Tales of the Magic Skagit

I recently aired a Tales of the Magic Skagit podcast episode about the life of Laurie Wells, whose parents, Hiram and Alfreda, settled in Mount Vernon in 1877. During the interview a reference was made to “Ridgeway” as the name of the area where the Wells’ family home was located. I recalled that the Skagit County Historical Museum’s archivist, Mari Anderson Densmore, had written about Ridgeway in...

It started with five acres, two parents’ determination that their kids would grow up with a connection to the natural world…and a pony named Stormy. This year, Lang’s Horse & Pony Farm is celebrating half a century of connecting Skagitonians with the beauty of our Magic Skagit surroundings as uniquely experienced on the backs horses and ponies. In this Tales of the Magic Skagit podcast episode...

I love places that love their history…and Whidbey Island is certainly one such place. In addition to the postcard perfect beauty of Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve, located just a scant 23 miles from my front door, the town of Coupeville is the location of a wonderful museum that embodies the passion for local history of its island community. In this episode of Tales of the Magic Skagit...

If you want a vivid reminder of just how hospitable the Magic Skagit can be, show up at the Lincoln Theater in downtown Mount Vernon at 7pm on Thursday, May 8, 2025 for a public gathering of your friends and neighbors through a program known as "Let's Go Together." The free event offers music and fellowship with the simple agenda of connecting people through the power of face-to-face...

This Tales of the Magic Skagit podcast episode encompasses two topics, which while seemingly unrelated at first consideration, actually have a common theme: the past, present, and future of the Skagit Valley as viewed through an artistic lens. We start this episode off with Laynie Moran, the Skagit County Historical Museum's Collections Manager, who is heading up a first ever art contest and exhib...

Sedro-Woolley has long held a very special place in my heart as a 12-year resident of the Magic Skagit. My very first impression of the town was that it had seen better times, but as I got to know it better over the years I came to appreciate its grit and resilience. One person who understands those civic attributes far better than me is its mayor, the Honorable Julia Johnson — and in this Tales o...

“Elevated accommodations” is how Alia Rossi, the general manager for the Kulshan Hotel, describes Sedro-Woolley’s new hospitality venue. And while that may sound like a marketing catch phrase, even a cursory look at the hotels rooms and reception spaces will dispel any comparisons with your typical chain hotel. In this interview with Alia, we’ll learn about her history in the hospitality business,...

“. . . but now I know this path is only one of the many that opened before me on that morning in Dorothea.” -- Italo Calvino ( Invisible Cities) "A coffee shop should be a place for new exploration, new pathways in ones life," is how Conor Mahoney describes the experience he and his wife Ashley want to create for those who walk through the door of their downtown Mount Vernon venue. If th...

In Part 1 of our two-part series, we learned about the life of Bow native Wick Peth and how he became a nationally recognized bull fighter in the professional rodeo circuit. Along the way we also learned a little bit about the history of the Peth Family, courtesy of Wick's son and daughter, Dan and Liza. We kick off Part 2 with Skagit County Historical Museum executive director Jo Wolfe explai...

I first heard of Wick Peth a few years back at the Skagit County Fair. There was a bull on display named "Little Wick," and I was curious about his name. That's when I learned that the Magic Skagit was home to an individual who was famous to anyone who loved rodeo: Wick Peth, a professional bull fighter. As a student of Skagit Valley history, the name Peth was certainly familiar as one of the earl...

Back in August, I had the great honor of hosting the Meyer Sign Fair History Booth at the 2024 Skagit County Fair. In the midst of the interviews we recorded with fairgoers, participants, and performers, one of the folks visiting our booth at the Evergreen Classic Pavilion presented me with a copy of an article written in the 1920s by Violet Eldred Dynes recalling her childhood memories of the fai...

In the first of our three part series, "A Conversation with Tom Williams," we learned about the Marine Captain's extraordinary family, his childhood in what was once known as Peking, and his subsequent path to Annapolis and the Marine Corps. In this, part two, of my conversation with Tom, we learn about his two tours of duty in Vietnam in the years before and after the infamous Tet O...

You know you're speaking with someone from a career military family when the simple question, "Where are you from" momentarily stumps them. In the case of Tom Williams, Marine Corps Captain, ret., the places and events that formed the backdrop of his childhood could easily comprise a Forrest Gump sequel -- albeit with a higher functioning main character (although Tom might smilingly...

It was such a thrill to once again be amazed by "The Magic of Sterling" at the 2024 Skagit County Fairgrounds . His performances both thrill and inspire...and they make me believe in goodness, which is where the magic really lives. You can see that in the faces of the young and young at heart. Don Wick and I were able to interview the man behind the magic on the final day of the Fair, an...

Just a few days before the opening of the 2024 Skagit County Fair, one of our beloved Meyer Sign/Tales of the Magic Skagit followers, Ree Coslor, responded to an invitation to our followers to come visit Don Wick and me at the Meyer Sign Fair History Booth and share a favorite memory of the Fair with us. Ree wrote, "I can tell you quite a bit about the old Grandstand shows, as my dad was the...

On our last day of interviews at the Meyer Sign Fair History Booth during the 2024 Skagit County Fair, Don Wick and I were delighted to chat with a variety of folks who make the Fair the best annual venue in the Magic Skagit.  Our first interview was with the director of Skagit County  Parks & Recreation, Brian Adams. We learned about Brian’s background and career at Parks & Rec, and his a...

On Day Three of the 2024 Skagit County Fair, Don Wick and I once again had the pleasure of interviewing some remarkable folks who each make a unique contribution to the Fair’s success.  We started our interview series with Ron Stubbs, whose Hypnotic Mayhem has delighted and mystified audiences for more than three decades. But Ron is also a “talent buyer” for casinos throughout the country. You’ll...

Welcome to the first Tales of the Magic Skagit podcast from the 2024 Skagit County Fair. Don Wick and I co-host the Meyer Sign Fair History Booth, and for our third year running we look for opportunities to sit down with folks at the Fair with good stories to tell. On Friday, August 9 (Day Two of the Fair), we start off with an interview with three members of an Anacortes-based West African drum e...

Perusing the books in the gift shop of the Island County Historical Society Museum in Coupeville, I came across “A History of Whidbey’s Island” by George A. Kellogg. The author’s name was immediately recognizable to me as the grandson of Dr. Joseph C. Kellogg, one of the original recipients of donation claims lands on the island in the early years of white settlement in the mid-19th century. Georg...

This is my love letter to county fairs everywhere...but most especially the Stanwood-Camano and Skagit County fairs. I originally wrote this during the throes of the Great Pandemic of 2020, when our beloved Skagit County Fair was suspended due to quarantine. I don't miss those days one bit.

Frances Negranza joined the Skagit County Parks & Rec Department a year and a half ago as the assistant to long time fairgrounds manager Aric Gaither -- and I immediately took a shine to her, as the old folks say. For one thing, she has the same name as my cat. She also got her start in county fairs at the same annual venue I took my kids to: the Santa Clara County Fair in California. But most...

Ed Marlow has lived in Sedro-Woolley since the mid-1940s, ever since his parents moved here from Forks, Washington. One of his earliest ambitions was to become a "hot rod mechanic," but he eventually ended up as a boiler tender on a Coast Guard ship. Along the way, he discovered photography and hair cutting -- and it was the latter pursuit that would define his professional life for the...

If you’ve driven along Division Street in West Mount Vernon, you’ve probably noticed a building that looks like it might have once been a ‘50s-style diner, just a block east of the intersection at Wahl (McLean). These days, however, it’s home to a Mexican restaurant called Cocina Sabores — the “flavorful kitchen” en Engles. Here in the Magic Skagit we have an embarrassment of culinary riches when...

JoEllen Kesti is the executive director of the Sedro-Woolley Museum and president of the museum’s board. Her own history with Sedro-Woolley goes back several generations to her great-great-grandparents. In this interview with JoEllen we’ll learn a little about her family history and a lot about how she became involved with her hometown’s museum, and what’s been going on there since her tenure as d...

If you’re traveling east on Division St. from West Mount Vernon, the first message you encounter as you cross the Skagit River is plastered large and load on the side of a historic brick building: Make Art Not War. Welcome to Sri Dee Arts, a cornerstone business on First Street, right across the street from another venerable Skagit Valley business, the Skagit Valley Food Co-op. Morgan White, our S...