Peter Santenello’s Recent Visit to Orcas Island

On September 17, I received a message from Peter Santenello, a YouTuber who is known for visiting cities and communities around the United States and getting to the heart of what it’s like to live in those places and people groups. There are 425 videos and counting on his channel, in which he interviews people from all walks of life, and his aim was to visit our island on September 27.

In his own words, 

I make videos showing you a world that the media fails to capture. No BS polarization or political angle – just pure authentic interactions with the locals. I present the story. You present your own opinion. We’ll learn about the people of Appalachia, the Chicanos, and the Native Americans. I dive into the full range of America, from the Amish to the Bloods and Crips. The goal is to get into someone else’s world to understand them and ourselves better. The ingredients are: a GoPro, simple editing, curiosity, a search for truth, and most importantly, authentic human interactions. I’ve lived abroad in four countries and traveled to 85 countries. I’ve taken this perspective back to the USA to show Americans and the world what this great nation is like away from the mainstream media.

Considering that Peter has over 4 million subscribers and one of his videos – “Poorest Regions of America” – has been viewed by over 37 million people, I was initially concerned about his plan to visit Orcas Island for a day. I felt protective and wary about the idea of opening up this place to a world audience. When I was considering writing a book about our island, there was a lot of deliberation over whether to do the project at all, and I continue to hold back on promotion and expansion into markets outside the island. Peter’s videos are on a whole different level.

Peter was very clear that his aim wasn’t to tout the island’s high points but instead to get to the heart of islanders and their real lives. This is a consistent theme throughout his videos, which are usually over an hour each. 

I gave him several suggestions of places to go and people to interview: the Saturday Farmers Market at the Village Green, the Kids Got Talent show at Orcas Center that night, the view from Mount Constitution, Mandy Randolph and her multigenerational island family, Kathy Morris and Hailey Averna of West Beach Farm and Nate Averna of Deer Harbor Charters whale watching tours, Bob Waunch of Mercy Flights, musicians Gordon Koenig, Anita Orne, and Martin Lund, and Orcas Island High School History and Human Geography Teacher Zac Parkerson, who sometimes assigns Peter-Santenello-watching homework to his students. I was hoping some of our local born-and-raised musical phenoms like The Litch Brothers and Caleb Klauder & Reeb Willms would be in town, but after a quick check of their websites, I realized they were out touring. I also suggested the idea of interviewing Peter at the KIXP radio station on Life on Orcas Island with Edee Kulper, but he had to decline due to time constraints, as this would only be a quick day trip for him.

Aside from planning an interview with sailor and boat builder Bruce Halabisky and a jaunt in my Uber car to some places on the island, Peter decided to mostly go “freestyle,” allowing the day to unfold naturally rather than planning set interviews with locals throughout the fleeting hours before he would have to head back to “America.”

Upon meeting Peter at the Farmers Market, I called Mandy out of the blue and asked if she would like to come down and talk with him. She suggested starting with the Talking Tree at the Green, where Peter and Hugh Kirk, a high schooler whose family are big fans of Peter’s channel, took a selfie together before we began climbing up its sturdy branches.

Mandy had called her dad, Mike Bartram, soon after I had called her and within a few minutes we were driving around in Mike’s custom boat car – quintessential Orcas Island!

The unplanned and unrehearsed day continued to unfold characteristically Orcas-like.

Mandy talked about the importance of OPAL housing at Bonnie Brae and how it helped pave the way for opportunities down the road in her life. We even made a stop at her current home with husband Zach Holley and son Johnny.

While at Bonnie Brae, Rusty Diggs came out to meet the boat car’s driver and realized she had happened upon an impromptu interview. She agreed to share her story of OPAL’s importance in her family’s life. OPAL housing has been pivotal for Rusty, Christopher, and their children Mona and Bella.

I asked Mandy to continue along with us in my Uber car and she connected with musician Jimi Mudd and his daughter Pearl, a ukulele player who can belt out vocals that need to be heard by a wider audience than the Pacific Northwest. Perfect. Within minutes, we were visiting Jimi’s place at the same time guitarist Rafa and his wife KayAnna happened to stop by unaware of Peter’s visit, where we were treated to a spontaneous jam session by three of the four members of the rock-metal-punk band Chubasco.

After several songs and Peter asking Rafa about his experiences with housing on the island, Jimi urged us to go to wood carver Walter Henderson’s place. “Tell him I sent you!” We showed up unannounced, and Walter and his stepson Aleph Geddis kindly showed us what they were working on and allowed Peter to ask them questions about their lives.

By then, it was later in the afternoon, and time to split up so that I could head to the talent show, Mandy could get home for a party, and Peter could meet up with Bruce before boarding the 7:30 ferry. It wasn’t until I was at the talent show that I realized Bruce’s wife and choreographer/dancer Tiffany Loney and daughter Seffa – “born during an 11-year sea expedition on a 34 ft wooden boat” – were preparing for Seffa’s solo musical performance in the show… meaning they were missing being interviewed by Peter. Many years ago, Bruce and Tiffany’s family were featured in WoodenBoat Magazine, Yachting World, and a Conde Nast Traveller Magazine bit that begins with the line, “They circumnavigated the globe twice and had two kids along the way.” The couple’s older daughter, Solianna, recently made local headlines for hand-building an 11-foot wooden rowing and sailing dinghy alongside her father.

During the whirlwind of the day, Peter explained his plan of filming in several locations around Washington State. While he buzzes from place to place, his wife and video editor, Natalia, is constantly working on the footage. Their first video of the bunch called “Seattle, What’s it Really Like Now?” went up the first Saturday of this month. Then came “Road Tripping to the Edge of America” about the Olympic Peninsula. This past Saturday, “Inside America’s Forgotten Timber Country” went live. Peter estimates that the Orcas Island video will go up the first week of November, so stay tuned..

Important note: I did not contact Peter; he reached out to me after he had already made plans to come here. Nothing was set up beforehand, as his goal was to come anonymously and video spontaneously. No one interviewed made it into a “come live on Orcas” commercial.