Our Town

(Airdate: July 13, 2021) Our Town host Maryanne McNellis interviews Marc Hilt, owner of Shining Star Cycles, a mobile bike repair business. Marc’s passion is bikes, particularly racing bikes. He raced for years, setting some national records. But winning races is pretty much a youngster’s game, so Marc played it forward. His passion became his career. He had a bike shop but figured out a fairly unique niche. Mobile bike service is a concept that’s pretty big in Europe but relatively new in the USA. Sparsely populated Jefferson County seemed like a good place to test the concept. So if you need your bike serviced or repaired Marc will come to you in his fully loaded (with bike parts) van. He also positions that van near the Olympic Discovery Trail so locals and tourists can have their bikes serviced before heading out on that spectacular ride. After all, there are no bike shops west of Port Angeles. We all know that good jobs are fairly scarce around here. But Marc’s a home town boy who has managed to create a business he loves.

(Airdate: June 29, 2021) Our Town host Maryanne McNellis interviews Charles Garland, manager of the Verizon store in Port Townsend. Charles was a restless kid with no particular career in mind. So he joined the Marines right out of high school thinking that it would broaden his horizons and perhaps see the world. But he was assigned to Bangor, right here in the Pacific Northwest. On his first off-duty weekend he took the ferry to Canada with a group of guys. There was a girl on board. She’s now his ex-wife. Even though the marriage broke up, Charles is firmly rooted in the Pacific Northwest. He’s worked at a variety of jobs over the years. But he sees sales as his calling. He’s been with Verizon for a relatively short period of time. That story also involves a girl – she’s now his fiancé and lives in Port Townsend.

(Airdate: June 15, 2021) Our Town host Maryanne McNellis interviews Ian Plagmann, founder of Greener Groundskeeping, an innovative gardening company. Ian uses a bike to carry all of his equipment from site to site. His haul includes lawnmower, leaf blower, edger and any number of all-electric gardening tools. His bike is indeed a sight to behold. It started out as a three-person tandem bike. But it has been modified carefully, balancing multiple engine weights to keep the bike’s delicate balance. The frame is the size of a mid-sized sedan. The goal of Greener Groundskeeping is simple: a zero emission gardening company. It’s an ambitious goal, but one he sees as a crucial component of climate reform.

(Airdate: June 1, 2021) Our Town host Maryanne McNellis interviews Melanie Bakin, a graduating senior at Port Townsend High School. High school was going smoothly for Melanie – she was even going to be dancing in the student production of “Fiddler on the Roof.” But the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled that production. In fact, it cancelled all in-person classes, sports and other student activities for the better part of the academic year. But the high school is now inching toward a complete reopening. The junior/senior prom was a smash hit, even though it was held outside on the tennis courts with various social distancing protocols in place. The class of 2020 wasn’t so lucky. Now Melanie and her classmates are excited about getting on with their lives and are pondering that age-old question: “what next?”

(Airdate: May 18, 2021) KPTZ 10TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL. In tribute to long-time producer/engineer John MacPherson, Maryanne McNellis and Larry Stein have put together “Best of” clips of various episodes of Our Town, which has aired for over 8 years on KPTZ.

(April 20, 2021) LOCAL GIRL AMID THE ROSES & DEER. Our Town host Maryanne McNellis interviews Katy Buckham, manager of Secret Gardens Nursery in Port Townsend. Katy’s a third generation Port Townsend girl. She put in a brief stint in Seattle, getting the big city itch out of her system. But she returned to the gentle pace of Jefferson County. She was a cook and barista at many local hot spots, including the late lamented Sweet Laurette’s (where she met her husband). But in the end her passion for the earth won. She found her niche at Secret Gardens, caring for living plants and administering advice to local gardeners. The pandemic created a lot of novice gardeners. But Katy says the number one question from both novice and veteran gardeners is the same: what can I do about the deer eating my garden?

(Airdate: April 6, 2021) DANIEL EVANS: BOSS SAYS SUMMER RACES ARE ON! Our Town host Maryanne McNellis interviews Daniel Evans, Race Boss for the Northwest Maritime Center. It looks like our beloved R2AK (Race to Alaska) is cancelled again due to the pandemic. But here’s the good news: two other summer races look like they are happening! The Seventy/48, the human-powered race between Tacoma and Port Townsend, will start on June 4. That’s 70 miles in 48 hours. And there’s a new race too. The Washington/360 will cover 360 miles of all Washington state waters in an engine-less race. Right now its unclear how much on-shore partying will happen around the races. But the Maritime Center has an elaborate online system where you can track the boats (and Stand-up Paddle boards) in real time, 24/7.

(Airdate: March 23, 2021) CONSIDER THE KIDS. Our Town host Maryanne McNellis interviews Sandra Gessner-Crabtree who is steering the Port Townsend School District through the treacherous pandemic. As Superintendent, Sandy has walked a tightrope — listening to the pleas from parents and students while simultaneously trying to follow state and CDC guidelines. The stress has been tremendous. It remains to be seen whether a year of “distanced” learning has hurt our kids. Some seem to be sailing through it, while others are floundering. At this point in time we are poised to open more doors. Sports are beginning with condensed seasons. Teachers are being vaccinated. What does the 2021-2022 academic year look like?

(Airdate: March 8, 2021) FUNERALS IN THE TIME OF COVID. Our Town host Maryanne McNellis interviews Lee McKinstry who has joined owner Real Robles at the Kosec Funeral Home in Port Townsend. McKinstry thought she might become a marine biologist. But after a stint in the Peace Corps she realized she really wanted to help people. She was fascinated by cultural rituals around death. It’s not a career for everyone, but she found her niche helping families through the grieving process. Today there is a renewed interest in the old-fashioned concept of “preplanning” your own funeral or cremation. After decisions are made, Kosec opens a trust account. The fact that it’s paid for relieves some of the strain on survivors. Kosec can arrange traditional burials with church or graveside services, working with religious leaders of all types. Cremation is also extremely popular in the Pacific Northwest. Given our maritime heritage, there’s a lot of interest in scattering ashes at sea. Among the many options are biodegradable containers, designed to do little or no harm to the environment.

(First airdate: February 23, 2021) HANS FREDERICKSON: REDUCING CARBON FOOTPRINTS. Our Town host Maryanne McNellis interviews Hans Fredrickson, owner of Frederickson Electric. After taking over the business from his father, Hans saw new opportunities for the company. Frederickson still does a healthy business with new construction, repairs, and remodels. But recent years have seen tremendous growth in installing solar arrays, new heat pumps, and charging stations for electric cars. Despite our gloomy winters, our long sunny summer days make solar power economically attractive to homeowners and developers. Heat pumps can also drastically cut power consumption. Stanford-educated Hans is an ardent environmentalist. He wants to help his customers reduce their carbon footprints to keep the Pacific Northwest as pristine as possible.