New Port of Everett sculpture combines past and future of the marina

Published 1:30 am Friday, February 20, 2026

EVERETT — Port of Everett’s new sculpture encourages visitors to look to the future, even when memorializing the marina’s past.

Late last year, the port installed its newest bronze-cast sculpture, inspired by the well-known photograph snapped around eight decades prior of a young girl overlooking the marina, according to a Port of Everett social media post.

Standing on one of the vistas along the Central Marina esplanade, the bronze girl gazes across the water, “inviting visitors to look ahead to the future as the Port’s Waterfront Place continues to take shape,” the post said.

In the 1940s photograph, the girl looks out over a small boat harbor between what was Pier 1 and Pier 2, the post said. Now, that area is part of the port’s international Seaport.

Sultan-based artist Kevin Pettelle created the piece using elements such as the girl’s pose, saddle shoes and plaid jacket to bring the photograph to life, the post said. Pettelle also included details unique to the Port of Everett Marina, including coat buttons with the port’s Waterfront Place logo and the scarf’s design mimicking light on the water, the post said.

Pettelle also created the “Fisherman’s Tribute” sculpture located by Scuttlebutt Family Pub and Bluewater Organic Distilling.

Who was the girl in the photograph?

Despite becoming well-known in the area, the photograph’s subject was a mystery. In 2008, The Daily Herald even published a column aiding the Port of Everett’s search for the girl’s identity.

Eventually, individuals at Historic Everett determined that the girl is former Everett resident Kathy Reinell Bowen, the post said.

Bowen’s classmate saw the photograph in the Everett Yacht Club and recognized her, the post said. She was reportedly “blown away” that her family photo had become so well known.

“I had no idea that it was such a popular photo,” Bowen said in the post. “I saw it and thought, ‘That’s my green plaid jacket, and those are my brown saddle shoes.’”

Her father, Edward Reinell of Reinell Boats, snapped the photo when she was about 4 to 5 years old on one of the family’s visits to the port, the post said. Reinell socialized with the Everett Yacht Club and moored the family yacht in a boathouse that can be seen in the top left of the photo. He also taught classes for the Everett Sail & Power Squadron.

“[My dad] would be working on the boat, and he’d say, ‘Go play, kids,’” Bowen said in the post. “This was our Saturdays.”

Located nearby, an interpretive panel shares how boating and industry have evolved at the Port of Everett Marina, which is “the largest public marina on the West Coast with 2,300 slips and more than 5,000 lineal feet of guest moorage,” the post said. In 2025, the port’s waterfront experienced more than 1.6 million annual site visits.

Despite the changing landscape of the port, many people still see themselves in the photo, the post said.

“We are glad that so many people can see a piece of themselves in this photo,” said Catherine Soper, Port of Everett’s chief of business development and tourism, in the post. “That connection is what makes this piece such a meaningful addition to our expanding waterfront art collection.”

Visitors can learn about the port’s history through interpretive panels and exhibits located around the waterfront trails and within the Waterfront Center at 1205 Craftsman Way or by visiting www.historiceverettwaterfront.com.

Jenna Millikan: 425-339-3035; jenna.millikan@heraldnet.com; X: @JennaMillikan