KMAS Radio

National Night Out is back in Mason County and this year, more agencies than ever are coming together. Jeff Slakey sits down with leaders from South Mason Fire, North Mason Fire, Central Mason Fire & EMS, the Mason County Sheriff's Office, and Shelton Police to talk about what's planned for August 4th, 5–8 PM, all across the county. From block parties and bucket brigades to a fire-vs.-police s...

Every summer, Shelton Presbyterian Church opens its doors to the whole community for Kids Camp, a free, week-long vacation Bible study program that's been running for nearly two decades. In this conversation, Jeff Slakey sits down with Eileen Bailey to talk about what makes Kids Camp special: free admission, daily activities including crafts, games, cooking and woodworking, lunch, snacks, and a t-...

Jeff Slakey sits down with Fae from Shelton Pride to talk about Party in the Park, a free, family-friendly event at Kneeland Park on Friday, June 26 from 5 to 8 p.m. Expect collaborative art booths, face painting, balloon animals, a short pride parade (ADA accessible), and a costume contest with the theme Rainbow Extravaganza. Every entrant gets a prize. Top three in each age category get special...

Hoodstock is back — and bigger than ever. Jeff Slakey heads to the Robin Hood Resort in Union, Washington to sit down with the Hoodstock organizing committee ahead of the August 14–15 weekend on Hood Canal. Last year, Hoodstock raised $50,000 for the Salmon Center and Hood Canal School — including funding that helped bring music educator Chris Eakes into the school full-time. This year, organizers...

Shelton is growing, and the city wants to make sure the community has a voice in what that looks like. City Manager Mark Ziegler joins Jeff Slakey on Focus on Shelton to break down the strategic planning work underway at City Hall, what the City Council identified as Shelton's strengths and challenges, and how residents can weigh in at a public open house on June 23rd at Shelton's Civic Center. Th...

Shelton is growing, and the city wants to make sure the community has a voice in what that looks like. City Manager Mark Ziegler joins Jeff Slakey on Focus on Shelton to break down the strategic planning work underway at City Hall, what the City Council identified as Shelton's strengths and challenges, and how residents can weigh in at a public open house on June 23rd at Shelton's Civic Center. Th...

If you check out this week's Shelton Mason County Journal, you will see Isaac Dorcy on the front page. Isaac just graduated from Whitworth University in Spokane with a degree in music composition, and for his senior recital, he composed an original piece for brass quintet called "Ode to Paul Bunyan." The piece is rooted in Pacific Northwest Paul Bunyan lore, including the first-ever Paul Bunyan st...

Shelton School District Superintendent Wyeth Jessee joins Jeff Slakey for an end-of-year conversation covering what families in Mason County and need to know about local education heading into summer. This week: the Class of 2025 earned nearly half a million dollars in scholarships. Third-grade reading scores have doubled in four years. And the district just completed 100 work-experience placement...

Mason County Sheriff Ryan Spurling joins Jeff Slakey for their monthly conversation, recorded at the Fjord Oyster Bank ahead of the Sheriff's Luncheon. This episode covers the full range of what's on the Sheriff's radar heading into summer 2026. Topics include: the leadership transition at the Shelton Police Department as a new chief takes over following Chief Kostad's departure; wildfire prepared...

One of the top 100 disc golf courses in the entire United States is tucked into the forest on Shelton Springs Road in Shelton, Washington, and unlike almost every other top-ranked course in the country, you can play it for free, any day of the year, on the same pads the pros throw. This weekend (May 29–31, 2026), the world's best disc golfers come to Mason County for the Discraft Cascade Challenge...

Mason County is sitting in the lowest quartile in Washington state for community health — and Mason Matters, the local 501(c)(3) that quieted down during COVID, has come back online with a plan to move that number twenty percent. In this conversation, host Jeff Slakey sits down at the Economic Development Council building in downtown Shelton with Julie Knott, the director of Mason Matters. They co...

Amber Anderson from South Mason Fire & Rescue joins Jeff Slakey to preview a Mother's Day weekend full of community events on Arcadia Road in Shelton, Washington. First up: a FREE car seat checkup event Friday, May 8, from 11 AM to 2 PM at the South Mason Fire station on Arcadia. Certified car seat installers — being trained across multiple counties — will check your car seat is installed corr...

In this conversation, host Jeff Slakey sits down with Katie Arnold, treasurer of the Karen Hilburn Cancer Fund, to talk about the second annual Mother's Day Dash — a 4-mile run/walk that supports cancer screenings and treatment for uninsured and underinsured women right here in Mason County. For more than two decades, the Karen Hilburn Cancer Fund has helped over 600 Mason County residents access...

In a national climate where political divides feel impossible to bridge, something different is happening in Shelton. The Mason County Peacemakers — six women from the Mason County Republican Women's Club and six from the Mason County Democrat Women — have been meeting since last fall to do one thing: get community work done together. In this conversation, Jeff Slakey sits down with four of them a...

Mason County Sheriff Ryan Spurling joined Jeff Slakey at The Fjord Oyster Bank in Hoodsport for the monthly sit-down just before he met with the community for the monthly luncheon. Spurling walks through the Sheriff's Office's Neighborhood Watch revival under Deputy Matt Colbenson, why Mason County is again Washington's lowest-staffed sheriff's office per 1,000 residents (a point he traces back th...

Shelton School District Superintendent Wyeth Jesse joins Jeff Slakey for a wide-ranging conversation about what's happening in Mason County classrooms — and what's coming next. On this episode: a look back at the latest school board meeting and the marimba performance from Mountain View Elementary; the federal funding cuts threatening multilingual education programs; the departures of two longtime...

In this conversation, Jeff Slakey is on the line with Amber Anderson of South Mason Fire as the department prepares for a rare double push-in ceremony on Arcadia Road. Two new pieces of apparatus — a new fire engine and a new water tender — are heading into service tonight, and the community is invited to literally help push them into the bay. Amber walks us through the origin of the push-in tradi...

The Shelton Farmers Market is back in downtown Shelton for the 2026 season, opening Saturday, May 2 in the Civic Center parking lot and running every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. through October. Market manager Tammy Ramsey joined Jeff Slakey on Focus on Shelton to preview what's new this year, including an expanded push to bring small farms and backyard growers to market, a returning partnersh...

Downtown Shelton is about to get loud, full, and fired-up for a good cause. On Saturday at 2 p.m., the Mason Hotel parking lot at 111 East Railroad Avenue becomes home to a food truck rodeo, a silent auction that runs all afternoon, and a live auction starting at 6 p.m. — all benefiting the Shelton High School Class of 2026 Safe & Sober Graduation Party. In this interview, Jeff Slakey talks wi...

In this month's check-in, Jeff Slakey sits down with Mason County Sheriff Ryan Spurling for a wide-ranging conversation covering some of the most significant issues facing local law enforcement and the Mason County community right now. Governor Ferguson has signed the controversial law enforcement decertification bill into law — and sheriffs across Washington state are pushing back. Spurling break...

One day after Governor Ferguson signed Washington's new 9.9% income tax into law, State Senator Drew MacEwen and Representatives Dan Griffey and Travis Couture sat down with KMAS Radio's Jeff Slakey at the annual 35th District Legislative Wrap-Up breakfast in Shelton.  In this candid hour-long conversation, the three Republican legislators discuss the longest floor debate in Washington House histo...

Jeff Slakey sits down with Tamra Ingwaldson, named the 2025 Citizen of the Year by the Shelton Mason County Chamber of Commerce. Over nearly 20 minutes, they explore what it means to truly serve a community — and what keeps Tamra showing up. Tamra shares how growing up watching her parents coach sports she wasn't allowed to play planted the seed for a lifetime of civic engagement. As a single moth...

Jeff Slakey sits down at Shelton Veterans Village on North 13th with Executive Director Colleen Carmichael and Program Support Specialist Tamra Ingwaldson for a wide-ranging conversation about what's really happening inside this unique community of 30 veterans — and why the data says permanent supportive housing is one of the smartest investments a community can make.   In this episode: •       Wh...

Mason Health and Mason General Hospital have several scholarship opportunities available for 2026 — including a brand-new $10,000 award from the Hospitalist Group designed to help Mason County students pursue careers in health care.  In this episode of Focus on Shelton, Jeff Slakey sits down with Dr. Doug Lindahl and Dr. Jacqueline Gorzynski from the Mason Health Hospitalist Group, along with Dr....

They started meeting in living rooms. Now they've been shaping civic life in Shelton and Mason County, Washington for more than 55 years. In this Focus on Shelton conversation recorded at the historic Mason Hotel, Jeff Slakey sits down with Leslie Peterson, April Pooler, and Jayni Kamin of the Mason County Republican Women's Club to talk history, community, and what it actually looks like to build...