General presents Roy Matsumoto with special medallion in recognition of his service to the United States
How do you spend snow days on San Juan Island? Perhaps sledding on a hilly street in the neighborhood. Or honing your snowboarding skills at Lafarge Community Park (aka the former gravel pit). Or building the perfect snowman. Or staying in where it’s warm and baking the perfect pie.
Crime writer Ann Rule, whose 30 books include “No Regrets,” about the Ruth Neslund murder case, will sign copies of her latest book at Boardwalk Bookstore Dec. 15, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Rule’s newest book, “Mortal Danger,” has been published by Pocket Books. Her updated version of “The Stranger Beside Me,” will be published by Pocket Books in January
And then there were two. Ten of Friday Harbor Middle School’s best and brightest geography students took center stage Wednesday with the school’s annual Geo Bee title up for grabs.
The Compassionate Friends Worldwide Candle Lighting takes place in Friday Harbor today, 7 p.m., on the corner of Spring and Second streets. The event is open to the public. Kathleen Wilson and Pat Gislason will sing a song that Wilson wrote in memory of her late brother, Frank Wilson, the long-time San Juan EMS chief. Joyce Jones will speak. The names of local children of all ages who have passed away will be read.
Friday Harbor will be alive with the bright, bold colors of Mexico during back-to-back celebrations this week. On Thursday, the streets of Friday Harbor will be the setting for the Dance of the Elders. Now in its fourth year, the procession will feature folk dancers from the local Mexican-American community, adorned in traditional Mexican dress, leading a procession through town.
The Festival of Trees, one of the biggest entertainment events of the holiday season, is this week. If you attend on Preview Night, you’ll find it’s likely the best night of entertainment for the price: $5.
The Friday Harbor Elementary School PTA and Friends of the Library present a new children’s book entitled, “Ecology from A to Z,” written and illustrated by islander Jacob Angel. Celebrate “I Love to Read Month” with Angel at the San Juan Island Library as he reads and signs copies of this book — his first — on Dec. 12 at 6:30 p.m.
Today is officially the first day of the holiday shopping season, a day when turkey dinner-induced drowsiness is replaced by the rush that comes from crowds, decorations, goodies and finding good shopping deals.
As early as September, the first snow falls on the Inupiat village of Shishmaref — on a disappearing sand spit on the Seward Peninsula of Alaska — and on desolate St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. Lee Brooks of Arctic Raven Gallery plans his travel to that region after the first snow, a time when artists start carving, to search for the Northwest Native art treasures featured in the annual show, aptly titled “First Snow.”
I’ve been reading Robert Fulghum’s “True Love,” a book of true love stories. Surprisingly, many of them are the stories of people who are in love with people they don’t know. I am one of those people this week. I am in love with Thor Hanson, the author of “The Impenetrable Forest: My Gorilla Years in Uganda.”
“The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” opens Friday, 7 p.m., in the San Juan Community Theatre. Tickets are $14 for adults and $8 for student reserved, with $5 student RUSH available at the door.
Dare to redeem Scrooge’s soul from greed and betrayal on Christmas Eve? Join Jacob Marley on his quest to save Ebenezer Scrooge from eternal damnation in Island Stage Left’s presentation of “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol” Thursday through Dec. 24, in the Roche Harbor Pavilion.
