An annual event showcasing the businesses operating on Whidbey Island is changing its name and expanding its focus.
The Biz Expo, which takes place in the fall and organized by the Island County Economic Development Council, will now be known as the “Explore Whidbey: Business and Home Show.”
Small businesses will get help equipping employees with the skills they need to do their jobs better under a bill by Rep. Drew Hansen — the companion of a bill introduced in the Senate by Sen. Barbara Bailey — that is on its way to the governor for signing into law.
Advertising Sales Manager Lee Ann Mozes was promoted this week to general manager for the Whidbey News-Times and The Whidbey Crosswind in Oak Harbor.
“I’m really impressed with Lee Ann’s outstanding sales abilities and her excellent representation of the Whidbey publications in the community,” said Keven R. Graves, executive editor and publisher for the Whidbey News Group.
For the first time, Oak Harbor community members at large have a chance to put their money behind the city’s patriotic pyrotechnics.
Kathy Reed, the new director for the Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce, said the organization is running behind on its annual fundraising campaign for the Fourth of July fireworks show over the water.
The chamber traditionally raises cash for the fireworks from within its membership, but this year the group is running short on funds.
One thing is for sure, everybody loves talking about the weather.
To give people something to talk about, a Coupeville business owner and amateur meteorologist has a weather station that puts local weather stats on the Internet for everybody to see.
What started as a way to pay for college while providing a local source of beef for Whidbey Island residents has slowly grown over the course of 13 years.
If all goes as planned South Whidbey residents looking for a rifle or handgun won’t have to go to Oak Harbor or the mainland.
Whidbey Arms is opening at Ken’s Korner Mall under the ownership of Freeland resident Jim Childers.
“We’ll be opening Wednesday or Thursday,” he said as workers pieced together display cases, furniture and the security system.
What started as a way to pay for college while providing a local source of beef for Whidbey Island residents has slowly grown over the course of 13 years.
The North Whidbey company, 3 Sisters Beef, completed its latest expansion recently by opening a market in San de Fuca that will give people another place to purchase locally grown products.
The Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce has gotten a makeover, of sorts.
The chamber shared a logo with the City of Oak Harbor for several years, a useful endeavor that helped “brand” the Oak Harbor area. However, chamber officials feel the time has come to do a little branding of its own.
“The old logo has served its purpose very well, but there has always been a certain level of confusion that goes along with having the same logo as the city,” Kathy Reed, Oak Harbor Chamber’s executive director, said.
As leaders for the Port of Coupeville continue to sort out how Greenbank Farm will operate, another entity is looking at whether to establish a presence at the publicly owned farm.
Officials from Washington State University’s Extension are talking with port officials about ways to expand the education program’s satellite facility in Mount Vernon.
Tim Lawrence, director for WSU Extension in Island County, stressed that no decisions have been made yet, but any possible work at the farm could be a benefit for small farms and small farm agriculture.
The commissioners for the Port of Coupeville are in need for a new director.
The contract for Executive Director Jim Patton expires at the end of the year and he said he has no intention of asking for a renewal.
He has been running the small port district for eight years.
A star-studded crowd gathered at Bakerview Restaurant on Ault Field Road in Oak Harbor Saturday, Feb. 23 for an award ceremony honoring the best in local business.
The “OHscars,” as the annual awards banquet for the Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce was dubbed this year, were presented in several categories, including customer service, employer of the year and business of the year.
Greenbank Farm Management Group hired a new farmer trainer straight from corn country.
The management group named Jessica Babcock as the training director of the Organic Farm School, which has been breaking in new farmer for the past several years. She replaces Sabastian Aguilar, who will help administer the farm on a contract basis. Aguilar moved to Oregon to start a farm.
Babcock comes to the Greenbank Farm from Decorah, Iowa, where she worked for the Seed Savers Exchange, a nonprofit organization striving to preserve heirloom seeds. She said the exchange is the largest non-governmental seed bank in the United States.
