America will celebrate its independence this weekend, and like every year South Whidbey won’t be left out of the fun.

The 22nd annual Celebrate America blasts off Sunday, July 3 at Freeland Park, and the Maxwelton Fourth of July Parade will follow Monday at Maxwelton Beach. Organizers for both events are banking on sunny skies and healthy attendance.

“It’s an optimal day because it’s Sunday… and it looks like the weather is going to cooperate so we’re expecting a good turnout,” said Matt Chambers, pastor of South Whidbey Assembly of God and Celebrate America event organizer.

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The large evergreen tree at Boy and Dog Park may get the ax, a Langley official announced Monday.

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Finger printing isn’t finger painting. It takes a practiced and steady hand not to make a big smudge, and usually not the one with ink on it. For countless South Whidbey residents, that help has been Ham McKelvey.

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Nathan Gilles is an artist. His medium is wood, his focus Native American carving. He makes bowls, masks, drums, boxes, hand tools — pretty much anything in the genre. He even made a traditional dugout canoe once, which you may have seen. It’s been on display in front of the museum in Coupeville for years.

But it’s totem poles that are Gilles’ specialty.

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An old barn in Clinton was destroyed by fire Monday evening.

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Ongoing maintenance bills and questions about whether the Clinton Beach Dock is still an appropriate fit for the Port of South Whidbey has district commissioners scratching their heads about the facility’s long-term future.

The dock, located alongside the ferry terminal, was damaged by winter storms and subsequently closed this spring. Port commissioners have bent their thoughts toward repairs, and began this week interviewing engineering firms to conduct the work. But this isn’t the first time rough weather has resulted in unexpected maintenance bills, and the ongoing expense and seeming lack of direct economic development benefit have fueled a new conversation among board members.

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Bundled in blankets just a few feet from his nearly submerged aircraft, a shivering pilot told The Record, “Yes,” he did have a final comment.

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A Sunlight Beach man and equestrian group volunteer was killed in a horse accident at the Island County Fairgrounds in Langley this week.

According to the Island County Coroner’s Office, Marshall MacElveen was in a trailer with three horses just before 11:30 a.m. Tuesday when he was fatally injured by one of the animals.

He was 61.

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