bite to eat at the Brown Bear, they were planning to visit some other stores and then ‘just walk around, walk the dog, and then we’ve got the 6:30 ferry back.’
They appreciated that everyone was abiding by the facial covering guidelines. “We’re glad to do it”, Kerri said, “it’s easy enough, except when we’re eating obviously. We’re already used to carrying our masks with us.” Chloe added that she was going to miss being at Camp Orkila this year and wants to “come back and be a counselor when I’m old enough.”
The last conversation was with five guys – Coby, Nick, Jesse, Andy and Patrick – four of whom had been high school classmates in Newton, Kansas and were having a reunion of sorts. I didn’t ask their ages, but they looked to be in their late 20’s to early 30’s.
Jesse said that he had moved out to Seattle ‘a couple of years ago’ and wanted his friends to see the area where he is living. His friends had flown in from Kansas City, Chicago, Birmingham, Alabama, and Wichita, Kansas. They were visiting the island for three days and had been hiking in Moran State Park and ‘mostly relaxing around the house’ they have been staying at.
They also expressed support for the facial covering guidelines. Andy said that he was in favor of ‘whatever is for the general good and helps keep everybody safe.’
**If it wouldn’t cause you financial distress to take out a modestly-priced, voluntary subscription (HERE), you’d be doing a real service. If it would, then no worries, we’re happy to share with you.**
Minor, I really appreciated this piece. It’s reassuring in that the visitor to local ratio was small, and that our mask policy was in line with what they expected. The next couple weeks will tell us whether we were on the right track this week. But tomorrow the Tav will be open – and more restaurant. That will be a whole new level to watch. I hope you’ll do these random interviews on a regular basis, so we’ll have some narrative to go with the County stats.
Nice article. Thanks!
May I just say “Ditto” to Molly Roberts letter. The tracking will be helpful. I hope!
Thanks for this. While it is just a snapshot of course, it provides some context and detail that is helpful. A small segment of Orcas residents have had a fear based instinct of painting “outsiders” with a broad brush. Though this is a common response for the less informed a population Under threat to fall back on, in the end it dehumanizes the situation and leads to long lasting social scars. Articles like this help to humanize the situation and hopefully steers the fuel tank painting crowd more in a direction of compassion that better reflects the values of our island.
Thanks, Minor, for putting human faces on some of the visitors or “tourists” who have begun coming here again. The only group that concerns me are the five unrelated guys staying in a home, which must have been a transient vacation rental. According to the County Health Officer’s order in effect last weekend, that should have been a house with a normal capacity of 10 people. Was it? I greatly doubt it.
Thank you Minor… unlike some in this thread I must say that I feel a little disjointed knowing that a third of the people currently browsing the streets of Eastsound immediately upon our partial re-opening are visitors from other areas during the midst of a worldwide pandemic. Keeping in mind these people are coming from areas that have been, and are currently being harder hit.
Jane– are you serious?
“A small segment of Orcas residents”
“a common response for the less informed”
“the fuel tank painting crowd”
As ranking members of SJC’s health care response team have repeatedly said, “the reasons why the numbers are low here is because of social distancing, hand washing, wearing masks, AND THE LACK OF VISITORS.”
Balance is struck somewhere between those that throw caution to the wind & those that say we must take a cautious approach. Labeling those that are rightfully afraid of the potential of infected outsiders coming to the island (which btw just happened this week on SJI), as a part of the problem IS divisive. I might suggest that “though this is the common response for the less informed a population Under threat to fall back on, in the end it dehumanizes the situation and leads to long lasting social scars.”
As my friend Andrea would say, “this is a cheap way to invalidate an effort, kind of like tossing out the word ‘socialist’ “
I wish the newest CV-19 case the best… you are not just a number, or a statistic, or a stranger. You’re part of the brotherhood of humanity… be safe, be well.