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Camano Island community made Soap Box Derby track possible
Letter to the Editor
These past weeks, I have been repeatedly reminded of why my wife, Marla, and I chose to make the Stanwood-Camano community our home. During our recent efforts to raise funds and construct the new Soap Box Derby Headquarters and Track at our Arrowhead Ranch on Camano Island, we were greeted time and again with support, encouragement, and excitement. Due to this, we were able to complete the track on budget and on time for last month’s annual Windermere Soap Box Derby event with great success and fanfare.
More than 70 kids from across the state of Washington came out to race in this year’s derby, two of which get to advance to the World Championships in Akron, Ohio, later this summer. Our hope with this event is to provide a positive atmosphere for molding childhood memories. Further, we’re putting our stamp on the map as a community that revolves around its people; a place where businesses and families can thrive with mutual support.
I would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has and continues to contribute to this great event. The participating families, volunteers, donors, and spectators all helped make this year’s derby the greatest yet. Hats off to you all!
Randy Heagle, Owner of Windermere Stanwood and Camano Island
New Soap Box rally race comes to Camano
Soap Box Derby fans don’t need to wait until next June to get their racing fix.
Randy and Marla Heagle are launching the Arrowhead Summer Classic Soap Box Derby Rally Races on Aug. 18-19 at Arrowhead Ranch, 615 Arrowhead Road on Camano Island.
“It’s something we always wanted to do,” Randy Heagle said. “The local race is super easy for kids and parents to get involved. The rally race is for the kids and families who are really into it.”
The Arrowhead Summer Classic is a sanctioned Rally Race associated with the All American Soap Box Derby. Saturday and Sunday will each be a double elimination progressive wheel swap event with rally points.
The event comes on the heels of the 11th annual Stanwood Camano Soap Box Derby, which moved from Stanwood to Camano Island this year and raced on the newly dedicated derby track at Arrowhead Ranch. About 1,000 watched as 72 racers competed on June 16.
The rally program allows participants to earn points by racing in various races throughout the United States and Canada. The top point earners in each region are invited to compete in the 2019 All-American Soap Box Derby World Championship in Akron, Ohio, against other rally champions.
“There will be kids from California and Oregon,” Heagle said. “Our hope is that this event can draw people from outside the area.”
Heagle said he thinks 30 cars will make the trip, as many families travel the soap box circuit in the summer, going from event to event.
To register, email sbd@stanwoodcamanoresources.org and sign up by Aug. 1 to reserve a car. Entry fees are $30 per car ($60 for both days) and $25 per day for each extra sibling.
The biggest difference between a rally race and the annual race in June is the lack of volunteers to run and manage the race, according to event organizers. It will be up to parents to keep score, load and unload the cars, provide and drive the return vehicles throughout the day, organizers said.
To learn more, visit soapboxderby.org.
Full story here.
Stanwood-Camano community made soap box derby move possible
Dear Editor: These past weeks, I have been repeatedly reminded of why my wife, Marla, and I chose to make the Stanwood-Camano community our home. During our recent efforts to raise funds and construct the new Soap Box Derby Headquarters and Track at our Arrowhead Ranch on Camano Island, we were greeted time and again with support, encouragement and excitement. Due to this, we were able to complete the track on budget and on time for last month’s annual Windermere Soap Box Derby event with great success and fanfare.
More than 70 kids from across the state of Washington came out to race in this year’s derby — two of whom will advance to the World Championships in Akron, Ohio, later this summer.
Our hope with this event is to provide a positive atmosphere for molding childhood memories. Further, we’re putting our stamp on the map as a community that revolves around its people; a place where businesses and families can thrive with mutual support.
I would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has and continues to contribute to this great event. The participating families, volunteers, donors and spectators all helped make this year’s derby the greatest yet. Hats off to you all — with gratitude.
Gravity-Powered Fun
Mattea Black sat in her soap box derby car grinning ear-to-ear while waiting for her race.
“It’s just so much fun,” the 10-year-old Stanwood Elementary School student said. “I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to race.”
Black, who would go on to finish fourth in the Super Stock Division, was one of 72 kids racing down the new track Saturday at the 11th annual Windermere Stanwood-Camano Soap Box Derby.
Addison Inman, 11, of Camano Island, won the Stock Division in the Crow’s Nest car, and Adrina Kuehlwein, 9, of Stanwood won the Super Stock Division racing the Oso Strong car. It’s Inman’s second year racing and Kuehlwein’s first.
Both champions and their families win a paid trip to Akron, Ohio, for a week in July to compete in the 81st All American Soap Box Derby. Champions at the All-American compete each year for the title of world champion and more than $36,000 in college scholarships.
The Stanwood-Camano derby hosted competitors ages 7 to 17 in two groups. In the stock division, the combined weight of the stock car, wheels and driver cannot exceed 200 pounds. For the super stock division, the combined weight cannot exceed 240 pounds. Stock division drivers must be age 7-13; super stock drivers must be ages 9-17.
The derby was held for the first time at Arrowhead Ranch on Camano Island, moving from Stanwood. The event attracted more than 1,000 spectators to the sun-soaked ranch for a day of racing, food and fun, said Christie Connors, Stanwood Camano Soap Box Derby director.
“The community came out, even people who weren’t attached to racers,” Conner said. “It was a real positive family experience.”
In addition, the 1,000-foot long track is at a more gradual grade than the Stanwood street, getting a big thumbs up from the racers.
“The other track (in Stanwood) is faster, this is a more steady speed,” said 12-year-old Jenna Sanders, who has raced the past five years. “You’ve got to stay straight and stay low.”
Kuper Stoner, 9, agrees.
“It’s all about staying low and going straight,” the Utsalady Elementary student said. “It’s fun. I feel like it tests me if I can become a real driver. And I love the breeze on my face as I go down.”
As the only soap box derby in Washington, this event attracts racers from throughout the Northwest.
First-time racer Tabatha Holm, driving the Davis Place Teen Center Car, won the Sportsmanship Award. Best in Show went to Adam Garcia of the Gerber Collision car in the Stock Division and to Micah Knowles the Spartan Warrior car in the Show Super Division.
Stock
1st Place Addison Inman
2nd Place Bella Siddle
3rd Place Graham Gilday
4th Place Carter Priszner
5th Place Bentley Knowles
6th Place Ryan Slusser
7th Place Lillian Jacobson
8th Place Anthony Yuchasz
Super Stock
1st Place Adrina Kuehlwein
2nd Place Auroaru Bosecker
3rd Place Braddock Johnson
4th Place Mattea Black
5th Place Ryker Belles
6th Place Cheyenne McNeely
7th Place Ellie Mac Donald
8th Place Jenna Sanders
Contact reporter Evan Caldwell at ecaldwell@scnews.com and follow him on Twitter @Evan_SCN for updates throughout the week and on Instagram @evancaldwell.scn for more photos.
Stanwood supported Skagit STEM event
Dear Editor: Skagit STEM hosted nearly 400 girls in grades 7-9 from Skagit County public and parochial schools Tuesday, May 15, at McIntyre Hall in Mount Vernon to gain exposure to the variety of opportunities in STEM-related careers as well as careers that require computational thinking/computer science.
Several Stanwood-Camano individuals and businesses supported the event. Alex Shepler, an eighth-grade student at Port Susan Middle School and his father, Mark Shepler, recruited executives (mainly female) from central Puget Sound technology firms as speakers, along with a lead talk by Alex.
Windermere Real Estate provided both financial support and Marla Heagle as a guest speaker. Haggen freely supplied water, fruit and pastries to greet students as they arrived. Starbucks provided coffee for adults and licensed food handlers. Little Caesars opened early to provide a pizza lunch. An additional anonymous financial gift was provided.
Moreover, many parents and students, too numerous to list, supported planning and logistics during the event.
A recent Seattle Times news column outlined the ratio of male to female technology workers in Seattle as 4 of every 5. Through events such as the “Girls Tech Event: Skagit Girls, Code!” Skagit STEM endeavors to change that demographic. Helping girls see the many opportunities available through career exploration opportunities from leading female role models is just one step in that process.
I am so pleased at how so many embrace this work and support it through their time, talent and financial resources.
Thank you, Stanwood-Camano students, parents and businesses for providing so much.
Popular, private Freedom Park seeking financial support
CAMANO ISLAND — Mike Nestor likes to think of how many children have become friends on the playground at Freedom Park, and how many parents get to talking at the picnic tables.
He doubts any of the families who frequent the park realized it was at risk of foreclosure and could have gone to auction, up for grabs to a developer with the highest bid.
More than 15 years ago, a group of community and environmental advocates fought to replace plans for a commercial center with a park. Now, people think of the grassy space, local artwork and wooden playground as a park managed like any other.
Except it’s not.
Freedom Park, at Highway 532 and E. North Camano Drive, isn’t a publicly owned park. It’s on private property, owned by the Freedom Park Association. That means the association is in charge of costs, including maintenance, water and taxes.
Taxes fell behind over the past four years. Nestor, who took charge of maintaining the park and paying bills, recently got a letter from Island County. If taxes weren’t paid, the property would go into foreclosure proceedings. A developer from Oklahoma offered him a few thousand dollars for the land.
Jeff Ericson, who founded Camano Island Coffee Roasters next to the park, paid the taxes with help from neighboring Windermere Real Estate and the local Rotary Club, which put in the playground in 2010.
The foreclosure notice was a standard message that goes to property owners who are at least three years delinquent on taxes, Island County Treasurer Wanda Grone said.
The Freedom Park Association owed $3,679.22 in overdue taxes, and $433.53 for the current year. Grone confirmed it’s all been paid and nothing more is due until October.
That solves the immediate crisis. The county won’t foreclose on the park.
But it doesn’t solve the problem: It costs money to keep up the park, and there’s no steady source of income. Nestor used to cover most of the taxes by auctioning art during Camano’s Chili Chowder Cook-Off, but lately it hasn’t been enough. If something doesn’t change, the park could be at risk again.
Nestor and Ericson are working with others who were involved in the park’s creation to form a board of supervisors for the Freedom Park Association. The board is expected to set a budget and coordinate with businesses and service groups to raise money and rally volunteers. The initial estimates for water, taxes and hiring out for maintenance — which currently consists of Nestor’s twice-weekly lawn mowing and some volunteer landscaping — would total about $11,000 a year. That doesn’t include unexpected costs, such as the portable toilet replaced less than a month ago after someone set it on fire.
The park also might qualify for decreased taxes under the public benefit rating system, something Nestor and Ericson say they’re working on. They are raising money to pay overdue water bills, catch up on maintenance and set money aside for the next two years, while the tax break is in the works and the board gets together. A GoFundMe website has been set up seeking $20,000. As of Thursday, more than $7,400 had been donated.
Nestor, 69, is a third-generation Camano Islander who lives in the cabin his grandfather reportedly won in a card game. Ericson, 55, is an Arizona transplant who bought property on the island after his first visit. In Ericson’s coffee-scented office, the two reminisced about how Freedom Park started.
“You drive by it at 50 mph and it all looks pretty simple,” Ericson said. “But making it happen was not simple.”
In the late 1990s, a supermarket chain, Brown and Cole’s Cost Cutter Foods, owned the property. It was considered for a grocery store, then a shopping center. A group, Camano Action for a Rural Environment, objected. “A pink flamingos and neon signs kind of place” just wouldn’t suit the island, Nestor said.
They asked Brown and Cole to consider giving up the land. The company agreed to donate the park space if someone purchased two neighboring parcels.
Nestor approached Ericson. At first, he wasn’t interested, but Nestor was persistent and he caved. Former state Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen worked with them to get a park-and-ride, too.
Freedom Park was dedicated on Dec. 7, 2002, as a memorial to Pearl Harbor. Some survivors came to the ceremony, and they kept coming for about eight years on Pearl Harbor Day. There still is an annual event, but most survivors are gone, Nestor said.
The playground opened in 2010. About 1,000 people helped build it.
Camano needs gathering places like Freedom Park, Ericson said. It’s a beautiful island, but can be isolating for newcomers.
“People find ways to connect to their communities,” he said. “They just need those spots.”
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.
Freedom Park fundraising
An online donation campaign has been set up at gofundme.com/Freedom-park. Anyone interested in volunteering to mow or weed whack can email mikenestor@windermere.com.
Crews pave soap box derby track on Camano
Nearly 1,000 feet of fresh, smooth asphalt awaits young racers at Arrowhead Ranch on Camano Island.
The ranch — across Arrowhead Road from the entrance to Utsalady Elementary School — will host the 11th annual Windermere Stanwood Camano Island Soap Box Derby on June 16 at 615 Arrowhead Road. A trial run will happen May 31.
The race moves to the island from Stanwood, it’s home for the past decade. As always, winners advance to the All-American Soap Box Derby World Championship race in mid-July in Akron, Ohio. Winners of the international race receive college scholarships and other prizes.
Build clinics for drivers and coaches are underway. See soapboxderby.org/stanwood-camano-island.
