With near record breaking participation by neighbors, with over 102 on the map plus more, we consider this year’s garage sale a huge success. THANK YOU for joining or supporting us!
Our Mother of All Garage Sales was a HUGE success!
With funds raised from neighbors, our sponsors, plant sale donations, and dues, we are excited to have placed an order for a interpretive sign to be installed at Drew Nielsen Park this fall. The artwork has been done by Larry Eifert from Port Townsend. We cannot wait to see it installed.
We know we’re good because our treasurer Kari felt good about writing the check for the sign. 😉 We’ll share in our e-news when it will be installed and we’ll toast with some apple cider. Cheers to us!!
On Saturday, September 9, 2023, the gardening ladies (plus Liam) of the Northwest Neighborhood took to the dirt and planted the new phase of the native plant garden planting day at Drew Nielsen Park.
Take a look next time you walk or cruise by the park. It is delightful.
We are so grateful for the support the neighborhood has shown by contributing funds, and time, and supporting Mother of All Garage Sales in 2023.
Major kudos to our immediate park neighbors, Northwest Chair Holly James, and Jenny Gialenes, for keeping us on track and getting this done. Also, thanks to Brad Chenoweth from Everett Parks for stewarding our project at the city.
Our first fall meeting took place at Drew Nielsen Park on Thursday, September 15 at 6:30pm. People met their neighbors, and heard about our plans for fall.
On Saturday, September 17, we planted the first phase of the native plant garden at Drew Nielsen Park! Thank you so much to our volunteers! That ground was HARD!!!
And, thank you to our Mother of All Garage Sales participants and sponsors. That money went directly to pay for plants, mulch, the irrigation system, and food to feed the volunteers. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
Graphic for the Drew Nielsen Park volunteer event to plant our native garden on Saturday, September 17 from 9am to 2pm.
Special Guest: Brad Chenoweth, Everett Parks Department – Topic: Native Plant Garden
We were back at Everett Community College, Whitehorse Hall, Room 105 at 6:30pm for our second in person meeting with coffee and cookies. For those who wanted to watch virtually, we had the Zoom Meeting up, and livestreamed it to our Facebook page.
Brad reviewed the planting plan, species, and timing for the plan. As a group, we voted to move forward with this plan in two phases, and that the fundraising from the 2022 Mother of All Garage Sales will fund phase 1.
He also addressed the trees on Colby, and the plan is to plant three species of trees – beech, elm, and one more into the half block of 1700 Colby.
On Saturday, April 16, 2022, we hosted an Easter Egg Hunt at all three parks – Grand Avenue, Drew Nielsen, and Legion. We started at 10am and at least for Legion Park, we were done finding eggs and handing out prizes by 10:18am! The weather was nice, the kiddos were cute with bunny ears and festive baskets. And, the parents got a chance to catch up. Thanks for joining us and we’ll do it again next year!
March 17, 2022 meeting with Deputy Mayor Nick Harper
This may have been our last Zoom meeting after two years of the pandemic. It is our plan to gather at Everett Community College in our old haunt, Whitehorse Hall Room 105 on Thursday, April 21. We are glad to have been invited back by John Olson from the college.
Kari thanked the volunteer crew for putting up the signs at Drew Nielsen Park on Saturday, March 12, 2022, and then welcomed our guests, Nick Harper, and elected official David Simpson. Port of Everett Commissioner.
Tim Knopf, Jeff Hardy, Kari Quaas, and Joni Smith after the sign installation honoring Drew Nielsen — March 12, 2022
There was a robust discussion of current events, finances, and plans for the new year.
Citizens are welcomed to attend or watch the State of Everett presentation with Mayor Cassie Franklin on Thursday, March 31, 2022. It will be held in person at Angel of the Winds Arena.
The annual matching amount has been reduced from $2000 to $1000. Applications are due March 7th. The Steering Committee will work out the numbers.
It was decided that we will send a formal letter to the City to express our frustration at the reduction of services, and opportunity, for the neighborhood system to function.
Treasurer’s Report
We have $10,500 in the bank, and $400 in PayPal. We are grateful to our donors who help us maintain things like Zoom, Constant Contact, storage, and provide money so that we can do projects that better our neighborhood, and grow community.
Our monthly meeting featured special guest Eileen Simmons from the Evergreen Arboretum and Gardens; and Sergeant Terpening from the Everett Police Department. We also had a council update from Paul Roberts, and a Port update from David Simpson. We closed with the soon to be new sign for Drew Nielsen Park, and our holiday lights plan for December 4.
For the October meeting, we had a late change of guest from Mayor Franklin to Kimberly Shelton from Everett Parks. We heard more about the updates to the recreational and open space plan the city is working on. You can provide your feedback here. Also, we got an update on the Colby Trees (aka the London Planes), and various parks throughout the city.
Holly James provided an update on Drew Nielsen Park. We have a new partnership with Pilchuck Audubon Society to build our habitat friendly space.
Paul Roberts and Scott Murphy provided updates from City Council including future budget planning.
On September 16, we welcomed fall by gathering outside at Drew Nielsen Park on our standard Thursday at 6:30 pm. We got to meet some new neighbors, hear about our plans for the park and the information board, and be together. It was a nice time.
About 28 folks gathered this night, including a youngster, and a few dogs, too. We mainly discussed the park planting and clean up event set for Saturday, October 2 from 9am to 1pm led by Holly. Also, Tim gave an update on the park information board featuring descriptions of Drew Nielsen, the park’s namesake, and the Northwest Neighborhood.
Our next meeting will be back on Zoom with guest speaker, Mayor Cassie Franklin, on Thursday, October 21 at 6:45pm. If you have questions you want to ask her, please email those in advance to Kari, who will forward them on to Nichole with the City.
