Our Annual Community Picnic is July 21st

Posted on July 13, 2018August 28, 2018 by GriffinNeighbors

Click for a larger image.

Perhaps the biggest event in the Griffin Neighborhood Association’s yearly calendar is the Community Picnic. On Saturday, July 21st we will again take over the lawn in front of the Tin Cup Golf Driving Range and overflow into Prosperity Grange with food and fun for the whole family. Come join your neighbors!

This year we’ll have live musical guests Humor & Heart. Local resident, Ellen Rice, will also perform with her mountain dulcimer.

Our popular bouncy house will be back, along with other kid’s activities: face painting, bag games, bubble stations, hula hoops and more. Try your skill on the golf driving range, with pro tips and prizes provided by the Salish Cliffs Golf Club.

Hamburgers, hot dogs, and beverages will be provided and, thanks to generous donations from Taylor Shellfish Farms, seafood dishes featuring the recipes of local favorite Xinh Dwelley will also be served.

A number of local organizations and businesses will provide information about their work and some great items for sale. Here are some of the local businesses and organizations who are expected to attend:

Bay Mercantile
Companion Cove
DiversiTree Arbor Care
Dogwoods Canine Play and Stay
Feline Friends
Griffin School Foundation
Lighthouse Alpaca Ranch
Melody Byrd Aprons
Nicholson Insurance
OCCU (Our Community Credit Union)
Rainbow Girls
St. Christopher’s Community Church
Stacy Lynn Wellness
Steamboat Animal Hospital
Steamboat Island 4H
Steamboat Island Cooperative Preschool
Steamboat Island United Methodist Church
Thurston County Master Gardeners FoundationRead More→

Steamboat Conservation Partnership Reports to Its Members

Posted on July 13, 2018July 13, 2018 by GriffinNeighbors

The Steamboat Conservation Partnership has released its 2018 report to supporters on the completion of their ninth successful year of operation. Here is that report.

Donations:

During our 2017-2018 fiscal year (July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018), we raised $14,818.86 for Capitol Land Trust (CLT), earmarked to finance part of their operational activities within the Steamboat Peninsula Region where most of us live and/or own property. This was slightly below our annual goal of $15,000 in collections.
Over the nine years of the existence of the SCP, we have raised $148,447.96 for CLT, which is $13,447.96 above our goal of $135,000 for that nine-year period. We should all be very proud of generating these funds to ensure that many of our natural areas will be available to our children, grandchildren and beyond.

The SCP is a five-year agreement between the Griffin Neighborhood Association and Capitol Land Trust during which we attempt to raise at least $15,000 per year to help finance the operational activities of CLT within the Steamboat Peninsula Region (the watersheds of Eld Inlet and Totten Inlet). After completion of the first five-year agreement in 2014, a second agreement was made. We have just completed the fourth year of this five-year agreement. The SCP is unique. We are told that no other agreement for raising earmarked funds exists between a neighborhood association and a land trust in the nation.

Activities:

Since the SCP was formed in 2009, with our help, CLT has been able to add several areas to its bank of conserved properties within the Steamboat Peninsula Region, including:

The Adams Cove Preserve, 35 acres and a pocket estuary in Totten Inlet.
The Lower Eld Estuary Preserve, 55 acres along southern Eld Inlet.
The Schmidt Conservation Easement addition, 5.5 acres near Hunter Point, adding to 29 acres already conserved.
In addition, our donations were used to establish a stewardship fund to protect the remaining 175 acres of the Wynne Tree Farm. The 530 acre Wynne farm has now been conserved. This jewel of a farm located in the Schneider Creek Valley with the headwaters of Schneider Creek.
These conserved properties are in addition to many other properties in our area conserved in prior years, including the Triple Creek Farm, Randall Preserve and Allison Springs, and Willits Tree Farm.

Here are the Candidates on August’s Primary Ballot

Posted on July 12, 2018July 13, 2018 by GriffinNeighbors

The Primary Election is Tuesday, August 7. If you are not yet registered to vote, or if you have had a change of address and haven’t informed elections officials, there is still time. The last day for new registrations is July 30, but you must register in-person at the Thurston County Auditor’s Office in order to be eligible to vote in the Primary.

Voter’s Pamphlets will be mailed on July 11 and the ballots will be mailed a week later, on July 18. As usual, ballots must either be dropped in a ballot box before 8 PM on election day or they must be postmarked by that day. There’s a ballot box conveniently located in front of the Griffin Fire Department Headquarters. Have questions about voting? The County’s elections officials have an online FAQ here. Contact the Thurston County Auditor’s Office directly, if you have other questions.

Under our state’s primary system, the top two vote-getters advance to the general election regardless of party.

Here’s a rundown of the candidates you will see on your ballot. Where the candidate’s web site could be found, the candidate’s name is linked to the web site.

U.S. Senator

There are 30 candidates for this position (according to the Spokesman-Review, “The modern record for a U.S. Senate race in Washington is 33, set in 1983”). The entire list appears in the Voter’s Pamphlet.

Maria Cantwell is the Democratic incumbent. Her chief challenger is Susan Hutchison (Republican Party)

U.S. Representative – Congressional District No. 10

Denny Heck is the Democratic incumbent. His challengers are:

Nancy Dailey Slotnick (Indep. Centrist Party)

Tamborine Borrelli ( Ind. Progressive Party)

Joseph Brumbles (Republican Party)Read More→