Halloween, a holiday gala, some business and a hero | Life in Ludlow

By Ned Luce
Posted 10/30/24

Happy Halloween! May your candy baskets and bags be full to their sweetest of highs! Times have changed. Therefore very few folks actually travel the neighborhoods now in the name of safety for …

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Halloween, a holiday gala, some business and a hero | Life in Ludlow

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Happy Halloween! May your candy baskets and bags be full to their sweetest of highs! Times have changed. Therefore very few folks actually travel the neighborhoods now in the name of safety for the kids. However, again this year there will be the traditional “Trunk and Treat” in the parking lot below the recycling center in Port Ludlow on Thursday, Oct. 31.

If you have not participated in the past, dress up in your favorite Halloween costume and bring treats. If you can, decorate the trunk of your car and bring it too.

Children, and those acting like children, pick their treats out of the car trunk (or from a small table). Kids and parents alike enjoy the creativity of the decorations while bagging treats and savoring the enthusiasm over their costumes.

If you’re giving away treats and participating with your car, come early to get set up by 4:00. Those who have participated for the past several years, have agreed that there is as much, if not more, fun had by the adults than the kids. Again, Happy Halloween.

Halloween is just the holiday season kickoff with parties of all sorts on tap. The traditional family gatherings are most fun until Uncle Charlie spreads a little bit too much cheer about the results of the (soon to be thankfully over) election. 

One of the wonderful traditions of the holiday season centers on the big parties doing something good and fun for the community. The East Jefferson Rotary Club has joined with the Bayside Skills Center in Port Hadlock to hold a Holiday Gala with dinner and a show at the Old Alcohol Plant on Friday, Dec. 6 from 4:30 to 8 p.m. 

The Rotary Club is well known locally for all the projects in which it is involved. There is the flag program funding local scholarships all the way to support for the eradication of polio resulting in a reduction in world-wide polio cases from 385,000 in 1988 to a handful today. 

The Bayside Skills Center (BSC) is a free service of Bayside Housing and Services launching in January. BSC is developing a culinary arts training program designed to help people get jobs in the food service industry.  

The Gala features welcoming music by “The Nordlanders” holiday band of Marrowstone Island tree-lighting fame as you make your way through the music, hos d’oeuvres and wine in the lobby. Dinner will be prepared by Chef Troy in the Skyview Ballroom while more entertainment will be provided by local legend Paul Rogers and his band as they kick off your holiday season with their Holiday Hi-Jinx show.

Yessir, this is a community fund-raiser with all the “fixins” and the fare is $135 per. Seating is limited to 100 of your friends so get your ticket at the websites of either the Old Alcohol Plant or the EJ Rotary Club. I will be there with as many friends I can scare up.

I have worked most of my life in one way or another, like many of you, for large and small companies. I started with paper routes with the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Akron Beacon Journal in Ohio, then probably ending as one of your favorite journalists here in the Pacific Northwest. Yep, there were a lot of stops in between.

My experience is that some were fun and some not so much. During elections and other times when soliciting becomes an art form, I am struck by the usual prattling on about how large companies are gouging the consumer with pricing strategies designed to inflate their profits. In addition, the crowd of folks looking for donations from smaller businesses seem to think they are a never-ending font of funds.

Generally speaking, larger companies are more generous than you might think. They may have some bureaucratic processes that make getting one of their donations seem an onerous task, but they do have the will and ability to provide help when asked. Smaller companies like to be generous especially to their friends, neighbors, and customers. However, folks trying to extract a donation from a local small business must realize the company’s first obligation is to stay in business and that means supporting their employees. Margins are always tight at small companies and management watches every penny. 

The message I wish to convey is that the big companies are not as big and bad as may have been publicized, (witness Boeing), and the little ones need your help as much as you might need theirs. 

When you live in a community as vintage as ours, the notable folks passing on is more regular than we would like. However, I would like to honor the passing of Barbara Berthiaume, a local hero for all the grit she showed developing and telling the stories of the local Japanese folks during WW2. For that and many other reasons we will miss her.

Love a curmudgeon and have a great week. 

Ned Luce can be reached at ned@ptleader.com