Stanwood tradition covers several holidays

Published 8:31 pm Tuesday, December 21, 2010

For those who don’t like Christmas folderol, that’s all right.

Hearts for Valentine’s Day are right around the corner.

Folks who live in the Stanwood area are reminded about holidays thanks to members of the Stanwood Lions Club who decorate the old smokestack in the heart of town.

Many in town may not know it’s the Lion’s Club that tends to the stack. Folks from all around the Puget Sound area know it’s the Stanwood Lions Club that puts on a lutefisk dinner every October at Stanwood High School.

For non-Scandinavians, lutefisk is dried fish that is soaked in a lye solution until it reaches a gelatinous state, rinsed, steamed and served with a creamy white sauce and a variety of side dishes.

They are so accomplished at preparing the fish dish in Stanwood that members cook lutefisk for other group dinners in Bothell and Mount Vernon.

Billy Davis of Camano Island is one of the cooks. He’s also one of the men who tends to the smokestack. It was good to learn no one shimmies up the concrete chimney.

“Ten to 20 guys get together,” Davis said. “Lights are raised and lowered on cables by hydraulic motors.”

Different displays are hoisted on high for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Fourth of July, Sept. 11 and Thanksgiving.

Davis learned about the active Lions Club after he moved to the island in 1997. The technology engineer retired from Northrup Grumman Corp. in California.

He took a drive around the area looking for property and found a place at Lost Lake. An angler, when told he could catch trout in his own neighborhood, Davis was sold.

After moving to Camano, Davis contributed to a White Cane campaign outside a Stanwood business. He asked questions about the Lions Club.

“I was interested in what they did,” he said. “What they raised went back to charity.”

The club runs a corn-on-the-cob booth at the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe and operates a bingo game at the Stanwood-Camano Community Fair every August.

Members read aloud newspaper articles and make recordings each week for those who can’t see to read. They raise money for hearing programs.

Stanwood Lions provide scholarships to high school seniors.

Every year, they send a check to the Stanwood Senior Center and Camano Senior and Community Center.

Members sponsor a Soap Box Derby car and donate to cancer research.

Roy Lesher, who lives on Camano Island, maintains a Facebook page for the Stanwood Lions. Lesher notes they have about 80 members.

“Come help us screen more than 2,000 kids every year for sight and hearing, help us serve lutefisk to over 1,000 people, help us with our flag program, news on CD for the visually impaired, or invent your own service project,” Lesher wrote. “We contributed over $1,200 towards completion of a new children’s park on Camano Island.”

Karen Prasse with the Stanwood Area Historical Society said the “stack” was constructed about 1927 for a large lumber operation known as Clough mill.

“It had been located at the convergence of Irvine Slough and the Stillaguamish River, convenient for collecting logs that came down the river in the early days,” Prasse said. “There had been a shingle mill at the same site in the 1890s.”

About 1945 the property was taken over by the Hamilton family, who operated the mill for several years until the early 1960s when Highway 532 was built just north of the stack.

The stack is owned by Hamilton Lumber, Davis said. The Lion in charge of the stack project is Victor Parcells. Display designers include Tom and Will Webb.

Women are also members of the Stanwood Lions Club, Davis said, and they participate side by side in projects.

“There are smaller clubs, like in Arlington and Granite Falls,” Davis said. “It’ amazing how much money Lions raise.”

Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451; oharran@heraldnet.com.