The thousand days of August are upon us. Both Doe Bay Fest and the Chamber Music Festival get underway this weekend, the park campground is on overload, and the ferry reservations are as well.  Ah, Summer. Fortunately, the lake is perfect for swimming and the blackberries are starting to ripen so sanity can prevail.

Island Market has launched their school supplies drive to benefit the Orcas public schools and it will run through August 20th.  They have donation “tags” available in $10, $15 and $25 increments as well as a blank tag to make your own donation amount.  Present your donation tag to any cashier to make your donation and return your tag with a note of encouragement and support that will be hung up in the front of the store to show progress in making the goal of $5,000. This is a great way to support our teachers and students!

Many of you have asked about the Airport dust up. The Port Commission is in the process of updating the airport master plan. There are plenty of rumors and a few facts flying around (pun intended).  The summary provided by Steve and Jenifer Smith from Madrona Voices is a good overview.  You can read it here. They are also conducting a survey (as they did for the Public Hospital Tax issue). The survey can be accessed at http://www.madronavoices.com/. Hopefully, we can find a good path forward to make the best decisions for the community.

We still have a few spaces available for our Eastsound Walk this coming Thursday at 10 AM (RSVP to 376-6423). Meet at the OICF office on Prune Alley if you can join us. We will meander past our new office, down to Madrona Point then up Haven and finish off at the April’s Grove site.  Would love to have you join us!

Have a lovely weekend-
Hilary