Due to inclement weather, the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial has postponed its annual “Service and Community” event from Feb. 19 to Feb. 27.

The event commemorates the Feb. 19, 1942, signing of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, according to a news release. FDR’s order set in motion the exclusion and incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II, and on March 30, 1942, the Japanese Americans living on Bainbridge Island became the first community to be forcibly removed.

The annual event is inspired by the unique Bainbridge Island legacy that welcomed their Japanese American friends and neighbors home, with volunteers gathering to offer landscaping and maintenance to the BI Japanese American Exclusion Memorial site at Pritchard Park, 4192 Eagle Harbor Drive.

Due to COVID-19, face masks will be required to be worn at all times at the event, and other CDC guidelines will be followed. Wear gloves and bring your own gardening tools, shovels, etc.

Contact Clarence Moriwaki at 206-491-2336 or clarence moriwaki@gmail.com for details.

The event is hosted by the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community, the BI Japanese American Exclusion Memorial Association, and support from the BI Metropolitan Park and Recreation District.

Meanwhile, Moriwaki said construction of the departure deck, the newest feature at the memorial, is done, but the city planning department still needs to sign off on the permit. So, access to the new feature is unavailable due to a chain-link fence.

Once completion of surrounding landscaping is done, the dock will officially open to visitors, probably sometime by the end of this summer, said Val Tollefson, memorial president.