Fall is officially in the air and sometimes that air seems to be moving pretty briskly. I do enjoy the colors as the leaves change indicating another winter is on the way. Down at the port, we are putting things away for the season and doing all of the right things in our garden areas to make sure that when spring arrives it will happen in full boom.

We sent Kori Henry and Ray Carpenter of our port staff over to the Bellevue Botanical Gardens for a class in sculpting with holiday lights. They are creating some very interesting shapes that will be on display around the port this Christmas season.

If you are interested in learning this neat creative activity, contact Kori at the port (360) 297-3545 and she would be happy to show you the technique. We would also like to recruit a few volunteers to help make some of the displays that will be illuminated down at the port this winter.

After all of the great projects we accomplished in the past couple of years, the next phase will not be nearly as visible. The docks in the marina are approaching that 25-year-old mid-life point and we need to upgrade and repair a few things. So over the next 24 or so months, electricians, carpenters and other trades will be around the marina fixing things to bring them up to current codes and safety standards.

I have heard that after the great success of the 2009 Concerts on the Cove that the organizers are hoping to expand the party so that we have some kind of entertainment on the stage every Saturday in July and August.

By the time you are reading this, the trail to the North Beach should be back in service. Sea Level Construction has done a great job of repairing the rock revetment along the ferry exit lanes. If rocks can be pretty, I think that the new high altitude granite looks a lot better than those old black basalt boulders they took away.

It’s too bad that the beach closure had to happen while the sun was still shining but the result gives us a much safer trail to the beach and will protect the ferry landing from erosion for years to come. Thanks for your patience and understanding. I know that there are a lot of canine buddies who missed daily Frisbee and stick chasing adventures.

The Downtown Kingston Association and the booster clubs from Kingston High School sure went all out to provide our students and athletes with first class homecoming event. Even the weather man cooperated by providing half a day of dryness so that the pep rally and street dance in the port parking lot and event tent. I’m not too sure what the pie throwing was all about but it looked like fun.

Various member of the port staff were recently recertified on basic first aid techniques, CPR and use of our defibrillator. It is good to know that we have these capable people on the port property all of the time.

The old Gator vehicle that the volunteer water brigade uses to attend to the summer flower baskets finally bit the dust. We were going to replace the motor in it but found that a whole new one could be bought for the price of a new motor. So we have a new one and we will repair the old one and use it as long as it is serviceable.

That’s about it for this month. I hope you found something interesting here. Next month I will bring you another passenger ferry update. Until then, thanks for reading this stuff and I will be seeing you around town.

Pete DeBoer is a Port of Kingston Commissioner. He can be reached at pete@petedeboer.com.