Lovely La Conner
Picturesque town by the slough rolls out the carpet for visitors

by R.W. Clever

The town of La Conner – already one of Western Washington’s favorite tourist destinations – is becoming a rather shrewd promoter of itself, a force to be reckoned with in the regional competition for vacationers’ dollars.

A recent example of the growing sophistication of its efforts came when the Chamber of Commerce advertising committee learned of the existence of one of the more obscure organizations in Seattle’s hospitality industry – the Seattle Hotel Concierges. Those are the people you seek out in the lobby of the city’s posher hotels when you need some tips on where to eat and what to do in the area.

In any case, they are concierges and they have an organization. Chamber advertising committee co-chair Mike Bruggeman and his colleagues discovered the group and came up with an idea – invite the concierges to enjoy the hospitality of La Conner for a couple of days.

“We had concierges from the Seattle Mayflower, Four Seasons, Alexis, W, the Westin and several other big hotels,” said Bruggeman, owner of the Heron Inn. “We took them out on a boat, to the restaurants, they visited some of the shops and the whole thing ended with strawberries and champagne at MONA (the Museum of Modern Art). It was very nice.”

The payoff was not long in coming. A few weeks later some visitors drove into town. They had been staying at the Four Seasons in Seattle and had asked the concierge where they might go for a pleasant day trip within an hour of the city. The concierge didn’t hesitate — La Conner.

La Conner’s business community and most of its citizens have long ago come to terms with the town’s destiny as a magnet for tourists. Some would have liked it if the onward meandering march of lookyloo visitors had somehow skirted their sweet little dorf by the slough, but it was not to be. The place is just too danged cute to miss. And the tourists could not be persuaded to stay home and just mail in their money.

The streets lined with gingerbread Victorians, galleries, gift shops, restaurants; the beauty of Swinomish Slough (the Channel is what the Corps of Engineers scooped down the middle of it), the proximity both to Puget Sound and to the unbelievably productive Skagit Flats farmland – all of it creates a wondrous mix of sight, sound, smell and taste. In other words, La Conner is pretty irresistible.

There was a time a few decades ago when the town attracted a new generation of artists, writers, craftspeople and seekers. For the most part they mixed easily with the town’s blue collar population of fishermen, loggers, farmers and boat builders. They all seemed to share a sense of personal independence and were drawn to the town for many of the same reasons.

Fishing and logging declined and small farmers began to sell out to larger operations. The seeds of La Conner’s economic future were in that new bunch – the creative souls who had found their home there. The style of art known as the Northwest School found much of its inspiration in the incandescent light of the Skagit Valley. Guy Anderson, one of the greats of that school, set up housekeeping in La Conner in the late 1950s and stayed until his death a few years ago.

The roots of La Conner’s excellent Museum of Northwest Art were in the Northwest School and it still exhibits many of the works of the greater and lesser-known local artists.

La Conner makes the most of its natural and human assets. The town has jammed its schedule for the rest of the year with events designed to keep the visitors coming and the locals entertained. Bruggeman says the event schedule is heavier than ever.

September’s marquee events will be the La Conner Classic Antique Boat and Classic Auto Festival – the vintage vehicles being added to the mix for the first time.

The town’s shakers and movers have been busy. The Chamber of Commerce followed up last year’s successful advertising campaign with a similar effort this year aimed at getting day trippers from the metro areas of Puget Sound to head for La Conner as early in the year as possible.

Last year’s effort, which for the first time pooled the advertising dollars of much of the business community, raised nearly $60,000 to spend on advertising in the Seattle metropolitan area. The Chamber’s advertising committee, co-chaired this year by Bruggeman and Peggy Prince, owner of From Grandma with Love, raised about the same amount the second time around.

“When the merchants pool their ad dollars it really is more effective than when 50 people would take out separate ads,” said Bruggeman. “It really helps us to have a larger presence.”

The more feet on the street there are, everybody benefits. Bruggeman said the Chamber advertised heavily in the Seattle Times travel section earlier this year and is now receiving proposals from several area radio stations for its fall campaign. Fall events will include the Museum of Northwest Art’s home tour, the antique boat and auto show, Native American Day, an art show and a wine and food event.

Native American Day began a few years ago and, according to Chamber Director Jenny Scott, is a legal holiday in La Conner. The Town Hall shuts down and La Conner residents host their neighbors from the Swinomish Reservation across the slough. The tribe puts on a traditional alder-cooked salmon feed along with other events designed to promote good will between town and tribe.

“La Conner is the only city in the country that has a day honoring Native Americans as a legal holiday,” said Scott.

So far this summer, visitors have been for the most part unbothered by the detours they’ve had to take around Morris Street, which has been torn up, but for a good purpose. When the street is finished, all utility lines will be underground, new sewer and water lines laid, sidewalks installed and the street will be lit at night with old fashion street lamps.

“It’s going to look great,” said Jenny Scott, who took over as Chamber director in January. “In June of next year we’ll have our ‘Elements’ arts festival along Morris to celebrate the completion of the project.”

The Elements theme, she said, was a tie-in to the Chamber’s advertising campaign promoting the “four elements” of La Conner – earth, water, history and art.” Scott said that the promoters of the program hope to see the term Elements take on a life of its own and the word alone become synonymous with Las Conner, much as the term Bumbershoot has become linked to Seattle.

A new addition to La Conner’s repertoire of events, Elements will be a juried show for the region’s artists and craftspeople. And, says Scott, it will be an annual event.

David Britt, owner of the Wild Iris Inn, is glad to see a new push to draw visitors in June, which is generally a slow month for his business. But overall, Britt says, this year looks to be better than last. His guest count so far this year is up four percent over the same period last year.

And the Canadians are back, thanks to the end of the Iraq war and the softening of the American dollar.

“I always keep a watch on where people are coming from,” said Britt. “Last year only about two percent of my guests were Canadians. This year we’re up to six percent.”

In addition to MONA, visitors are drawn to the La Conner Quilt Museum in Gaches Mansion on the hill overlooking the town. It is the only quilt museum in the Northwest and is recognized as one of the best in the nation. The Skagit County Historical Museum is also on the hill, a few blocks away.

Jenny Scott took over as Chamber director in January, after she and her state trooper husband moved to Camano Island from their former home in Spokane. She had previously worked as a business analyst for Avista (formerly Washington Water Power).

Scott has a degree in finance from Gonzaga University, where she got some public relations experience as the school’s publicity manager in her sophomore year.

“I’m really enjoying it here,” she said. “The people are fantastic.”

 

LA CONNER EVENT SCHEDULE FOR REMAINDER OF 2003

AUGUST
7 La Conner‘s Annual Pioneer Picnic, 11:30 a.m. Pioneer Park
9 Gallery Art Walk 5-8 p.m.
23-24 Classic Skagit Boat Rendezvous

SEPTEMBER
6-7 Museum of NW Art’s, Tour of Homes. 11a.m.-5 p.m.
13 Gallery Art Walk
13-14 La Conner Classic Antique Boat and Classic Auto Festival
22 Native American Day. 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Maple Hall
26-28 ~ La Conner’s Annual Quilt Festival

OCTOBER
11 Gallery Art Walk 5-8 p.m.
25 Friends of the Library Fashion Show at Maple Hall

NOVEMBER
7-9 La Conner’s 19th Annual “Art’s Alive” Festival & Invitational Art Show. A celebration of artists demonstrating their art!

DECEMBER
6 Santa & Mrs. Claus parade 2 p.m., Lighted Boat Parade 6:30 p.m.
13 Gallery Art Walk 5-8 p.m.
14 Membership Christmas party 6-8 p.m. Retirement Inn