Some people call it a steamboat town, and other people call it a tugboat town. Some say it’s an artist community. Some say it’s agricultural. It’s definitely historical. It’s the beautiful community of La Conner.
Some people call it an agricultural town and it certainly was the connection between Skagit Valley agriculture and the steamboats that plied these waters in the early days, taking the products to Seattle and even as far as San Francisco and Portland.
Some people call it a community only known for its artists. It certainly was that, as well. Some of Washington state’s most famous artists were highlighted in a Life magazine article in 1953. Morris Graves, Ken Callahan, Guy Anderson… A number of folks were recognized worldwide—all of them had lived or worked here in La Conner.
The Rainbow Bridge in La Conner is a really interesting story. As the bridge was being completed, it was painted a base color of orange-ish red, and the people of this town loved it so much they said we don’t want a green bridge. Even though state law says every bridge has to be green, these folks said, uh, uh. We don’t want that. The fight went on for months and months. Finally, the state of Washington backed down and the La Conner got their orange-ish, reddish Rainbow Bridge.
La Conner is a beautiful community. It’s a wonderful place to visit. It is truly one of my favorite places.
TVW is local programming offering coverage of Washington State government, politics and public policy. TVW also offers “My Favorite Places” with Ralph Munro, former Secretary of State. In these video diaries, Munro traveled through some of Washington’s most iconic and interesting places. To view the original video of Ralph Munro’s program about La Conner along with videos of his other favorite places, click this link to My Favorite Places.
