I would like to address the recent “dramatics” that have taken place in Indianola. There seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding by a few new residents in town as to what our community is all about. When I talk about new residents, I mean people who moved here in the last few years, obviously misunderstanding what life here was going to be like.

See, Indianola is not, and never has been, a retirement community. I personally am the middle of three generations currently living here; my kids are the fifth generation of my family in this town. My grandma owned and operated the Beachcomber for a while. My great-grandma helped start the garden club. My great-uncle was one of the very first port commissioners. My dad and stepmom headed up fundraising for the Bloedel property. And they all understood their volunteer responsibilities to the community and didn’t push personal agendas, or try to change the community.

But the folks coming here now, who didn’t grow up here, who drove through once and thought it looked nice, or who had dinner at a house on the spit and enjoyed the peace and quiet, they don’t get it. They misunderstood, or maybe didn’t care, what Indianola was all about. And I’ll tell you now, Indianola is about the kids. It’s a great, safe, natural adventure for kids and just about the best place to grow up, whether it’s year-round or just during the summer. And when you spend time here as a kid, something happens to you. It gets in your bones and becomes Never Never Land, and pretty soon you are 30 and moving back to start a family here yourself because there’s nowhere else in the world you would want your own kids to be. I can only speak for myself and my family, but there are other families in town with more historical backgrounds than mine who are disregarded by these new people, like our foundation shouldn’t affect our future.

To these new people: Shame on you. You know who you are. People who think we should gate the beach, close the dock, call the cops, and grow up already. I feel bad for you, having not been lucky enough to be raised in a place like this, and not know fun, or maybe just having forgotten all about it. But the spirit of this community can’t be broken quite as easily as you thought. Once again, you didn’t do your research until it was too late.

And now you shout at us in town, about how we don’t come to every port meeting, and how we don’t volunteer our time. Well, most of us still work and don’t have the luxury of abusing the open tables at the Store by spending hours upon end there drinking coffee and plotting. I work full time, commute to Seattle every day, have two kids under age 5. I volunteer for kids activities, beach cleanups and, most notably, my sister and I have been the chairmen of Indianola Days for the past four years. We spend countless hours, round up volunteers and pay out of pocket for supplies for all of the activities. We are often thanked on the street by our peers but this year have been completely ignored by the IBIC in terms of recognition for our help. But there’s no shortage of volunteerism from my family, or by other old families in town.

So just because we haven’t jumped on board with your newfangled ideas, or gone to baked potato night, or supported port commissioners who can’t form independent thoughts and act as puppets for a group of grouchy old men … I have news for you. We are paying attention now. You have broken our trust in a way that we will not forget nor ignore. We are going to be so far up in your business you will wish you had stayed in California.

It’s not about a dock. It’s not about one person. It’s about our history, our future and our kids, and how we have enjoyed an existence for 100 years that we don’t intend for a second to be disrupted by the likes of you.

See you at the next meeting.

Kelsey Reckord Hanson
Indianola