By La Conner Community News staff
La Conner faces a week of wet, windy weather, with gusts up to 50 mph expected midweek and additional storms forecast to bring heavy rain and strong winds through the weekend.
Western Skagit and Whatcom counties, Whidbey Island, the San Juan Islands and communities near Admiralty Inlet are expected to bear the brunt of the storms, with repeated rainfall and prolonged periods of strong winds over the next seven days.
The forecast follows Saturday evening’s storm, which knocked out power in parts of La Conner, interrupting the Skagit County Historical Museum’s fall fundraiser, “Treasures: Protecting Our Shared History,” at Maple Hall. Director Jo Wolfe said the power went out at about 6 p.m., before dinner service.
Rather than panicking, many attendees ran home and to their cars to grab lanterns and flashlights, while others turned on their phone lights, keeping the tables and Santo Coyote’s taco bar illuminated.
“Everyone just rolled with it,” Wolfe said, calling the event “a wonderful dinner.”
The power returned after 8 p.m., just as Volunteer Kim Rubenstein was giving a speech. Wolfe said the fundraiser was a success, with 130 tickets sold and roughly 140 people filling Maple Hall.
Pioneer Market also closed early Saturday because of the outage. Town public works officials and local fire departments reported no major problems from the weekend storm.
La Conner Chamber of Commerce Director Mark Hulst said he did not notice any impacts to the Chamber office, but a power outage at his business, Skagit Cellars, caused Saturday’s performance to pivot from electric to acoustic music.
The Skagit County Historical Museum fundraiser in Maple Hall was plunged into darkness on
Saturday night when power went out in town for about three hours. Participants made do and carried on.
