Skagit City, Washington

The Skagit River ( SKAJ-it) is a river in southwestern British Columbia in Canada and northwestern Washington in the United States, approximately 150 mi (240 km) long. The river and its tributaries drain an area of 1.7 million acres (690,000 hectares) of the Cascade Range along the northern end of Puget Sound and flows into the sound.The Skagit watershed is characterized by a temperate, mid-latitude, maritime climate. Temperatures range widely throughout the watershed. Recorded temperatures at Newhalem range from a low of −6 °F (−21 °C) to a high of 109 °F (43 °C), with greater extremes likely in the mountains. The highest temperatures are commonly recorded in July; the lowest are in January.

Fir Island is bounded by North and South Forks of the Skagit River and Skagit Bay of Puget Sound in the southwestern corner of Skagit County, Washington. Triangular in outline, 5.3 miles (8.5 km) east–west by 6.5 miles (10.5 km) north–south with an area of nearly 9,900 acres (40 km2), Fir Island is occupied by 195 families. The island is connected by bridge to the village of Conway, located on the east shore of the South Fork of the Skagit River. A second bridge, across the North Fork of the Skagit River, leads to La Conner, 3.7 miles (6.0 km) northwest. Near the northeast tip of Fir Island is the site of the 19th-century town of Skagit City which declined after upstream log jams were removed in 1877.

Lincoln Theatre is a multi-purpose theatre in Mount Vernon, Washington, United States. The theatre is located at 712 South First St. It was originally constructed in 1926 as a vaudeville and silent movie house, and currently shows movies several days a week, as well as hosting concerts and other activities. The theatre also contains one of only 98 Wurlitzer theatre organs still located in their original installation.

Skagit Station is a multimodal transportation hub in Mount Vernon, Washington, United States served by Amtrak, the US national railroad-passenger system. The facility at 105 East Kincaid Street was built in 2004 to replace the former Amtrak station on 725 College Way, which is currently used by the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railroad. It connects with services provided by Skagit Transit, Whatcom Transportation Authority and Island Transit along with Amtrak and Greyhound. Commuter buses to Everett Station provide onward connection to Sound Transit, Everett Transit and Community Transit services.

Conway is a census-designated place (CDP) in Skagit County, Washington, United States. First settled in 1873 by Thomas P. Jones and Charles Villeneuves, its population was 91 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Mount Vernon–Anacortes, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Mount Vernon is the county seat of Skagit County, Washington, United States. The population was 35,219 at the 2020 census. It is one of two principal cities of and included in the Mount Vernon-Anacortes, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area. Downtown Mount Vernon is known for its annual Tulip Festival Street Fair, which is part of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. The climate of Skagit County is similar to that of Northern France, with millions of tulips grown in the Skagit Valley. In 1998, Mount Vernon was rated the #1 "Best City in America" by the New Rating Guide to Life in America's Small Cities.

Skagit Valley Hospital is a 137-bed public hospital located in Mt. Vernon, in the US State Washington. The hospital operates a level 3 trauma center. Founded in 1958, the hospital was organized as a Public District operating in Skagit Valley Public Hospital District #1. The hospital operates two osteopathic residency programs, in internal medicine and family medicine. The hospital is operated by Skagit Regional Health, which is partnered with the Cascade Valley Hospital in Arlington.

Mount Vernon High School (MVHS) is a high school in Mount Vernon, Washington, located at 1075 E Fulton St. The school was originally known as Mount Vernon Union High School.It is noted for its music program, which has won numerous local awards. It has been pioneered by Omar Ordonez, Daisy Cardona-Kay, and Jacob Scherr. www.mv-music.org.

KAPS (660 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a country music format to the Mount Vernon, Washington, United States, area. The station is owned by J & J Broadcasting, INC and features programming from Westwood One. The signal reaches many parts of Skagit County, as far north as Vancouver, BC, and as far south as Lynnwood and Edmonds at times. KAPS was formerly owned by Totem Broadcasters, Inc. with George B. Aller, owner and President, who sold the station in 1979. It also operates a translator station simulcasting its signal on 102.1 FM, K271AH.

Avon, Washington is an unincorporated community in Skagit County, Washington, along the Skagit River. Its neighboring towns include Mount Vernon and Burlington. Local historians have speculated that Avon is named after Stratford-upon-Avon.The Avon area was developed as a waterfront town and logging and docking area on the West side of the Skagit River. The place of the original waterfront area is East of Bennett road and South of Avon St. Before 1879, two log jams East of Mount Vernon blocked the Skagit River further West. Along the docking area, Western Red cedar were cut down, harvested for shingle bolts. After the logging, the land was cleared and Avon became a town. Early homesteaders of the area were Thomas McCain in 1876 and Charles Conrad in 1881. Arthur Henry Skaling opened a store October 27, 1883, on land he purchased from W.H. Miller who had settled there the year before. According to early resident Ada Hall, W.H. Miller settled this property in 1874 and built the first house there. Soon Avon had a shingle mill, a post office, a boat builder, several stores, an implement company, a newspaper (The Avon Record), a restaurant, a hotel, a barber shop, stage line and two milliners. Methodists organized a church in 1884, and built the present building dates to 1887 with Rev. Moore giving the dedicatory service. Rev. Vroman was the first regular preacher. The church was originally much closer to the river on the Eastern section of what is now called Avon St. It was moved around 1920 to its present location. By 1889 the population reached 500.The Avon school was at the SW corner of Avon Allen road and Bennett road. It was built in 1892 and the gymnasium structure is still there. There was also an IOOF Hall built in 1891 and stood at the SE corner of the town, which is now where Bennett road makes a curve to the West. This building is no longer there. In 1906, the Avon Post Office was closed and transferred to Mount Vernon. After the flooding of 1909 many of the waterfront buildings were moved away from the river to be protected by the newly constructed dike. As the importance of waterways for transportation and industry decreased, and the use of rail and autos increased, the waterfront town of Avon slowly ceased to be a town and became a quiet residential community. Most of the original buildings are no longer there except for a few homes built before 1900, the school gymnasium, and the Methodist church.

The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is a tulip festival in the Skagit Valley of Washington state, United States. It is held annually in the spring, April 1 to April 30.

On May 23, 2013, at approximately 7:00 pm PDT, a span of the bridge carrying Interstate 5 over the Skagit River in the U.S. state of Washington collapsed. Three people in two different vehicles fell into the river below and were rescued by boat, escaping serious injury. The cause of the catastrophic failure was determined to be an oversize load striking several of the bridge's overhead support beams, leading to an immediate collapse of the northernmost span.The through-truss bridge was built in 1955 and connects the Skagit County cities of Mount Vernon and Burlington, providing a vital link between Vancouver, British Columbia and Seattle. It consists of four consecutive spans that are structurally independent. Only the northernmost span collapsed into the river; the adjacent span also sustained impact damage from the same vehicle, but not severe enough to result in a collapse. The overhead support structure was known to have been struck by a truck as recently as October 2012. Not long before the accident, the bridge had been evaluated as safe. Although not structurally deficient, it was considered "functionally obsolete", meaning it did not meet current design standards. The bridge's design was "fracture-critical," meaning that it did not have redundant structural members to protect its structural integrity in the event of a failure of one of the bridge's support members. Within a month of the collapse, two temporary bridges were erected and placed on the failed span's support columns while the permanent bridge was built. In September 2013, the permanent bridges were installed and work began to prevent similar failures of the remaining three spans.