Monthly Archives: December 2014

Help us rank the top 10 Islander stories of 2014

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The tugboat Pacific Knight helps maneuver the state ferry Tacoma to the Bainbridge Island dock after it lost power while making the 12:20 p.m. sailing from Seattle to Bainbridge on July 29, 2014. MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN

We are asking readers to rank the top Bainbridge Islander stories from this past year in a survey. The top 10 will be posted on this blog.

You can take the survey here.

If you need to refresh your memory on a story,  they are listed below in no particular order with links:

 

Town & Country sign coming down (for a little bit)

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The iconic Town & Country sign, left, will be demolished Dec. 30 and rebuilt because of safety concerns with the 57-year-old, wood structure. Photo by Tad Sooter/Kitsap Sun

The iconic 57-year-old Town & Country Market sign along Winslow Way is showing its age — at least structurally — and will be demolished Tuesday.

The 23-foot, 6-inch wood sign has become unsafe, said market officials, and needs to be replaced with a steel and wood sign that will be nearly identical in look.

“The new reader board will look like the old one, but will be structurally sound,” Rick Pedersen, market director, said in a press release. “We’re just so glad we’re able to keep it in its original form and make sure it lasts another 50 years.”

Although the sign was first used to advertise market sale prices, it eventually became a large announcement board for community and public events.

The sign’s famous neon T and C that directly faces Winslow Way — along with the rest of the neon parts — will be salvaged before the demolition and used on the new sign or placed inside the store.

The new sign is expected to be finished this coming spring.

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The Town & Country sign was originally for sale prices and is now used to list community events. Photo by Tad Sooter/Kitsap Sun

“It will look strange when it’s gone, but it is coming back,” Pedersen said in a press release.

The store also is seeing a little change with a remodeled that started in February and is scheduled to be finished during the summer next year.

While Town & Country Market has undergone several small remodels since it opened in August 1957, the current remodel is it’s largest, according to market officials. The store has remained open throughout the project, and will continue to do so.

The remodel will put all of the departments on one level, create a new car entrance from Winslow Way, replace nearly all of the store’s equipment and feature new restrooms.

The remodel also will include a staffed sushi counter and an expanded Culinary Resource Center, among other items.

New islander reporter

rachel-anne-seymourBeginning this month, the Bainbridge Islander has a new reporter — Rachel Anne Seymour.

She will be taking over the beat most recently handled by correspondent Ethan Fowler.

Seymour has been with the Kitsap Sun since January 2014, and has covered community news in Silverdale and North Kitsap. Seymour is a runner, photographer and dog owner, and enjoys exploring the Pacific Northwest.

She also is a graduate of the University of Kansas journalism school, and came to Kitsap County after working as a reporter and photographer for The Bigheart Times of Osage County, Okla.

Fumiko_Hayashida_9495618_ver1.0_640_480Before taking over the island beat, she wrote about the death of 103-year-old Fumiko Hayashida, the subject of an iconic World War II photograph taken on the island.

Since then, she has covered the recently finished ‘Hobbit House‘ on the island, a half-million-dollar public records settlement with the city and a group of islanders working to help families in need during Christmas, among other stories.

Seymour will be helping manage the islander’s Facebook page and Twitter feed as well.

You can contact her with story ideas and tips at rachel. seymour@kitsapsun.com or 360-792-5242.

You also can ‘friend’ her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.