Cancelations, postponements
Because of increased fire danger and unhealthy smoke conditions, some Methow Valley events are being canceled or postponed:
• The Methow Valley Trails Coalition has postponed its August meeting. It is rescheduled for Sept. 21 from 9:30 – 11:30 a.m., location to be determined.
• Confluence Gallery’s Home Tour, scheduled for Aug. 7, has been canceled.
• Methow Arts had planned an outdoor concert for Aug. 14 that has now been canceled.
• All Methow At Home outdoor activities are canceled until further notice.
• The Methow Conservancy’s “First Tuesday” event scheduled for Aug. 3 has been postponed to Sept. 7, on the lawn at the Conservancy’s new headquarters, from 7 – 8 p.m.
• TwispWorks has postponed all of its planned outdoor events to October.
Yellow Blaze updates routes
Yellow Blaze Transit has changed its service schedule to include stops in Winthrop, Twisp, Wenatchee, Snoqualmie Pass and Seattle.
Yellow Blaze passenger vans will travel from the Methow to Seattle in the morning, returning along the same route in the afternoon.
Yellow Blaze launched earlier this year as a transportation service connecting Seattle and the Methow valley by way of the North Cascades Highway. It was conceived as a service for Pacific Crest Trail hikers. The highway has since been closed because of fires.
“Facing reduced demand from Pacific Crest Trail hikers wary of wildfire smoke and evacuation orders, the business pivoted by broadening its service to the local community,” Yellow Blaze owner Leland McKeeman said in a press release.
Information about costs, schedules and reservations is available at www.yellowblazetransit.com. For more information, email yellowblazetransit@gmail.com or call (971) 300‑8094.
Fundraising for small biz grants
TwispWorks, in partnership with the Methow Valley chambers of commerce, is relaunching its Small Business Emergency Grants program, to support local businesses (and their employees) that are being negatively affected by the summer’s fires.
A GoFundMe campaign with a goal of $10,000 has been started at www.gofundme.com/f/methow-valley. As of early this week, the total raised stood at $4,835.
The TwispWorks Small Business Emergency Grant Fund was originally created to help businesses in Methow Valley which were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 60 local businesses received grants totaling nearly $115,000. The funds were largely provided by donations to the grant program.
Sign up for alerts
People can sign up to be notified by phone, text or email about fires, floods and official evacuation orders from Okanogan County.
To sign up, go to the Okanogan County Emergency Management web page at https://okanogancounty.org/government/emergency_management/index.php. Click on “Okanogan County Alerts” on the left. Then go to “Create an Account.”
To opt in, provide a street address in Okanogan County (not a post office box) and verify it on the map. After the address is verified, you can submit the ways you want to be notified. You can also provide more than one address for notifications (e.g., home, work, relative’s address).
Provide your phone number for calls and a cell phone number for texts. You can also give an email address.
This system will send specific emergency alerts for your address, such as evacuations.Create a separate account for every member of the household.
Some email programs think the alerts are spam. Check the settings on your email to be sure they’re not blocking the alerts.
Make sure your account is up to date every year, or if you move or change your phone number. Keep track of your username and password. Contact Emergency Management at em@co.okanogan.wa.us or (509) 422‑7206 if you forget or can’t log in. Click on https://okanogancounty.org/departments/emergency_management/okanogan_county_alerts/okanogan_county_alert_system for details.
You can get general alerts for Okanogan County by texting 893 – 61. You can also get general alerts by texting “OKCOUNTY” to 888777 (text “OKESP” for the Spanish version). Text your ZIP code for alerts about your city or town.
You can view all current alerts on the Emergency Management web page (see Everbridge and Nixle notifications). ENotify is only for alerts about changes to the web page, not the emergency alerts.
The most current information will be on Emergency Management’s website, not their Facebook page.
Call (509) 740‑0602 to hear recorded notifications (there is no human operator).
