Everett, beautiful?
When my folks moved to Snohomish County many years ago, they likely described Everett as stinky, rough and lacking much artistic culture.
Named for a 15-year-old boy with a big appetite, Everett was a blue-collar town at its start in the late 19th century when a townsite was platted on a peninsula of stumps by men whose last names included Colby, Rucker and Hewitt.
In 1903, the Polk Directory listed 10 sawmills, 12 shingle mills, a paper mill, planing mills, foundries and machine shops, a smelter, an arsenic plant, a refinery, a creosote works, a sash and door plant, an ice and cold storage plant, and a creamery. And that didn’t include the fishermen out on Possession Sound and those working on the Great Northern Railroad.
Most mills are gone now, which is tragic on one hand, but nice in the sense that the water and mountain views are more pronounced and the air is cleaner. Now we have Boeing and other aerospace business, the Navy station, Everett Community College, technology companies, a large hospital, a shopping mall and a large government campus.
Everett has 19 neighborhoods, 40 parks, a big marina, grand historical homes and downtown buildings, a children’s museum, an art center, a performing arts center, a convention center, ice skating rink and arena, a major junior hockey team, a minor league baseball team, golf courses, many community performing arts groups, lots of public art, antiques stores and boutiques, a farmers market, craft breweries, distillers and winemakers, restaurants of renown, good coffee, an outdoor summer music series and a bunch of festivals.
The newest of these festivals, the Fisherman’s Village Music Festival, is ongoing this weekend and features dozens of local and regional bands in five downtown venues.
Everett has so many tourist attractions, we are saving Paine Field for another story and resorting to the following list of the top things to see.
Parks
The crown jewel of the parks system is Forest Park, 802 E. Mukilteo Blvd., which includes a pool, a delightful children’s play area that includes sprinkler fun in the sun and a summer petting zoo.
On the north side of town, Legion Memorial Park, 145 Alverson Blvd., is home to the Sorticulture Garden Arts Festival in June, the Independence Day celebration July 4, ballfields, a nice playground and picnic area, and the Evergreen Arboretum, a wonderful plant and sculpture collection run by volunteers.
Other parks to check out include Langus Riverfront Park and Spencer Island Park for wildlife viewing and Sullivan Park at Silver Lake, home to a summer concert series for children. Howarth Park was closed earlier this week because the foot bridge to the beach needs repair. Look for this delightful beach to reopen in spring 2016.
Waterfront
No better place exists on a hot day in Everett than Jetty Island. Catch the foot ferry during summer months from the 10th Street boat launch to this man-made and now-naturalized island. The shallow water is warm and the kiteboarders are entertaining.
The port’s marina is home to whale watch boats in early spring, the Fresh Paint Festival in August, the city’s Thursday and Saturday evening summer outdoor concert series and the Everett Farmers Market on Sundays. Eat at one of the restaurants on the waterfront and then walk around to enjoy the sunset.
Entertainment
In July the city puts out 10 decorated typewriters in the downtown area on which to write your poetry or proclamations. In August, look for more than a dozen painted pianos and try your hand at tickling the ivories.
Cruzin’ to Colby on Memorial Day weekend is the big car show that pays homage to the days when teens cruised Colby.
The Schack Arts Center, 2921 Hoyt Ave., features glass-blowing classes, an ever-changing gallery and a shop.
Imagine Children’s Museum, 1502 Wall St., is one of the best kids museums in the region.
Village Theatre offers professional musical theater at the Everett Performing Arts Center and a kids program across Wetmore Theater Plaza.
Historic Everett Theatre, 2911 Colby Ave., the Cannery, 2820 Oakes, and Xfinity Arena at Hewitt and Broadway, offer a variety of entertainment throughout the year.
Sports
In the rainy season, head to Xfinity to watch the Silvertips play hockey. In the summer, the AquaSox play baseball at Memorial Stadium, 3900 Broadway. Both teams attract good fans who like to have fun.
History
Everett actually has a downtown historic district featuring some of the city’s oldest buildings. The area, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is east of Colby Avenue and west of Broadway along Hewitt, Wetmore, Rockefeller, Oakes and Lombard avenues.
Also worth checking out for historic architecture are the Everett Public Library, 2702 Hoyt; Everett High School, 2416 Colby; the Monte Cristo Hotel, 1507 Wall; the old mission-style part of the county courthouse along Pacific; and the old homes on Rucker Hill south of downtown and on Grand Avenue north of downtown.
Perhaps the most celebrated house on Grand is the home of the late Sen. Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson. For young people who don’t know who “Scoop” was, this hometown boy earned his nickname while delivering The Herald. He represented Washington state in Congress from the 1940s until his death in the 1980s. He ran for the Democratic presidential nomination twice in the 1970s. The city placed a memorial to Jackson in the little park across the street at 17th and Grand.
From there, the views of the Olympic Mountains are great.
The city’s namesake, Everett Colby, the teen son of a town founder, probably thought so, too.
Yes, Everett is beautiful.
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @galefiege.
Tourist in your own town
In each of our local cities, we have tourist attractions often overlooked by the people who live in this region. Have you been a Tourist in Your Own Town? This is the 17th in a continuing series of monthly explorations of our hometowns. For more Tourist in Your Own Town stories and for links to more information and photos about Everett and each town we’ve covered, go to www.heraldnet.com/tourist.
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