100 years ago (1916–Oak Harbor News)
Harry A. Cotton was to be paid $16,000 in bonds to dike Dugualla Bay by Aug. 1.
Two front-page items, in their entirety: George Case shipped a quantity of sheep pelts to Seattle on Friday; Miss Mary Perkins, teacher at Silver Lake, was a shopper in Oak Harbor Saturday.
Every arrangement had been perfected for the big Song Festival in Oak Harbor. “It is particularly desirous that all should bring their song books containing the old songs.”
A “little whist party” given by Mr. and Mrs. J.E. Franklin last Saturday night “proved to be a delightfully enjoyable affair,” according to a front-page story.
Oak Harbor’s Cash Store offered 100 pounds of fish meal for $3.25 and three cans of tomatoes for 25 cents.
75 years ago (1941 — Farm Bureau News)
The well-dressed body of a man about 60 years old washed up in Useless Bay. It was unclear whether he had been the victim of foul play.
Nineteen workers and their families moved to Whidbey Island to work on a new highway that would eliminate some curves in the former road by cutting through formerly private property, such as that of Dave Judson.
Cornelius Vander Woude became the island’s only Eagle Scout, and 30 other Boy Scouts received promotions to a higher rank at a ceremony at Oak Harbor High School.
Fifteen island-based dairymen visited an artificial insemination station and observed cattle in Skagit County.
Druggist Carl M. Tuttles in an ad offered a “generous free trial packet of odorless Dearborn garlic tablets” to “help fight intestinal poisoning!”
50 years ago (1966—Whidbey News Times)
A thief used a pry bar to break into the Dairyland Freeze on Oak Harbor’s Midway Boulevard, making off with 80 packages of bubble gum, 40 packages of regular gum, two cartons of cigarettes and a transistor radio. This occurred despite a curfew on Oak Harbor youth that had gone into effect the month before.
The Oak Harbor School District sought $54,030 in federal funds to meet the educational needs of culturally deprived children.
Coupeville’s Outlying Field was “in the process of being disposed of by the federal government to Island County” to be operated as a general aviation airport.
Five Coupeville High School students were found guilty of destroying Christmas lights in a park. They were required to make restitution but were otherwise let off.
The federal government gave the Coupeville School District a $2,600 grant to install educational TV.
A three-pound bag of Winesap apples cost 39 cents at Bille’s Jiff-E Mart in Oak Harbor.
25 years ago (1991—Whidbey News Times)
Dale Lee Quickle, stationed at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, was charged with taking part in the October cross-burning at the home of a racially mixed couple in Oak Harbor.
A peace rally in Oak Harbor protesting the Persian Gulf war received a chilly reception.
Local couples celebrating 50 years or more of marriage included Mildred and Mark Swoyer and Florence and Cliff Powell.
War and long deployments added up to a surplus of dogs at Coupeville’s animal shelter, run by Whidbey Animal Improvement Foundation.
Ted and Gloria Christensen announced that their Penn Cove Pharmacy and Christensen’s Apparel in Coupeville were closing their doors after 27 years.
