Never a Dull Moment Here

We Orcas Islanders know how to celebrate. And we never go hungry either. Last Saturday I put a list of six events for us to go to in my pocket. That was just one day’s events. So far in the last three weeks, we have been to the Holiday Artisan Faire, the Library Tea, the Holiday Festival of Arts at the Senior Center, the Children’s Christmas Market, the Deer Harbor Santa Ship, the Orcas Ferry Santa Ship, the Olga Symphony, the Celtic Christmas concert, and Darvill’s Bookstore’s holiday sale. Oh, but there’s more we could pack in – the Village Green Tree Lighting Ceremony, the Orcas Choral Society’s “Sing Noel!,” A Christmas Carol with 11-foot-tall handmade puppets that the ghost actors will occupy, the Rosario Resort Annual Festival of Trees, the Winter Solstice Spiral Walk, the Orcas Island Community Band’s Christmas Concert, Orcas Center’s streaming of the Bolshoi Ballet’s The Nutcracker, and the list probably goes on.

You might expect all of these things in any city, but remember, we are a small community. It’s been estimated that even though 5,000 supposedly live here year-round, the number may actually be about 2,000 in the wintertime. So we’re high achievers when it comes to ushering in the Christmas season. Or any season, come to think of it!

Here is a peek into some of these events…