In this week’s paper, you’ll find the pearl of the Beachcomber’s work to dish up the best offerings and things to do on the island: Destination Vashon.
For those unaware, Destination is an annual tradition — a visitor’s guide packed with restaurants, art exhibits, trails, events, and lots of ideas about how to enjoy all those things from the locals who know the island inside and out.
It’s also proof that this island is one place in the winter and entirely another in the summer. As we spill into the hot months, we can already see the crowds packing Vashon Highway in our mind’s eye.
Destination Vashon is first and foremost a guide for tourists, but it’s also for the regulars. It highlights the best of the island: Our creativity, our meticulous care for the local environment, our culinary chops and our traditions, from bicycle-chasing road devils to stupid bike night.
We hope in particular that you’ll read our feature stories, including a guide to the island’s events by the Chamber of Commerce’s Amy Drayer; an ode to musicality from Allison Jones and Pete Welch at Vashon Events; love letters to the flora and fauna of the island by the Land Trust’s Jenny Stamper, the Vashon Nature Center’s Bianca Perla and Maria Metler, and the Vashon Bird Alliance’s Sarah Driggs; instructions to achieving bicycle-based masochistic bliss by Passport2Pain’s Pat Call; and stories of our cherished institutions by Elsa Croonquist at the Vashon Heritage Museum and Jeff Hoyt at Voice of Vashon.
Reporter Elizabeth Shepherd has done an outstanding job lovingly collecting the many aesthetic threads of the island into one catch-all guide for arts lovers of all stripes. Editor Alex Bruell nerded out on featuring different corners of outdoor joy to be found on the island.
We of course couldn’t have done it without our own Daralyn Anderson and Patricia Seaman, who were stars of ad sales and made sure the publication was as beautiful as it could be.
And a huge thanks is owed to Paul Rowley, the former Beachcomber reporter who took on the monumental task of updating the many listings in Destination Vashon. Thanks, Paul!
The publication also features stellar photography from Ray Pfortner, Jim Diers, Michelle Bates, Elise Giordano, and other skilled island photographers. And it’s bookended by the thoughtful contributions of Vashon’s new poet laureate, Margaret Roncone.
There’s so much you can do with Destination Vashon. Mail it to your friends across the country before they come to visit. Display it tastefully on your coffee table to demonstrate how “in the know” you are when it comes to the island. Stuff it in your purse or backpack for reading on the ferry. Heck, we can all do our part for the environment — tear out the pages you’re done with and use them to line your birdcage. We won’t be offended. We’re glad to be of service.
Most of all, we hope that reading Destination inspires pride in you for the island and for the people who make it hum; and that it inspires you to find new ways this year to get involved, volunteer your time, and explore all the things that make Vashon, and you, unique.
