Friends Notes

By Betty Carteret

Friends of Skagit Beaches again sponsored the Discovery Passport activity at the 2017 Fidalgo Bay Day event on August 12th. This year was bigger and better than ever. We distributed 203 passports, which was double the total from last year. Kids (of all ages) had a great time grabbing their passport and heading out to visit the Passport Stations where they were challenged to answer a question about that station. This year we had 14 stations to visit and in order to collect a prize participants needed to visit at least 8. It was so much fun that most of the “Passporters” visited them all.

 It’s sooo hard to decide which prize to pick.

Our theme this year at the Information Table (Station 1) was reducing marine plastic debris going into our waterways and oceans. With that in mind, some of the prizes were reusable plastic shopping bags and produce bags (like the one in the above photo on Dad’s arm).

Participating organizations all agreed that being one of passport stations brought more enthusiasm to their interactions with visitors to their displays.

Again this year we offered a coloring contest to select a winner for next year’s passport cover design. We received 14 entries – that's double last year’s number. So, with the increasing number of participants and the joy of all the smiles and laughter, we’ll be back again at Fidalgo Bay Day with our 2018 Discovery Passports. If you’re interested in volunteering to help with next year’s passport activity, contact us a This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 Early arrivals admiring the passport cover art!

Station 1 – Marine Plastic Debris Station: “I bet this poster has the answer to my challenge question”

Station 4 – Shannon Point Marine Center’s Touch Tank was probably the busiest station with lots of critters to see and feel.

Station 5: Deception Pass Foundation’s Gracie the Whale skeleton is really big and really cool!

The project planning team for our annual lecture series is hard at work figuring out the details for the 2018 lectures! This includes the all-important task of selecting four exceptional speakers to present during the upcoming season. The team has had several planning meetings already, even though the series doesn’t start until January 2018.

We’re in the process of whittling down a starting list of 49 candidate topics to the final 4. Even though sorting through that many options can seem daunting, Matt Kerschbaum makes the process fun. They started with 49 sheets of paper on the table and thoughtful discussion immediately removed 24 leaving a shorter list of 25 for the second cut round. Each team member was given 12 pennies to place on the remaining 25 sheets of paper to select their top 12. This enabled the group to shave the list to 13 candidates. 

Team members (l – r) Sue Ehler, Matt Kerschbaum, Barbara Lechner, and Gina Johnson

Now the more formal voting process, involving lists and Excel spreadsheets, will sort the list to identify the top candidates. At that point the team will get busy contacting and confirming potential speakers. We hope to have that done by early October and have the four topics ready to start the next phase of work – advertising the lectures that will be presented on the dates listed below at the NW Educational Services District Building, 1601 R Avenue, Anacortes.

2018 Lecture Schedule: Friday evenings on January 19th, February 16th, March 16th, and April 20.

Mark your calendar and we’ll have the coffee and cookies ready when you get there.