Last month, the Kingston Community News went through some changes as longtime editor Rebecca Pirtle departed to work with Commissioner Steve Bauer down at the courthouse. Rebecca Pirtle did a great job bringing us the monthly town update and we will miss her. That being said, I think that Bauer made a great choice in choosing her as his north end liaison. It will be nice to have someone in the commissioner’s office looking out for us. I did do a column for the February edition but somehow it didn’t get into the mix. It isavailable on the community news Web site if you want to go there for a look. I will use last months’ “Nautical Term” for this month so if you are saving up those crossword puzzle hints you won’t miss one.

If you have been down at the port recently you will notice some trees are missing and that bioswale ditch has been filled in. That is because we have replaced the old storm water filtration system with a new state-of-the-art filter that needs no ditch. The net result is that we have gained an entire acre of new, level, park area. The dirt work was done by Bainbridge Landscaping. The landscaping design for the space is under way now and new grass should be growing there within a month. Some new shrubs and a few rocks and boulders will be brought in to make the park an even more enjoyable place to gather. We hope to see lots of families coming down for picnics and other outings this summer.

The long awaited kayak facility is under construction at Cacaos Construction in Gamble Bay. We hope it will be in place within a few months and people will be paddling around our harbor and beyond. Next month, I will explain just how the facility will be used. We will be developing the rates for boat storage and also looking into possible kayak rentals.

Of interest to everyone is all the news about Washington State Ferries. The Jan. 14 meeting at the community center gave lots of us an opportunity to let the leadership know how important the system is to our lives. We all need to continuously and aggressively address our concerns to our legislative representatives. To find information about all of our representatives and what they are up to, go to www.leg.wa.gov. You can get their e-mail addresses there and when you communicate with them, they pay attention. When lots of us communicate with them, they take it seriously.

March 28 will be the date of the first of many community events happening down at the port during this year. The second annual Kites Over Kingston festival will take place then. Last year this event brought dozens of kite-flying enthusiasts to town on a great spring day to show their skills. This event is organized by the Downtown Kingston Association whose mission is to make our town an enjoyable place to live, work and play. Please grab a kite and bring the kids down for a great day of soaring.

Kites over Kingston is just one of a dozen or so happenings this year. Of course the Saturday Farmers Market will be back in full swing this spring. New for us this year will be the Kitsap Arts and Craft festival. This is a three- day event scheduled for July 24‒26. Artists from all over the region will be here displaying their stuff in Mike Wallace Park, at Ed Moon Field and at other venues around town. We can expect any where between 3,000 and 10,000 visitors in town for that event. The Paddle Kitsap kayaking event will stage out of Kingston again this year at the end of July. That event received great reviews from the paddling community and is anticipated to grow in participation each year. Once again we will be hosting the Concerts on the Cove each Saturday in August. The concerts are produced by the Down Town Kingston Association as well. They are still looking for a sponsor or two for some bands. E-mail me if you are interested. I will steer you in the right direction. These concerts are great family events.

We are nearly ready to start construction on a permanent performing arts stage in Mike Wallace Park. After looking at several designs, we picked one that will be a great addition to the port. It will have a covered, elevated stage about 20 by 40 feet in size. If everything goes as planned, the project should be completed before the Fourth of July. We will keep our fingers crossed.

Crossword puzzle time is nearly here and we only need a couple of more words. This month the nautical term is “spurling gate.” When a ship’s anchor is raised up from the bottom, all that chain needs to be stored someplace. The chain is drawn aboard the vessel by the windlass and the chain passes through the foredeck and down to a chain locker. The spurling gate is the passage that the chain goes through to get there. Often there is a safety latch that keeps the chain from paying back out if something in the raising mechanism fails. I am not sure about the origin of the word. But I wonder if there may have been an old tar named Spurling whose duty was to stand in the chain locker and watch the chain pile up. You can only imagine what might have happened to him. So there it is. Next month will bring you the last word in this series of the collection.

I was just informed that Ken Hanson will be the new editor of this publication. Ken is a good friend of mine and has been involved in writing and publishing for many years. He will do a great job for all of us.

Well, it looks as though I am getting close to the edge of the page once again, so until April, hang in there. Spring is just around the corner. As always, thank you for reading this stuff. I hope that I have been able to give you some information you care about.

Pete DeBoer is Commissioner at the Port of Kingston. You can reach him at pete@petedeboer.com.