“The chamber map centered on downtown but also provided information about uptown and Sims Way, which includes craft beer servers Port Townsend Brewing and the Pourhouse.”
“No one from the Navy showed up at either location Monday, according to employees.”
“It was slower than usual for a Monday night,” said a Pourhouse bartender who identified herself as Sarah P.
“I think a lot of people stayed home because they expected there would be a lot of sailors here.”
“I can’t afford to do that again because that was a total loss,” Silverwater Cafe co-owner Alison Hero said Tuesday after not a single sailor came in Monday evening. “We had made a ton of extra food. We were staffed up as if it were going to be a Wooden Boat Festival weekend. I think our normal clientele stayed home because they thought there would be 1,000 sailors downtown.”
“It’s usually a lot busier,” Pourhouse bartender Sarah P. said at about 8 p.m. Monday, looking around at a mostly empty house. “I guess people got scared off.”
It might be fair to say that Port Townsend shopkeepers were led to believe that large crowds of sailors were on the way. The USS Stennis is home ported in Bremerton- a reasonable driving distance from Port Townsend. If the town had a good reputation as a nightlife destination for young sailors to get away to- the word could have already been spread about the ship.
At Fort Flagler this past weekend- all vehicles had to wait in the camping registration line to show the pass they had already purchased.
I submitted a comment on this website (click twice to enlarge)
My comment:
“No delays or waiting in line for those who have a valid Discover Pass?
Not at Fort Flagler this past weekend- all vehicles had to wait in the camping registration line to show the pass they had already purchased.”
The comment was never posted/was screened out by moderators. 24 hours later the page was removed. The page was edited and reposted here.
Old policy-
People who need to register to camp must stop at the guard shack to sign in & pay.
People who are in the middle of their camping stay & people who have already purchased a valid daytime parking pass use the lane provided to bypass the cars waiting in line to register.
New policy?
Went to visit the park this afternoon- two orange cones were in place blocking off the lane normally used to bypass the camping registration procedure.
Several cars were waiting in the registration line when we arrived. Two or three cars showed up after us to wait in line. A large RV up front went through the complete registration process- was provided with campground maps, rules, etc. Looked like a friendly and unhurried check-in procedure.
The drivers of several cars lost patience and drove around the cones. I decided to wait the 5 or 10 minutes to ask what the new proceedure was all about. I got to the front of the line and found out that all visitors were being stopped on a busy summer afternoon and asked to show papers.
I have purchased a State Parks day use pass every year they have been available over the past 10 years or so. Never, before today, have I been stopped at an entrance checkpoint to wait in line to show the pass. Looks like purchasing the pass now means waiting behind others who have showed up to camp for a few days & those who still need to buy a pass- sort of like checking into a motel room- going out to dinner- then returning to stand in line again at the motel desk to prove you have already checked in.
Only a portion of Fort Flagler has access controlled by a guard shack. None of Fort Worden is controlled by a checkpoint, so people can find other ways to enter park property if they want to.
When the Discover Pass was introduced- it did not seem to be required for a short bathroom break:
Looks like part of your 15 minutes will now be used waiting in line to explain yourself at the checkpoint?
Maybe the parks are short on staff to check parked cars for valid permits. Maybe they’ll use funds from the new pass to hire more pass checkers and set up new guard shacks and compliance checkpoints.
Suggestion- when the cones are blocking the bypass lane at the park entrance- wait in line to enter the park, then park at the guard shack- holding up traffic.
Don’t leave until a supervisor comes down to explain the new policy.
