BAC receives $10K windfall

Nonprofit organizations usually have long wish lists for things they’d like to have, and probably never will get.

Bainbridge Arts and Crafts’ desires are more down to earth, focusing on items that will make the space function better and more appealing to artists, volunteers and the public.

Executive director Susan Jackson asked the Bainbridge Island Community Endowment for an $8,500 grant to replace the gallery’s 21-year-old carpet and broken lighting in the front windows, buy paint and add a screen to close off the staff’s work area.

A recent anonymous donation of $10,000 through the endowment’s donor-managed fund made the BAC’s wishes come true.

“I have written the gushiest thank you note and we’ll send photos (of the refurbishing) to the donor,” Jackson said. “In all my years with nonprofits, I have never been given more than I asked for. The community really does appreciate the work we do (and) it is very validating.”

The BAC will close for a day or two in early October to accommodate the painting and fixing, Jackson said. After everything is done, she hopes to have enough money left to buy a display fixture for the gallery.

“We’re still using what I call dorm room bookcases,” she said. Jackson’s next wish is a new computer. “Our server may have a heart attack at any moment,” she said, “and I don’t have that in my budget. I’m starting to write more grant requests.”

Last year the BAC raised some $47,000 in grants. The year before, “it was more like $18,000,” Jackson said. “You do your job a little better and feel a little better when your stuff works.”

For more information on the BAC, visit www.bainbridgeartsandcrafts.org.

– Rhona Schwartz

New church opens soon

There is a new church on Bainbridge Island.

The Unity Church on Bainbridge Island has ended its affiliation with the Unity Association of Churches to form the Spiritual Enrichment Center of West Sound.

“SEC West Sound is a positive, practical, nondenominational Christian church with teachings from different Christian New Thought and other spiritual traditions,” the Reverend LeeAnn Gibbs said.

A gala benefit from 7-10 p.m. Sept. 30 at Kiana Lodge will let the new church introduce itself to the community and fund raise to support its activities and the Island Music Guild, where the church will hold services at 10:30 a.m. every Sunday.

There will be music, dancing, food, a silent auction and raffles.

For more information, contact Reverend LeeAnn Gibbs at 780-6982 or edgewalkerranch@msn.com or visit www.secwestsound.org.

Help make way for trees

The city’s Community Forestry Commission has an open house from 7-9 p.m. tonight at City Hall to discuss trees and the community.

The commission seeks input on a draft of the Bainbridge Island Community Forest Management Plan, available at www.ci.bainbridge-isl.wa.us.

The purpose of the plan is “to provide tools that ensure we maintain forests that provide all possible functions and benefits, maintaining the forest cover in residential areas and integrating trees as green infrastructure into the developing urban landscape.”

The commission will discuss results of the forest canopy inventory and the street tree inventory.

A 2004 study showed that the majority of trees are on privately owned land, especially within Winslow. Forest canopy makes up about 73 percent in residential zones, with 42 percent in Winslow, which is “declining quickly.”

Report recommendations include: “Maintain a long term overall canopy coverage goal of 67 percent for the island while retaining the native forest structure throughout the island; adopt an ecosystem-based approach to forest management, using this plan and incentives to conserve multi-functional urban greenways; encourage retention of trees by creating incentives for incorporation of trees and native landscaping into new urban development; develop tree preservation and replacement regulations to ensure that trees are integrated into the urban core areas.”

Also in the works are potential incentive programs which include a “Legacy Tree Program” designed to “recognize and assist in preserving historic, culturally significant or otherwise unique trees in the community.”

For more information, contact Marja Preston in the planning department at 842-2552 or mpreston@ci.bainbridge-isl.wa.us.

Mosquito fleet tickets remain

A few unsold tickets are still available for the rescheduled round-the-island tour aboard the Steamer Virginia V on Sunday, Oct. 2, Bainbridge Island Historical Society officials said.

The round-island tour was originally scheduled in July, but the ship was delayed by an unusually low tide on an earlier cruise, and the trip had to be postponed.

Co-chairs Ralph Cheadle and Dick Berg urged residents who missed the two sold-out tours last year to buy tickets as soon as possible for the October cruise.

Cheadle said that as of last week, the society had about 20 unsold tickets remaining.

The three-hour tour will be narrated by several local historians. Coffee, tea and bottled water will be provided free of charge. Soft drinks, beer and mixed drinks will be available at the bar operated by the ship’s crew.

For an additional $25, passengers can buy tickets to return with the vessel through the Ballard Locks to its berth at the south end of Lake Union.

Passengers traveling back to Seattle aboard the Virginia V will need to make their own arrangements for getting from Lake Union back to the island.

A Metro bus stopping within several blocks of Lake Union goes to Colman Dock.

The steamer Virgina V is the only Mosquito Fleet vessel still afloat among the hundreds that provided connections to communities along Puget Sound during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The Mosquito Fleet ceased operations in the 1950s.

The Virginia V underwent a complete rebuild in the 1990s and began operations as a charter vessel three years ago.

The trip will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with boarding beginning at 10:30 a.m. Cost is $70 per person.

Tickets may be purchased at the Bainbridge Historical Museum, 215 Ericksen Ave.; Vern’s Winslow Drug, 290 Winslow Way E, or by credit card by calling the museum at 842-2773.

How are island schools doing?

The Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce takes up the timely topic of “The State of our Schools” at its luncheon meeting, 11:30 a.m. Sept. 21 at Wing Point Golf and Country Club. The meeting is open to the public.

The Bainbridge Island School District recently released a copy of the school master plan, available online at www.bainbridge.wednet.edu, which looks at the districts needs going out 10-15 years. It is also preparing to present to voters next year, a request for a multimillion dollar levy to renovate aging school facilities and buildings.

BISD Superintendant Ken Crawford will speak as well as a Rick Bunch or Gifford Pinchot of the Bainbridge Graduate Institute and other island educators.

Cost of the lunch is $14 or $12 for chamber members. To register, call 842-3700.

Mini film fest at Lynwood

Bainbridge Island’s Historic Lynwood Theatre will present “A Moveable Fest Film Festival,” Sept. 26-29.

The event will feature two documentaries, a romance/drama and a comedy from the Port Townsend Film Festival. All films begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Lynwood. They are as follows:

• “Peas at 5:30”– Sept. 26. Directed by Larz Buchel, this German film is an offbeat romance about a stage director who goes blind, yet refuses the help of Lilly, a blind woman. He visits his dying mother in Russia accompanied by Lilly, much to his initial dismay. (110 minutes)

• “Liberace of Baghdad”– Sept. 27. A documentary about famous Iraqi pianist, Samir Peter, holed up in a Baghdad hotel during Operation Freedom faces the challenges of post-war Iraq and awaits a visa to America. (75 minutes)

• “Peaceable Kingdom” and “Oil and Water” – Sept. 28. Former farmers and animal rescuers question some of society’s most fundamental assumptions about our use of animals. (70 minutes)

“Oil and Water,” a short film, is a portrait of Prince William Sound filmed before and after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. (26 minutes)

• “Tempus Fugit” – Sept. 29. Directed by Enric Folch, this Spanish comedy deftly juggles time travel, impeding Apocalypse, European soccer, geekdom and love.

Tickets are $25 for a pass or $8 for each movie at the door. Port Townsend Film Festival pass holders get in free. For more information, call 842-3080 or visit www.lynwoodtheatre.com.