Bainbridge Conversation

Town & Country Market released an artist’s rendering this week for a proposed remodel of its iconic Winslow store.

The project will bring the market onto a single story and generally modernize the 56-year-old building. The familiar reader board sign on Winslow Way will remain intact.

T&C first announced the proposed remodel in 2012. The company filed an initial project application with the city Thursday, according to a news release. Remodeling work could begin in early 2014 depending on the permit timeline.

Island architects Devin Johnson and Priscilla Zimmerman are designing the project. Tom Chiado is project manager. Abbott Construction of Seattle is the general contractor.

Company representatives say the extensive remodel signifies T&C’s commitment to staying put in downtown Winslow.

“We feel now is the right time,” T&C Chairman Larry Nakata said in the release. “We are fully committed to downtown and recognize the store’s place in our island’s history. We want to be part of Winslow’s exciting future.”

The Loverich and Nakata families opened the Winslow market in 1957. The store expanded in 1990, adding a cafe and floral department. Town & Country Markets now operates five stores.

Apartments, a gym and a community swimming pool are all part of the proposed second phase of Pleasant Beach Village at Lynwood Center. A public meeting was held for neighbors of the project on Monday night.

You can see more designs for the second phase below, courtesy Wenzlau Architects:

Pre-App Presentation(Kitsap Sun)_low Res by tsooter

Here’s the Friday preview: Bainbridge edition for Nov. 16. Feel free to give your events a plug in the comment section below. Above, island artist Kristy Tonti paints a holiday scene on a Winslow Way shop window Monday. (Tad Sooter photo)

Weather: It looks like we’re back to our regularly scheduled fall weather. The National Weather Service predicts clouds and rain showers this weekend with temperatures in the 40s.

Sports: Spartans hoopsters don’t get much of a holiday. The boys basketball sees its first action at a South Kitsap High School jamboree at 7 p.m. Saturday.  The girls start their season at Bremerton Monday and wrestling visits North Kitsap for a tournament Wednesday.

See a full Spartans schedule here, and follow the Sun’s Prepzone on Facebook for updates.

Around the island:

• The post-Thanksgiving weekend calendar is a little sparse, but there are a few events worth checking out around town. The Winslow Mall will debut a giant inflatable snow globe today (pictured sans snow), which shoppers can climb inside of. The attraction is a fundraiser for the July Street Dance and will be open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. each weekend during the holiday season.

• KiDiMu will raise it’s Giving Tree Saturday in support of Helpline House’s holiday program. Families can pick gift tags from the tree and bring unwrapped presents to the museum until Dec. 8. Contributing families receive a free pass to KiDiMu.

• Monday is your chance to meet Bainbridge’s new city manager. Island forum VillageSpeak will host a potluck and discussion with Doug Schulze at 6:30 p.m. at the Office Xpats center in the Bainbridge Pavilion.

• Pick up this week’s Islander for more event listings and tell us about your events in the comment section below.

Inside the Islander: Young Bainbridge filmmakers hope t0 make second season of their web-based sitcom.

The week in review:

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for updates throughout the week. Contact Bainbridge reporter Tad Sooter at tad.sooter@gmail.com.

The island’s ban on plastic shopping bags begins Thursday. We’ve posted some of the basics below. Let us know what you think of the bag ban by taking our poll below or leaving a comment.

Why a bag ban?

The City Council unanimously approved the bag ban this spring as a way of reducing litter and unnecessary waste, while promoting reusable bags. Bainbridge is the fifth Washington city to ban plastic bags and the first in Kitsap County. Seattle banned plastic shopping bags in July.

What are the rules?

Starting Thursday, retailers are no longer allowed to provide those thin, single-use plastic bags at checkout. Paper bags will still be available, but the ordinance requires retailers to charge 5 cents for larger paper bags (this doesn’t apply to qualifying low income shoppers).

There are a few exceptions to the ban. Plastic bags are allowed for restaurant take-out food, produce, greeting cards, small hardware items, newspapers, dry cleaning and waste.

What stores does this apply to?

Short answer: All of them. This ban applies to all retailers across the island, not just supermarkets. It also applies to farmers markets and vendors  at festivals. Food banks can still use plastic bags.

Where can I get reusable bags?

Reusable bags are available at island grocery stores and some other retailers. The city is handing out a cloth “Bainbridge Bag” tonight during the Winslow trick-or-treat event from 4-6 p.m, and at the library and City Hall starting Thursday.

Where can I get more information?

The city has more details and links on its Sustainable Practices page. If you’re interested in the nitty gritty, you can read the ordinance here. Watch for a full bag ban story Thursday in the Kitsap Sun.

 Loading ...

Photo credit: Larry Steagall/Staff Photo

Here’s the Friday preview: Bainbridge edition for Oct. 12. Please feel free to give your own events a plug in the comment section below. Read the Sun’s regional Friday preview here. Above, look at this picture from Monday at Fay Bainbridge. Now look out your window. Miss summer yet? 

Weather: Our mini-drought is coming to a drippy end. According to the National Weather Service, rain is likely this afternoon. And Saturday. And Sunday. Temperatures will hover between 50 and 60 degrees.

Sports:  It’s a very quiet weekend for Spartans sports. Volleyball is back in action Monday at Eastside Catholic, after notching a big win against Seattle Prep this week. The full Spartans schedule is online.

Around the island: 

• The Pinball Wizard comes to Bainbridge. The Who’s “Tommy” debuts tonight at Bainbridge Performing Arts with an opening night reception starting at 6:30 p.m. Information here.

• Bainbridge Fire hosts a pancake breakfast and fire truck rides from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at the headquarters station on Madison Avenue.

• Bloedel Reserve will burst with activity this weekend. Traveling photo exhibit “The Owl and the Woodpecker in Washington” alights at the north island estate Saturday, a show that continues through November. Bloedel also invites children for a Super Squash Scavenger Hunt, which runs Saturday through Nov. 30.

• Pick up this week’s Islander for more event listings and tell us about your own events in the comment section below .

Inside the Islander: Our story of a hobbit-like house on Bainbridge drew attention from a few local and national outlets. Builder Chris Whited said he was surprised to even see it on the Sun’s A1. “I figured the front cover was reserved for escaped convicts and politicians,” he said in an email.

The week in review: 

• Two brothers are rebuilding their dream of a Bainbridge goat creamery following a September fire.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for updates throughout the week. Contact Bainbridge reporter Tad Sooter at tad.sooter@gmail.com.

The unveiling of a “friendlier” Winslow Way hasn’t sparked a resurgence for downtown businesses. At least not yet.

Sales tax figures released for the first six months of 2012 showed receipts from downtown Winslow were down 1.9 percent compared to the same period last year ($211,718 compared to $215,863). That figure might seem insignificant until you recall what Winslow Way looked like in the first half of 2011:

Sales were lower from January to June this year than in 2011, when shoppers braved a jungle of barricades and traffic cones to visit shops. Downtown continued to lose businesses as well, down to 172 from a total of 201 in 2011.

(more…)

Ben Little is no Don King.

Mainstream boxing might be about making big money for big promoters, but Little, founder of the Bainbridge Island Boxing Club, is more interested in fighting for a good cause.

All money raised by his club’s “Battle for the Beasts” exhibition Saturday will benefit the Kitsap Humane Society. The unlikely pairing of pooches and pugilists was suggested by club member Laura Swanson, who works at the shelter.

“I really like the idea of charity events,” said Little, 36. “It highlights the majesty of the sport. It takes away the stigma, and totally shows it in a different light.”

Little is billing the exhibition as the island’s first live boxing event since 1906. The eight-round main event pits John “Sandman” Daigneault against Dustin “Hurricane” Praxedes. The headline bout will be followed by several five-round matches: “Angel of Death” Swanson vs. Allison “Sugarfists” Spiceland; Isiah “King Kong” Conner vs. Jason “Mean Mother” Tucker; and Jim “Ironman” Savage vs. James “The Vanilla Gorilla” Miller. Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Ivan Salaverry will serve as a celebrity judge.

Matches begin at 5 p.m. in the club’s gym, 563 Madison Ave. N. Tickets are $10.

The Bainbridge Island Boxing Club opened a year ago and has about 70 members. Little and a handful of other instructors teach boxing, kickboxing and fitness.

The Bainbridge City Council wants to tackle the island’s cellphone tower ordinance in the hopes it will lead to better coverage around the island.

The ordinance hasn’t been updated in 15 years, making it outdated and overly restrictive, according to cellphone companies.

If the rules are loosened, what area of the island would you most like to see get a coverage boost?

Cast your vote in the poll over to the right.

For the results on our last poll about the Ostling trial verdict, head down below.

(more…)

The Kitsap Cash Mob is planning a hit at a Winslow Way retailer this Saturday.

Don’t worry, this mob plans to spend money (and lots of it) rather than extort it.

The Kitsap Cash Mob is part of a national movement in which a group of shoppers come all at once and flood a locally-owned business with some much-needed revenue.

You can read my story about a Kitsap Cash Mob event in Kingston here.

The mob has hit several places around the county, but this is their first one on Bainbridge.

The target: Paper Products, a Winslow office, art and gift store that has seen more lucrative years.

Here’s what Paper Products had to say on the cash mob’s Facebook event page.

“2011 was a tremendously tough year on our business. The Winslow Way project was nine months of absolute stress. We averaged 165-250 customers in our store daily. During the peak of the construction period, we were lucky to get 30 customers in the store/day. As a result, we had to make cuts in hours, inventory, and extra services. We lost staff and regular customers. The recovery has been slow. We are also expecting a baby boy September 1st so we are committed to the hope that our customers will continue to support us – particularly through the slower summer months (which are often the toughest for our business).”

Anyone can join in on the hit. It starts at noon and ends at 3 p.m. Once the shopping’s done, the mob plans to gather at Lynwood Center’s Salmon Canyon Cafe for a post-hit meal.

The Bainbridge Island Downtown Association has established a relief fund for the employees and families of The 122 Bar and Restaurant.

The bar was gutted by fire on Monday morning.

Relief fund contributions can be made at the Winslow branch of Columbia Bank.

Funds will be collected until the end of August and then distributed in September.

A local start-up magazine aims to celebrate all the good things about island living.

This summer, Bainbridge entrepreneur Michael Cyger is planning to unveil Bainbridge Island Magazine, a glossy lifestyle quarterly that was inspired, in part, by all the “bad news” the island generates.

Here’s what Cyger has to say about the mag at another of his properties, bainbridgeisland.com:

“We all moved to Bainbridge Island for one or more reasons: the top-rated schools, the quaint downtown, the educated community, the welcoming people, the arts, the rural appeal, the list goes on and on…it’s a great place to getaway from the hectic city or raise a family. Whatever your reason, it is tarnished by bad news that has been rampant in our community. What we need is a way to celebrate what we have.”

Bainbridge magazine, he adds, will “focus on the positive. Only good news.”

It’ll have stories about island homes, gardens, arts, restaurants, organically grown food and “of course – a focus on sustainability.”

“All of the reasons we moved here,” Cyger says.

“This will be the magazine you are proud to show your family that live in a different state, your friends that come to visit in the summer, and that you will be proud to leave out on your coffee table or in your business waiting room….”

The magazine will be mailed to every household and business on the island. On newsstands, it’ll cost about $5.

Head over here for a video statement from Cyger and a “walk through” of the upcoming issue.

Above is a five-minute video slideshow of photos taken on Bainbridge during the 1960s. The slide show was prepared for the Bainbridge Public Library’s 50th anniversary celebrations last month.

Culled largely from the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum‘s archives, the photos depict some of the island’s last big blue-collar employers, including the Eagle Harbor shipyard, and plenty of new real estate offices.

Also popping up are a long-gone bowling alley, lumber yard, shoe store and Crazy Eric’s burger joint. Watch close and you’ll see (around the three-minute mark) the Unocal gas station site that has been making the news lately.

At least two businesses in the slide show – Town & Country Market and Esther’s fabric store – are still thriving today.

It’s striking to see how little Winslow Way has changed since the 1960s, and how much the newer Village shopping center on High School Road has been altered quite a bit.