All state lands closed to the public, USFS trails open Closed public lands Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) wildlife areas, water-access areas and boat launches: Closed through at least April 7. Pearrygin Lake State Park (and all state parks): Closed through at least April Washington State campgrounds: Closed through April 30. Washington Department of […]
NEWS
Empty rooms: COVID-19 staggers the local lodging industry
Cancellations, job losses mounting March marks the beginning of the shoulder season for tourism in the Methow, but this year local hotels, motels and other tourist lodgings are also coping with the severe impacts of COVID-19: empty rooms, reservation cancellations and job losses. Sun Mountain lodge has been able to stay open year-round for the […]
Homestream Park ‘spirit easement’ honors Methow natives
Consistent with the new park’s ‘coming home’ theme The spirits of indigenous Methow People who were driven from the valley are being welcomed back to their ancestral homeland through a “spirit easement” at Homestream Park in Winthrop. While the spirit easement is a symbolic action intended to honor the memory of the valley’s Native inhabitants, […]
COVID-19 related community updates
What’s open, closed Two good resources for what is open and what is not, from Winthrop and Twisp chambers of commerce: https://winthropwashington.com/2020/03/24/covid-19 and http://twispwa.com/covid. TranGO update TranGO, the countywide bus transportation system, has modified its route schedule. Also, TranGO has suspended fare collection until further notice. The TranGO lobby in Okanogan will also be temporarily closed. […]
Checking out
Sally Portman retires after 34 years as Winthrop’s librarian For more than a generation, Sally Portman has been the face of the Winthrop Library, making book recommendations, running Story Hour, connecting book club members with their assigned reading, scheduling guest speakers, and helping library patrons find the answers to life’s persistent questions. When she retired […]
Stitches in time
Community-wide mask-making effort meets a crucial need Like a cottage industry that sprang up overnight, a community-wide effort to make protective face masks has engaged sewing machines in dozens of homes around the Methow Valley. Faced with a shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), clinics, hospitals, law enforcement teams and other public health facilities have […]
School’s out: kids, parents learn to cope with prolonged closure
At-home strategies focus on creativity, variety, planning Phoenix Doran has been assembling hundreds of pounds of rocks and logs in his backyard so he can keep up with his powerlifting while the weight room at Liberty Bell High School is off-limits. Doran, a junior at the Independent Learning Center (ILC), typically works out four or […]
COVID-19 response challenges The Cove’s resources
Food bank in Twisp sees surge in need If there is one thing that keeps Glenn Schmekel up at night during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is the thought of people in the Methow Valley fearing that they will not have enough to eat. Of course, Schmekel is also worried about the virus spreading and infecting […]
Staying in touch – from a distance
Schools reach out with food, laptops, child care, videos Eight hundred meals a day. Four hundred and thirty bags of food for weekends. Daily videos and prompts to inspire art and writing. Laptops on loan for all students who need them. Science, math and language arts worksheets. When schools closed two weeks ago, the staff […]
Bonica shares his COVID-19 experience
While Okanogan County isn’t divulging names and locations of confirmed cases, Methow Valley resident John Bonica elected to share his experience with COVID-19 through a video on the Facebook page of Tappi, his restaurant in Twisp. “I hope you’re feeling as good today as I am,” Bonica said at the start of the 2-minute video […]
