Down at the Port | Pete DeBoer

Summertime at last!

Just because our summertime here seems so short doesn’t mean we don’t know how to jam pack the season with enjoyable events. I think if you look around the Puget Sound region you might find at least half-a-dozen events each weekend you would like to attend. Kingston is no different. We started with Kites over Kingston in March and it seems like there has been something going on down at the port every weekend since.

I hope you enjoyed the Fourth of July celebration. I know firsthand how many volunteers put in hundreds of hours to make everything work. A big thanks is due to the port staff for assisting with all the activity in Mike Wallace Park. Speaking of the park, how about that new lawn! It sure filled in nicely and from my perspective, it adds so much to the spaciousness of the area.

I won’t go too much into the events scheduled for Kingston this month because I think they will be adequately covered elsewhere in this publication. I just hope to see you down there tapping your feet, dancing and enjoying the stuff so many have worked so hard to get up and running. And, of course, there is the weekly Kingston Farmers Market. You can’t go wrong there.

Have you had a chance to borrow the little electric car that Olympic Property Group has placed in the port (pictured above)? Check it out up in the port office. If you like it enough, we can tell you where you can buy one. So far we have several hundred miles on it and it hasn’t used a drop of gas!

Lots of projects are still on tap at the port. The kayak facility is still on track albeit a slow track. Our public hearing in Port Orchard has been delayed another month. We should be up and running for some great winter paddling. FEMA is on schedule to start repair of the North Beach seawall this winter. The Army Corps of Engineers was in town to look at the breakwater and our approaches, and may be applying for some dredging permits to maintain our harbor. Yes, we are still busy doing all of the work necessary to start a passenger-only ferry service. A permanent stage facility for performing arts is also in the works.

My cruise to Alaska for Mom’s 90th birthday celebration was a blast. She is quite a gal and to spend a week with my siblings and their spouses created a memory for life. On July 3, I had the opportunity of a lifetime to ride the Coast Guard barque Eagle from Seattle to the Port of Tacoma for the Tall Ships Festival. Lots of old acquaintances were rekindled on that event.

After 45 editions of Down at the Port, I am going to take a month off. Hopefully I will be up in the San Juan Islands for a week or so the end of August and the first week of September. If I go slowly, the boat uses about one-third of the fuel to go the same distance. But by golly, I am going to go!

After a day on the Eagle, I thought the most appropriate Nautical Term of the Month should be BARQUE. A barque is a vessel with at least three masts, all of them fully square rigged except for the stern-most one, which is fore-and-aft rigged. The wooden three-masted barque was the most common type of deep-water cargo carrier in the middle of the 19th century. That’s about it for this month. Thanks as always for taking the time to read this stuff. Enjoy the rest of the summer, be safe and I will see you down at the port.

Contact Pete DeBoer, Port of Kingston commissioner, at pete@petedeboer.com.

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