Northsound Events Calendar

The Mukilteo Chamber's long-awaited summer concert takes place Saturday August 4th at the Village Center in Harbour Pointe. The bands scheduled to play include: Tweety and the Tomcats, Soundview, Bad Habit, Janine Elf and The Stephen Grace Band. The concert starts at 2pm and goes until 8pm. There will be food tents and a beer garden for those 21 and over so the concert should be a great opportunity to meet and greet Mukilteo residents and enjoy a free day of good music. Mukilteo.

Further afield, Seafair weekend is this weekend. I-90 bridge closes today and tomorrow from 9am to noon, and of course the Blue Angels will be doing their thing through Sunday. As usual, this will give local "uptight Seattleites" plenty to complain about what with the noise and all. As for me, I will thrill to the sound of F-18 Hornets as they scream overhead any time I can. I am a Navy brat and an Air Force veteran after all--that's not noise, it's the sound of FREEDOM.

I jest. It's actually the sound of 40-year old technology. But seriously, I don't mind the noise--it makes the heart palpitate, which is a sensation I kind of enjoy.

If that doesn't make you feel better about the noise then just remember folks--the hydros and the Blue Angels are a couple of the last celebrations we have of Seattle's blue collar heritage. Think of it as a way to remember that Seattle is the town airplanes and lumber mills built.

And the Seafair airshow is usually pretty good, if you like airshows. I realize there are those who don't but in the interest of full disclosure I submit that I am married to a Boeing engineer so by default, I like airshows. Seattle.

Other stuff

Thursday

A summer concert series planned at Alderwood mall, featuring food, music, book readings and special activities, runs from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursdays through Aug. 23. Go to http://www.alderwoodmall.com/ and click on "events."

Open mike night for musicians and poets at Zippy's Java Lounge, 7 p.m. Thursdays, 1804 Hewitt Ave., Everett.

Friday

Farmers Market at Country Village, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fridays through September, 23718 Seventh Ave. SE, Bothell.

Free First Friday Afternoon 3 to 5:30 p.m. Friday at Imagine Children's Museum, 1502 Wall St., Everett. For more information, go to http://www.imaginecm.org/.

Edmonds Outdoor Movie Night, at dusk Friday, Frances Anderson Center playfield, 700 Main St., Edmonds. Bring a blanket or lawn chair. Call Edmonds Parks and Recreation at 425-771-0230.

Saturday

The Future of Flight Aviation Center offers a "Day of Learning" 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, 8415 Paine Field Blvd. Mukilteo. For information and tickets, call 800-464-1476 or go to http://www.futureofflight.org/.

Edmonds Museum Farmers Market, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays through Oct. 28, Bell Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues, Edmonds. 425-774-0900.

Mukilteo Chamber Concert (see above)

Sunday

Everett Farmers Market, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays, 1600 W. Marine View Drive, Everett.

NEXT WEEK

Wednesday

Music on the Plaza Concert Series from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Snohomish County office campus, 3000 Rockefeller Ave., Everett. The concert series runs each Wednesday through Aug. 22. 425-388-3186.

Mukilteo Farmers Market, 3 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Oct. 5, 304 Lincoln Ave., Mukilteo.

Northsound Weekend Calendar

There are lots of fun things to do in the Mukilteo and Everett area this weekend. With a slight cooling in the weather, it's a great time to get outside!

Friday, July 13th

Wine Tasting - Wicked Cellars
Everett's Wicked Cellars is hosting a wine tasting of eclectic wines from around the world. 4 -6 pm, 2616 Colby Avenue, Everett. Call (425) 258-3117 for more information.

Everett Cinema Under the Stars
Take advantage of a balmy evening and see "Over the Hedge" at Everett's Cinema Under the Stars, an annual, summer-long festival featuring movies shown at Thornton A. Sullivan Park at Silver Lake."Over the Hedge," a family-friendly animated film, will begin at 7 p.m. tonight at the park, at 11405 Silver Lake Road in Everett.

For more information, call 425-257-8322.

Saturday, July 14th

Mukilteo Garden and Quilt Tour
The Mukilteo Garden & Quilt Tour promises to be an outstanding event for local gardeners and quilt lovers. The tour runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., rain or shine

Jetty Island Sunset Harbor Cruise
Be dazzled by the splendor of the sunset over Port Gardner Bay. Enjoy the sights and discussions with a Jetty interpretive naturalist. This popular cruise happens only four times in conjunction with late-night campfires, and it always fills up. Call the Jetty Kiosk for reservations at 425-257-8304.

Sunday, July 15th

Sand Castle Building Contest
Test your sculpting skills against some of the region's most creative amateur builders in this increasingly competitive contest. Or just come to have fun! Bring digging tools, buckets and your imagination. Prizes awarded.All ages welcome for single or group entries.

All Weekend

Jetty Island Days
Jetty Island Days are still in progress. Ferry runs on the half hour between Everett 10th Street Marina and Jetty Island dock. Take the ferry or rent a kayak to get to the island (or, hitch a ride with a friendly boater).

For more ideas, see this article from the Everett Herald, Top Ways to Spend the Day.

Swing for the Fences

Here in Boeing-land, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting someone that either works for the big B or is married/related to someone who works there. When I was a kid growing up here, nearly everyone I knew had a dad or an uncle working for Boeing. Naturally, my rebellious nature caused me to swear I would never marry a Boeing employee. But, time has a way of proving us wrong, so naturally, when it came time to marry I married a Boeing engineer.

So yes, we are a Boeing family, like many other thousands of Boeing families here in the "Northsound service area." Quite a few of my clients work for Boeing, many of them on the 787 project, so it was with a special sense of pride that we watched the 787 roll out last Sunday.

Boeing is the largest employer in my little corner of the world, and while I wouldn't say we are a one horse town, Boeing is definitely a major driver of the local economy. One metric I've heard is that for every one Boeing employee, there are 5 to 10 other individuals in local businesses that depend on him for their job.

And while the North King/South Snohomish county area is now a bedroom community for Seattle and the Eastside as well as Everett employers like Boeing, the housing market here still rises and falls with Boeing's business outlook. Since the 787 project began, we've seen a huge number of people come here to work on the project, and I've had the good fortune to work with many of them. There's been an excitement surrounding the project that has spread to the community at large. On Sunday, that excitement finally bore fruit.

After all, it's not like we get a moment like this every day. The day of the 747 roll out is still etched clearly in the minds of a lot of people around here. That was nearly 40 years ago. This is the first new plane program to roll out in nearly 15 years. And it wasn't too long ago that the pundits were saying that Boeing's days as the leader in the commercial aerospace market were numbered. So Sunday meant a lot, to a lot of us.

And not just because it's good for the local economy. A few years ago on 9/11, the aerospace industry was hit hard. REALLY hard. It was a real blow to a lot of people in our neck of the woods. So, for us, Sunday's ceremony wasn't just a chance to share in a moment of civic pride. To a lot of us, it marked the triumph of American ingenuity over those who would like to harm us.

We were hit hard, but we came back swinging for the fences.

Downtown & North Everett Market Stats - June

Downtown and North Everett are a couple of my favorite areas to work and play, so I like to keep abreast of what is going on in that market. So I have decided to start publishing market statistics for the central Everett area (which includes Bayside, Riverside, the Business District, Stadium, Rucker Hill and Forest Park) here on my blog. If you would like a breakdown of a specific neighborhood let me know and I will be happy to provide that for you.

All statistics are hand calculated by me, using NWMLS data, and include the period June 1, 2007 through June 30, 2007

Active Listings
Listing Count: 104 (this includes ALL active listings through June 30, regardless of date listed)
Average Time on Market: 76 days
Median List Price: $298,450
Average $ Per Square Foot: $212 (range: $111 to $475)

Under Contract (includes Contingent, Active STI and Pending)
Listing Count: 53
Average Time On Market: 50 Days
Median List Price: $272,500
Average $ Square Foot: $252

Sold Listings
Listing Count: 40
Average Time On Market: 50 Days
Median Sale Price: $323,445
Average $ Square Foot: $193 (range: $110 to $364)

Interestingly, times on market are longest in the $300,000 to $500,000 price range, at 87 days. Five out of 39 properties in this price range have been on the market longer than 200 days. One property in this price range was originally priced at $1.8 million and was recently dropped into this price range in May. The property in this price range that has been on the market longest has been on for 379 days (it is new construction and part of a new townhome development called BelMonte Heights in Riverside).

Average time on market is shortest in the $500,000 and up price range at 64 days. There are only 8 homes in this price range currently on the market, with the top priced home in North Everett currently listed at $2.9 million. Excluding this particular home, which has been listed for 289 days, the average time on market would only be 31 days.

What does this tell us? Demand for homes in this area is strongest in the highest price range. North Everett, particularly Rucker Hill and Bayside north of 19th, has always been an area known for its high end homes, many of which boast incredible views of Puget Sound and Port Gardner.

Other areas near Everett's downtown, such as Riverside and Stadium, boast a lot of great starter homes and rental property for which demand tends to be pretty strong.

In between however, there are fewer options, and fewer buyers looking for those homes. That price range tends to be dominated by families, for whom schools are a big concern. Many of these families choose to live in more suburban areas such as Mukilteo, Mill Creek, Silver Lake or Snohomish.

Overall, the central Everett market has about 5 weeks of inventory based on June figures, indicating a strong seller's market for homes in this area.

Note that according to the NWMLS system-generated chart below - click to see a larger version - inventory is about evenly divided between new listings (less than 30 days on market) and older listings.

Everett Photoblogging--A Day at the Waterfront

We had a beautiful weekend here and so I thought it would be a great time to get out and take a few pictures with my new camera.

We tried to go to Jetty Island in Everett but it was a popular idea and we couldn't get on the ferry. Lesson? Get there early!

We may have missed the ferry but we were still determined to get some sun on our poor pale bodies. Lots of people were just hangin' out at the marina playing frisbee, fishing off the dock, working on their tan, picknicking, and waiting for the ferry to Jetty Island. So we just hung out at the Marina.



After we got tired of being at the Marina, we went up the hill to Grand Avenue Park to take in the view of the Everett waterfront. Eric just wanted to lay down and stretch out in the sun for a while.



While he made like a cat in a sunbeam, I took a bunch of pictures. I love North Everett! It is so beautiful. Here's a shot of Grand Avenue Park at the corner of Grand and 19th, with Puget Sound stretching into the distance beyond.



Grand Avenue is pretty spectacular itself. The neighborhood is about 100 years old, and this is where all the mill owners and wealthy citizens of Everett once lived. It's still a very nice neighborhood, with lots of beautiful old homes.



This next picture is the Jetty Island Ferry, its name is "The Queen's Launch." It holds about 30 people and runs every half an hour. It is free but there is a suggested $1 or $2 donation to keep it going. It is run by Argosy Cruises.



And here is Jetty Island. You can see there is a small dock on the Jetty side--if you have your own boat, kayak or raft, you don't have to rely on the Ferry to get there. The Jetty is about 2 miles long--plenty of nice sandy beaches for everyone to enjoy, plus they have nature walks and activities scheduled through Labor Day. If you are lucky, you will see the resident Ospreys, and on breezy warm days, the local kitesurfers will be out. No kitesurfers on this day--they usually come out in the later afternoons when the breezes come up.



Next week if the weather is nice we will go to Jetty Island and actually go to the beach!

Mukilteo / Everett News Roundup

Here is some of the latest news for the Mukilteo / Everett area:

July 5th marks the opening day for the Jetty Island Ferry. If you have never visited Jetty Island, you are in for a treat as it is a great family day trip and arguably Snohomish county's best beach. The ferry only runs to the island from now until Labor Day, so don't miss your chance to enjoy the sandy beaches, warm water, and natural beauty of this great beach. You can also observe the local kite surfers, who flock to this beach and park for its predictable westerly afternoon breezes.

The Mukilteo Art Walk is seeking artists to display their works at the next Art Walk on July 25th.

Everett/Mukilteo Summer Fun

With school FINALLY out and 4th of July right around the corner, I thought this would be a great time to post some community calendar information. Here are some fun summer activities that are going on in or near Mukilteo and Everett during the summer months.


4th of July Celebrations

Everett Community Parade sponsored by the Everett Jaycees: 11 am on Wetmore and Colby Avenues, between Wall and 26th Street.

Family Freedom Fest at the Everett Navy Station: Tour the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, and enjoy all the other fun events! All day.


Thunder By the Bay: 10:15 over Port Gardner. Best viewing is at Naval Station Everett, Grand Avenue Park, Harborview Park, 10th Street Boat Launch, and Legion Memorial Park.


For all the activities the City of Everett has planned on the Fourth, visit their website.

Family Fourth at Lake Union (Seattle)

Fourth of July-Vars (Seattle)



Farmers Markets


Edmonds Farmers Market, Saturdays from 9 to 3 at the 5th and Bell parking lot

Everett Farmers Market, Sundays from 11 to 4 in the Lombardi's parking lot on W. Marine View Drive

Mukilteo Farmers Market, Wednesdays from 3 to 7 at the Rosehill Community Center in Old Town

For a complete list of farmer's markets in the Puget Sound area, check out this link at the King county website.

Garden/Home Tours

Mukilteo Garden and Quilt Tour from 10 - 5, rain or shine, on July 14th.



Arts & Entertainment

Mukilteo Artwalk--last Wednesday of the month in Old Town Mukilteo. See Mukilteo Arts Guild website for more details. Through September.

Open Mike Night--Every Wednesday evening from 6 to 8 pm at Whidbey's Coffee in Old Town Mukilteo, through Sept. 12.

Concerts

Mukilteo Chamber Concerts in the Park--August 4, 2 to 8 pm in the Harbour Pointe Village Center.

Snohomish County in 2040

The Puget Sound Regional Council has released Snohomish County growth projections for the year 2040. The City of Mukilteo is expected to nearly double in size as compared to 2000 census numbers, as is downtown Everett. North Edmonds, on the other hand, is projected to be one of the slowest growing areas in the county.

To see how your Snohomish County neighborhood is expected to change, click here:

HeraldNet: Your Neighborhood in 2040

Best of Everett/Mukilteo: MidCentury Modern and Northwest Contemporary

Midcentury modern is one of my favorite architectural styles. Though the period of 1945 to 1975 is normally associated with the commodification of architecture--see the great number of split-levels, tri-levels and ranch homes built during the period--there were some very innovative things going on during this time. In 1945 John Entenza, publisher of Arts and Architecture magazine, sponsored the Case Study House program in Los Angeles, which prompted promising young architects to experiment with new designs and ideas. The works created as part of this program influenced an entire generation of architects and builders, and their work continues to be influential today.

Architects and designers such as Richard Neutra, Pierre Koenig, Charles and Ray Eames, and Eero Saarinen, and many others designed homes that emphasized open space, relationship to the outdoors, and the use of economical building materials. Immediately post-war, building materials were somewhat limited leading to a heavy reliance on wood and glass, but as industrial materials developed during the war became available for residential construction, new materials and techniques such as steel frame construction began to be used. This in turn allowed builders to experiment with a variety of angles and rooflines, providing more flexibility to the design.

What differed from pre-war construction methods and architectural styles was that rather than hiding the construction materials being used, they became part of the design itself. The use of exposed metals, concrete, wood and glass showed that this was a new era, with a new aesthetic.

Mid-century modernism continues to influence today's architecture, through its emphasis on the use of natural light and materials, its use of open/flexible spaces in the home, and its whimsical touches that echo the future-looking ethos of the post-war era. Mid-century modern was also about making good design available to the masses, so homes in this style are often not expensive.

Another unique feature of midcentury modern architecture is the way the style was adapted according to the tastes and available building materials in various regions of the country. Here in the Northwest, mid-century modern is the progenitor of our own Northwest Contemporary style, which shares most of the features and aesthetics of mic-century modern, but because of the availability of wood as a building material, and our role internationally as a major lumber exporter, the use of wood as the primary building material is more pronounced. Whereas Neutra might have used exposed industrial steel to frame his glass houses, a Northwest Contemporary home would be framed in exposed cedar, with extensive use of pine, cedar, teak or douglas fir paneling as a design element. Many other design elements remained the same, including low or no-angle rooflines, emphasis on bringing in natural light, and a sense of relationship to a home's outdoor spaces.

Here is my favorite midcentury home currently available on the NWMLS in my area, which includes Mukilteo and Everett. I'll be covering other properties that typify this style, both on the market and not, as I discover them.

1308 Maryland, MLS # 27102852





What makes this such a great example of mid-century modernism? Teak accents including a living room wall paneled in teak, built-in cabinetry throughout the home, doug-fir flooring, Roman brick masonry (oh-so-'50s), floor to ceiling windows to bring in natural light year-round, and original 50's tile bathrooms. There is also a covered patio area that allows you to enjoy outdoor living year-round. The home has more than 2400 interior square feet and an enormous 16,000 square foot lot with mature landscaping. And the price tag, $384,950, makes it a great value, well in keeping with the modernist ideal that great architecture should be within reach of everyone.

Everett Riverfront Development

As a lifelong resident of North Puget Sound I have long had a healthy dose of skepticism about any real estate development deals of city plans that are announced, but it does seem that the City of Everett is building a good reputation for itself on the planning and execution of the city's revival of the downtown area. It's a completely different place than I remember when I was growing up, and I think there is a lot to be proud of with the way the city has changed in the last few years.

Here is the latest grand plan for redevelopment of the Snohomish River waterfront, to complement the redevelopment on the Port Gardner side.

Guide to Everett

I just posted my "Guide to Downtown and North Everett" with Everett's top 10 places over at my website (www.sandykaduce.com). I posted my favorite places in categories, so there are more like 30 individual favorites. I bet you didn't know it was possible for a former Seattleite and self-admitted snob to HAVE 30 favorite places in Everett! Well, it is!

This brings me to the topic of tonight's blog post--why do people always diss Everett? When I was growing up, and even when I first moved to the north end, I always looked down my nose at Everett. Everyone I knew did. And maybe our reasons for doing that made sense 20 years ago. But in the last five or ten years Everett has really transformed. Yet, people still think of it as the blighted, dying, blue-collar mill town that it was in the 1970s and 80s.

Some background might be helpful. My family has its roots in Everett--my grandfather was a personnel manager at the Weyerhaeuser mill in the late 1960s, and my family lived in Eastmont from 1967 to 1970. So, my family remembers living in Everett near the end of the time that Everett's downtown core was still a thriving community. Throughout the '60s and 70s as people moved to the suburbs and became more dependent on cars, businesses one by one moved out of downtown to malls in outlying areas. Then the lumber industry went into decline in the 1970s and '80s. By the time I was in my teens, downtown Everett was nearly a ghost town, full of empty storefronts, pawn shops, and plasma donation centers.

However, the city government and concerned citizens recognized the value in preserving and reviving the historic core of downtown Everett. Beginning in the mid-1980s, the city government worked hard to attract jobs to the area. A major success was the Navy's decision to build a homeport here. A variety of other projects and measures encouraged development and revival in downtown, most notably, the construction of the Everett Events Center and Everett Station. So far, it's working. It's not a 100% recovery--there are still a few empty buildings, mainly because a few absentee landowners have chosen not to invest in retrofitting and upgrading their buildings, so they sit empty. But, most of the storefronts in downtown are now filled with a variety of thriving businesses.

But, because Everett had a bad reputation for so long, many people still think it's the dying mill town it once was. The good news is, because of that you can still buy a decent house in Everett and not spend a fortune on it. Yes, Everett is still a blue-collar place in some respects but that kind of diversity is part of being an actual city, rather than a suburb or bedroom community. Part of being a real city is having rich and poor, young and old, white, black and all shades in between.

Everett is a success story and I think in five years, everyone will know about it. Right now, it's still something of a secret. If you've never been here (and most people who don't live nearby haven't--we are very parochial here in Puget Sound) you wouldn't know what you're missing. The word is starting to get out, but it's happening slowly. Maybe that is a good thing.

A few years ago I never thought I would say this, but I love Everett. There is a great community of people here, it has a lot of cultural and entertainment opportunities, and abundant natural beauty, yet, it is a diverse community that hasn't lost touch with its blue-collar roots. I like that about Everett. That's what keeps it from turning into a sterile, "Disneyland for the rich" like other neighborhoods that have similar attributes. Everett is a city in its own right, with all the good and bad that goes with that, yet it has a friendly, small-town feel and an energy that I, and many others enjoy.

Everett may be a secret now, but I doubt it will remain one for long.