ARLINGTON – A dozen friends from Stanwood piled into the Crosswalk Tavern in this icy city Sunday, determined not to let the wrath of winter get between them and football.
Another power outage – one in a long string of outages for Stanwood and Camano Island this season – blackened TV screens reserved for the Seahawks National Football Conference title game against the Chicago Bears.
Shortly after 6 a.m., 13,255 Snohomish County Public Utility District customers had their power knocked out.
As game time approached, the sustained outage ignited a small exodus of football fans in search of a warm place to watch the game.
Arlington, which still had power, was a natural choice. And the Crosswalk Tavern, aptly named because it is at the end of a crosswalk, was one of the biggest beneficiaries.
Just as injuries have beset the Seahawks, people in northern Snohomish County have also faced obstacles this season.
“It’s got to be the worst winter that I’ve ever seen in the 42 years that I’ve lived here,” said Dennis Struiksma, who estimates that he has been without power for a combined 10 days this winter. “I know a lot of people on the island, and Jeez.”
“It’s just awful,” Heidi Heathers said. She said she has lost power about 30 times since November.
“After a while, you just don’t count anymore,” she said.
The Stanwood group’s favorite watering hole, the bar at Amigos Family Mexican Restaurant in Stanwood, was among the Snohomish County PUD customers that had no power.
Margaret Skube, who lives in a farmhouse near Stanwood, said a trusty old wood-burning stove, which she can use to cook and heat with, has helped make the outages bearable at home. Still, she has missed more than five days of work, because her job at a travel agency on Camano Island requires the use of a computer.
While watching the game Sunday, she also took advantage of the power in Arlington to wash a load of clothes at a coin-operated laundry.
Mike Thorne, a PUD spokesman, said Camano Island has been hardest hit by the unusual run of storms this winter.
Sunday’s outage, which started about 6:10 a.m., was caused by a downed transmission line that serves three Stanwood and Camano Island substations, he said.
Power was restored to all customers by 4 p.m.
Jose Amador, co-owner of Amigos, said he wasn’t about to wait for PUD to fix the problem.
Recognizing that people would want a place to watch the big game, he called a few friends with generators.
By game time, the bar, known for its wide selection of tequilas, was in business as well as its kitchen and its big screen TVs.
Amador said business wasn’t really hurt by his regulars who fled to Arlington. There were plenty more folks who came out of the dark to take their stools.
“We were rocking and rolling,” Amador said. “It was standing-room only.”
Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.
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