Dinner and a show are back on the menu, according to Edmonds resident Elizabeth Galafa, who is doing her best to return to a normal life after a year when singing on a public stage has been difficult if not impossible. Now, as things are beginning to open up, the singer is eager to show…
While COVID-19’s devastating toll has taken center stage over the past year, another health crisis has quietly raged on. Nationally, opioid overdoses have accelerated amid the pandemic’s daily life disruptions. In Washington state, overdose deaths increased by 38% in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period the previous year, according to the…
Edmonds resident Peter Zyniewicz received his second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine last week, a milestone of hope after witnessing so much tragedy. “It’s a little like when you’re younger and you wake up to find Christmas presents under the tree,” said Zyniewicz, an emergency room nurse. “I can’t believe it’s finally here.” Over the…
“It’s like having teenage emotions all over again,” laughed Chris Dufore, recounting how he and his business partners are trying to keep their brewery going in spite of coronavirus restrictions. “In the morning, I feel proud and excited. By afternoon, I’m dismayed, then by the end of the day, I think, ‘I can do this.’…
Musician Marina Christopher had her 2020 all planned. In January, she was in New York City playing bass with a touring group. She had other stops scheduled and was ready to drop in at a favorite spot, Vito’s in Seattle, for another gig. But, 2020 had other plans for the Mountlake Terrace-born-and-raised artist. She has not let…
After seven months of offering free fitness classes around Edmonds, Gina Drake opened Barre3, a boutique fitness studio, in early March. Drake and her team had worked tirelessly to convert the former Edmonds Hardware and Paint store into a gorgeous studio space and were ready to become a permanent fixture in the downtown. Ten days…
Making music in the time of COVID has called for inordinate creativity. Social distancing restrictions have made life especially difficult for performing artists whose life work—and livelihoods—normally depend on gathering crowds of people in ways that are severely restricted, if not totally out of the question, in these unprecedented circumstances. Notwithstanding the above challenges, Sarah…
Long before the pandemic grew the ranks of the germaphobes, Edmonds resident Christine Cossu was meticulous about cleanliness. Film production coworkers knew Cossu as someone who always had disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer at the ready. So when the film production industry restarted after the spring shutdown, Cossu was the first person a former colleague…
With social distancing and restrictions on large gatherings, birthday celebrations have been looking a little different in the time of coronavirus. So when longtime Edmonds resident Bill Loughrin turned 60 last month, he marked the occasion by catching up — literally — with friends, family and business clients. Loughrin credits his wife Kelli for coming…
When she was 15, Nhu Nguyen came with her family to the Northwest from Vietnam, settling first in South Seattle then moving to Edmonds, where she attended Edmonds-Woodway High School and Edmonds College. Now, at 22, she’s a University of Washington senior, double majoring in public and global health and biology– a relevant education in…
How do you keep moving your business or organization forward when the going gets tough? Five local managers from a range of organizations came together Tuesday for a one-hour webinar sponsored by Edmonds College. The goal: To share how the coronavirus-related restrictions moved them to put on their thinking caps and try new things to…
The coronavirus pandemic has altered many people’s events and planning. For long-time Edmonds resident Susie Schaefer, it meant that the recent celebration of her 80th birthday, with more than 100 people, took place in an online video chat. Schaefer had already begun making preliminary plans for an in-person birthday gathering at a friend’s house months…
When Edmonds resident Cordy Harris got furloughed from her movie theater job in March, she worried about providing food for her young family — and diapers for her infant. At one point — before the stimulus check came through and unemployment benefits kicked in — she used dish towels because her supply had run out….
When Jenny Smith moved to Edmonds in the middle of the pandemic, she thought distanced goodbyes would be the hardest part. “But, I am not prepared for this hello,” she said from her new home in downtown Edmonds. “It’s still so isolating. We’re falling in love with this place, but how bizarre to be here.”…
Melissa Crowe’s great grandparents got married in Montana on July 14, 1917, the same year the United States entered World War I. Amid the backdrop of World War II, her grandparents wed on July 14 in California. And, in 1984, her parents kept the tradition alive with their July 14 Texas ceremony. More than a…
On a recent afternoon, Edmonds resident Leah Bernstein drove down to a Seattle parking garage, where health care workers donned in personal protective gear drew her blood from a tented station. Bernstein, 50, and her husband Darryl, 53, have both recovered from COVID-19, and are now participating in a Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center study….
Artist Cheryl King was just about to launch a new clothing line featuring her paintings of wildlife, “and then the lockdown hit,” she said, adding a bit ruefully, “at least my product doesn’t rot.” As one door closed, another opened. The company making her clothing pivoted to face masks and wanted to decorate with her…
Edmonds resident Makayla Jones had planned to deliver her sixth baby — like all her other children — in a hospital setting. But then a worldwide pandemic changed everything. As hospitals in the area prepared for a surge of COVID-19 patients, Swedish Edmonds Family Birth Center temporarily closed in late March, directing expecting women to…
As Jimmy and Stephanie MacDonald watched the news of the coronavirus pandemic unfold, they were struck by the shortage of lifesaving personal protective equipment for health care workers. “We were discussing it and saying: how can we join the fight?” she said. “What can we do for our country?” The couple, who are currently working…
“It just totally made my week; it was amazing,” said Edmonds Bookshop owner Mary Kay Sneeringer about a call and email from Carol Doig, widow of Ivan Doig, long-time fan of the Edmonds Bookshop and lion of literature chronicling life in the American West. “Carol recalled how fond Ivan was of our store and how…
