A Belated Happy New Year!

I don’t know about you, but I’m still having to make a conscious effort to write “2023” rather than “2022” on my dated transactions. And while we’re on the subject of tempus fugit, how in the heck did it get to be the tail end of the first quarter of the 21st Century? It’s sobering to realize that there are New Year’s babies from the turn of the century who might be changing my bed pan before many more years go by. It would be best not to dwell on that image.

But although we sooner or later reach the point when the passage of time takes on the sensation of ground rush, we also hopefully acquire the grace and wisdom to appreciate the life in our years at least as much as the years in our lives. In that sense, I felt especially blessed in 2022 — and being the creator and host of Meyer Sign’s Tales of the Magic Skagit has been no small part of that blessing.

As winter slowly wanes, I thought a brief retrospective on the stories we did during the previous year (and there were a lot of them) was in order — particularly as I look ahead to the stories we’d like to bring you in the year before us. Consider this, therefore, your “Tales of the Magic Skagit Highlight Reel” for 2022 as I comb the Meyer Sign vault for the episodes that our esteemed TMS audience most enjoyed. But as I do, I want to share not only what those stories were, but also their significance to the teller (yours truly) in terms of my evolving relationship with this place I lovingly refer to as the “Magic Skagit.”

I’d also like call attention to some significant moments in our Tales of the Magic Skagit journey, now going into it’s fourth year. Our very first TMS episode, for those keeping track, was a January 1, 2020 travelogue and homage to Chuckanut Drive. Over the following 79 stories we’ve published since, we’ve found ourselves thematically drawn to historical vignettes — features on people and events that have shaped the Skagit Valley — and in pursuit of these stories we’ve explored local history from not only our pioneer past, but that of pre- and post-contact First Peoples of the Salish Coast and from up the Skagit River. Interspersed among the random curiosities and cultural reflections, we also took occasional note of interesting people, places, and things in this delightfully unique place we call home.

But I risk getting ahead of myself here. Let’s go back to January 2022 and a two-part story I wrote about one of the more significant events in my life since immigrating to the Magic Skagit from Boise, Idaho in 2013: my relationship with artist and Upper Skagit tribal member, Jay Bowen (A “Simple” Conversation with Jay Bowen). In getting to know Jay, I was not only introduced to some amazing art (two pieces of which now adorn the walls of my wife’s and my Mount Vernon home) but to the source of its inspiration: the history and culture of Jay’s Upper Skagit ancestors.

Greatest Hits

My relationship with Jay led to my acquaintance with his friend and neighbor, Swinomish tribal elder Tony Cladoosby — who in turn introduced me to his partner, Michelle Calvin. The more immediate consequence of these relationships was a three-part series on the story of the Swinomish people as told by a beautiful park on the west side of a channel named in acknowledgement of the first human inhabitants to live on either side of its banks. One of our most popular stories in 2022 was about the role of a special breed of dog in the animal husbandry of the Coast Salish people, and of the beauty of their fibre arts — an element of indigenous culture that is thriving today, thanks to recent generations of tribal communities.

Our Tales of the Magic Skagit series found its sweet spot in stories of local history. These included the origins of Mount Vernon’s first two hospitals (Angel of Mercy — The Story of Harriet Rowley; Mount Vernon General Hospital), the “bohemian” couple whose love affair bore a garden of earthly delights, a city lost to time, a place once called Perry’s Island that we know today by a much more familiar name, and heartbreak and betrayal in the origin story of nearby Lynden, WA. Among our historical essays, one that yielded some of the most engagement was a cheeky tale of a failed utopian socialist commune headquartered in Edison — a historical fact that might understandably be left out of chamber of commerce promotional brochures.

Along the way of telling these stories there were a number of bright and shiny objects that I couldn’t resist sharing. Like the story of an adventurous owner of a local coffee shop, art and history exhibits (Art, Love, and Courage: The Legacy of Jesus Guillén) and a spectacular mural on the walls of a business on E. College Way in Mount Vernon. I closed out the year with a tribute to the man I like to refer to as “Mr. Skagit Valley,” the inestimable Don Wick.

Which makes a good segue for bragging a bit about one of the Tales of the Magic Skagit “brand highlights” for the year: hosting a history booth at the 2022 Skagit County Fair. Thanks to a media partnership with Fairgrounds’ manager Aric Gaither, Don Wick and I tended a display of Skagit County Fair scrapbooks, including those of a generous former 4-H leader. As folks revisited fairs of the past, Don and I invited them to share their favorite fair memories with us via a makeshift studio in an adjoining tent, with audio tech support provided by a local radio station (thank you, KSVR). It was an absolute pleasure to spend four days with Don, and what I learned about the man from that experience made me further appreciate the significance of his appearance on the cover of the inaugural issue of a new Skagit Valley publication — which I subsequently wrote about.

Partnerships and Podcasts

Recalling the Skagit County Fair interviews leads me to another brand accomplishment: the addition of a podcast channel to our digital media platforms. We launched our Tales of the Magic Skagit podcast series (on Spotify and Apple Podcasts) in March with an interview with the executive director of the Skagit County Historical Museum about an exhibit focusing on events and people who were part of a momentous year in the life of our state, 1968. As of this writing, Meyer Sign has produced nearly 50 podcast episodes, thanks in part to another evolving relationship.

As summer gave way to fall, Meyer Sign collaborated with a new media partner, Beaver Tales Coffee & Tea in La Conner (remember Tony and Michelle?), to launch a podcast series “by and about the First Peoples of the Skagit Valley.” Our first Beaver Tales’ episodes took up the topics of canoe culture among indigenous communities in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, as well as a retrospective on the life and legacy of a “rich old Indian” who helped preserve and further the Lushootseed language of the Coast Salish and Skagit peoples. Oh, and while we were at it, we added a YouTube Channel (Tales of the Magic Skagit, of course). Booyah!

But perhaps the biggest accomplishment for Tales of the Magic Skagit was the creation of a visual identity. I mean, after all, we ARE sign makers! As Tales of the Magic Skagit evolved from an editorial theme to a humble but growing media brand, the absence of a visual identity struck Meyer Sign as a bit like the cobbler’s barefoot kids. That all changed when I handed our designer, Lisa Corp, the album cover for Neil Young’s “Harvest” and a copy of the Tom Petty & the Heart Breakers’ band logo and said, “Give me something that would look good as a tattoo.” Sure, I’m biased, but I think Lisa nailed it. The Fair history booth provided a great opportunity to introduce the TMS brand to a larger audience via bookmarks and cool t-shirts (this year I’m thinking decals, btw).

Looking Ahead

But that was then and this is now…and 2023 lies before us, a promise yet fulfilled. So let me briefly clue you in on what to expect from Meyer Sign in the months ahead. For starters, our stories and podcasts will continue to focus on local history — people and events before and after the mid-19th Century. In creating our editorial agenda, however, I’m going to rely more heavily on relationships with local museums, so expect to hear some voices from not only the Skagit Valley Historical Society Museum (God love ‘em), but also from museums in Island County, Sedro-Woolley, and Anacortes.

I also plan to continue our “Monster Book of Pioneers” series with Bruce McCormick as we highlight immigrant families from his massive 1906 tome, A History of Skagit and Snohomish Counties, as well as stories of First People’s history and culture through our Beaver Tales series. If there is a compelling visual aspect to any of these episodes, we’ll bring you pictures via our Facebook page and video from our new TMS YouTube channel. Added to that mix will be the occasional article/podcast/video featuring a local artist, business, community leader, or random person who is just too gosh darn interesting to ignore. We can all use a little serendipity these days, don’t you think?

Last year we started up a series called The ‘Core’ of Discovery, dedicated to places in the Pacific Northwest and across eleven states that are associated with the epic journey of Lewis & Clark. The series has gotten off to a slower start than I had initially envisioned, but the pace of stories is going to increase as we take you with us to places where America’s Odyssey is baked into landscapes and DNA. Think of it as “Tales of the Magic Skagit goes road tripping.”

Meyer Sign will also be back at the Fair this year, hosting our fair history booth (“All in Love is Fair”) for the second of what we hope will be many more years to come. And once again, I’ll be joined in the recording booth by “Mr. Skagit Valley,” Don Wick himself, as we share people’s memories of past Skagit County Fairs. Many years from now our great-grandkids will have access to some vivid testimonials of our lives in the present century, even as we harken back to a previous one through our remembered family histories, thanks to our on going media partnership with Skagit County Fairgrounds.

Which again makes a good segue as I bring this long-winded reminiscence to a soft landing. In so doing, I want to thank the Meyer Sign audience that we’ve earned over the last three years of Tales of the Magic Skagit. We have a constantly growing number of Facebook followers that I appreciate not just for its size, but even more so for its level of engagement. You have been gracious in your acknowledgments, generous in your sharing, and a source of inspiration. I love the way that some of our stories have become an exercise in “crowd sourced history” — particularly when that history has been personal. One of my last TMS stories in 2022 was about this phenomenon, and as the congenial host and producer of TMS, I’m humbled and grateful.

One last thing. I anticipate that in the fall of this year we’ll have a very significant announcement to make regarding the future of Tales of the Magic Skagit — one that will involve expanding the stories we create and the voices that tell them. I could reveal more, but then I’d have to kill you…which would run counter to the whole “building an audience” thing. I will instead say that this is going to be a turning point, and leave it at that. Are you curious now? Wait for it.

In the meantime, here’s to 2023! Thanks for coming along with us. It just wouldn’t be the same without you. Keep it magic, ya’ll.