July 2009, VOL. 7 NO. 6

Just like each of its member organizations, the AKCHO Board of Trustees is growing and changing. Read the rest of this article »

The King County Council has created a task force to examine ways to allocate hundreds of thousands of dollars earmarked for historic preservation and heritage programming. The Historic Preservation and Historical Programs Advisory Task Force will focus on revenue collected via a surcharge on filing fees for records, sometime referred to as HB 1386 funds. Read the rest of this article »

(photo courtesy of Councilmember Bob Ferguson’s office)

The Metropolitan King County Council commemorated the 100-year anniversary the A-Y-P by proclaiming June 1, 2009, as Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition Centennial Day in King County. The proclamation of Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition Centennial Day by the King County Council marked the opening of the Exposition 100 years to the day. On June 1, 1909, U.S. President William Howard Taft ceremoniously signaled the commencement of the Exposition from across the country by pressing a gold telegraph key, and upon receiving the signal, the fair began with a great deal of fanfare. Read the rest of this article »

Reenacting the 1909 Ocean-to-Ocean Automobile Race, members of the Model T Ford Club International are en route from New York City to Seattle for the Centennial Celebration of the Alaska-Yukon Pacific Exposition. The club cars will arrive at Snoqualmie Pass on the evening of July 9, 2009. Read the rest of this article »

Washington Hall, the facility built 101 years ago by the Danish Brotherhood Society and more recently owned by the Sons of Haiti Masonic Lodge, has been purchased by Historic Seattle. The $1.5 million sale was put together with $250,000 from Historic Seattle, $250,000 from 4Culture (King County Lodging Tax), and a loan from Key Bank. Read the rest of this article »

The Washington Museum Association held its 2009 Annual Conference at Washington State University in Pullman on June 10-12. With the theme of “Change, Challenges, and Connections,” the WMA offered an all-day preconference workshop, breakout sessions, and opportunities for face-to-face connections with museum folk from around the state. Read the rest of this article »

For the past two years, The Center for Wooden Boats and Historic Seattle have been working to secure the use of a King County-owned property in order to create a maritime community center on the north end of Lake Union. It would be a site that would engage new neighbors, provide a location for historic ships to conduct winter maintenance, and house a lot of the same types of activity CWB currently hosts at South Lake Union. It would be a location for more classes, and it would provide more moorage in summer months and offer a destination for boats from the south shore of the lake. Read the rest of this article »

(photo courtesy of Clara McMichael)

It was half a lifetime ago. I had driven away from my Queen Anne apartment and gotten onto the Aurora Bridge heading north when I came upon a traffic backup — apparently a truck had stalled in the right hand lane. I felt for whoever was in such a fix but, like everybody else, I had places to go and people to see. I pulled into the inside lane to drive around. Read the rest of this article »

The 2009 Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival takes place July 4-5, 10 AM - 6 PM, at Lake Union Park & The Center for Wooden Boats. This two-day event features over 100 visiting vessels, live music, on-shore skill demonstrations, food vendors and plenty of classic wooden boats ranging from motorized launches and runabouts to sailboats, rowing craft and large cruisers. Read the rest of this article »

(photo courtesy of The Museum of Flight)

A statue honoring the memory of astronaut and Washington State native Lt. Col. Michael P. Anderson was unveiled June 26 at The Museum of Flight. The bronze work is a duplicate of one erected in Spokane in 2005. Anderson, a native of Cheney, WA, was the Payload Commander on the STS-107 Columbia mission lost during re-entry on February 1, 2003. Read the rest of this article »