As part of our leisure trips theme a decade ago, the cover of our August 1998 issue featured the historic Capt. Whidbey Inn at Coupeville and sailing on Penn Cove waters with innkeeper Capt. John Colby Stone.
Stone and his wife, Mendy, owned the 1991 inn that had been in his family for decades and offered guests a cruise on Capt. Stone’s three-masted Cutty Sark. The inn was a regionally popular getaway for Seattle residents and others for decades.
Today, the 101-year-old rustic, romantic getaway, conference center, retreat and historic icon on Whidbey Island is still as popular as ever. Newer buildings added over the years for conferences and more modern quarters for guests than the inn itself, now owned by Innkeeper Lloyd Moore.
The Stone family sold the inn late in 2007 but the Cutty Sark still docks there, with Capt. Stone at the helm, for short rides or chartered multi-day luxury cruises on Puget Sound waters for the inn’s guests, many of them from distant parts of the world.
Most of Stone’s life today is devoted to sailing Puget Sound — including his luxury sailing trips and visits to such events as Tacoma’s Tall Ships gala event in early July.
Stone, a life-long sailer and a crew member with the historic Soviet/American trans-Atlantic sail in the 156-foot schooner Te Vega in 1989., also operates Aeolian Ventures. The 501(c)3 non-profit organization that provides educational sailing and mentoring trips with scouts and middle-school groups on Puget Sound.
For more information about the inn, visit www.captainwhidbeyinn.com; for Capt. John Stone, go to www.svcuttysark.com.
Stanwood-Camano Village launched
Construction began on the new, 35,000-square-foot Stanwood-Camano Village, east of downtown Stanwood. It will open with a five-screen theater, an electronic games center, bookstore and three restaurants. The porject is a co-venture by Lindstrom Development Group and Bainbridge Entertainment Enterprises. BFC Frontier of Lynnwood was the contractor.
Floral Centre offers conference opportunities
The $1.5-million Edmonds Floral Centre became the county’s newest conference center, with space for business retreats, seminars and training sessions. The center, which was built by Ed and Maude Hodgson and then donated to the Edmonds Community College Foundation, was also open to community groups and college events.
Biotech firms feel space crunch
A shortage of lab facilities in the Seattle area had biotech companies looking around Snohomish County for buildings that would provide more space. Even the businesses already in Snohomish County were seeking additional space.
They included PlasmaLab International, an Everett company, and Chiroscience R&D Inc., Immunex Corp., Epoch Pharmacueticals, ICOS Corp., all in Bothell, where the Canyon Park business center is located.
According to a 1990 industry survey, the reasons biotech firms chose to locate in the Puget Sound area included the proximity to educational institutions, the availability of scientists and the ability to attract employees.
Forum to address Year 2000 issues The Telco Year 2000 Forum, which was a nationwide group of telecommunications companies, was planning to meet to discuss issues that the approaching year 2000 would create. In its 1997 annual report, GTE (now Verizon) estimated its total cost for Y2K remediation would be $350 million.
Local economy is showing upturn
Comparing the 1998 economy to how the county was faring 10 years prior, columnist John Thoresen said, “I see this current boom as more sustained, deeply embedded and diverse than the earlier upturn in the late 1980s.”
Thoresen noted the following: the unemployment rate averaged 5.56 percent and total employment during the previous three years grew an average of 13,150 per year, there were more than 3,000 employees in the Technology Corridor compared to 2,000 in 1986, and Boeing employed approximately 34,000 Snohomish County residents.
Upgrading equipment to keep the speed A story about the need for businesses to upgrade their computer and Web access equipment demonstrated how communications were progressing. People were upgrading their modems from 28.8k to 56k, for an average cost of $60 to $150. Dave Clutinger, office manager of DJS Computers and Office Machines in Marysville, said some small business owers were upgrading their computers, but he suggested they rethink that. “A 486 will do their finances, their inventory control, word processing, desktop publishing.” He did, however, suggest a $100 overdrive chip to double the computer’s speed or upgrade the system with no less than a 3.2-gigabyte hard drive.
Charter company moves to Everett People’s International Charters moved its headquarters from Bellingham to Paine Field. It offered business jet charters locally and nationally for corporations, group conventions and personal air transportation.
Snohomish County attracts Cook Paging Cook Paging relocated its Northwest regional office from Seattle to Everett. According to the 1998 regional operations manager Bob Kroll, the company was the largest independently owned paging carrier on the West Coast. By 1998, Cook Paging had provided paging services for Northwest clients for more than 15 years. When making the announcement of the move, Kroll said, “Everett was our first choice for our move. It’s no longer just a Seattle bedroom community. We see a city that is in an expansion mode, providing small-business opportunities for investment.”
Cruise company purchases luxury yacht
American Safari Cruises bought the 120-foot yacht “Obsession” for $2.5 million. The Everett-based cruise company purchased the luxury yacht for recreational excursions to Alaska and the Inland Passage. The vessel had seven deluxe staterooms with private baths, a main salon with a bar and large-screen TV, three outside decks, an observation deck, a lounge and a library.
New wellness center opens
Stevens Hospital opened its Wellness Center in Edmonds, which integrated alternative medical care with traditional medicine.
Evergreen State Fair one of nation’s top 25 Monroe’s Evergreen State Fair was ranked as one of the top fairs in the nation for size and attendance, with 800,000 visitors expected in 1998. This year, Monroe celebrates once again with this annual late summer event, from Aug. 21 through Sept. 1, marking the fair’s 100th year of carnival rides, grandstand shows and livestock and pie competitions.
— John Wolcott, SCBJ Editor
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