Now that September is here, our time on San Juan Island is drawing to a close. The people we have been working with this summer will be scattering for the winter. San Juan Island National Historical Park only has a handful of full-time employees. The rest of the folks work here from Memorial Day to Labor Day and then head off to other jobs. But we couldn’t all go without one attempt to get us all together: the All Staff Luncheon.
We gathered for the All Staff Luncheon at the Westcott Bay house. Someone used to live in this house, but now it is used for groups that come to the park. The inside of the house is unimpressive, but there is a big deck outside with benches all around it. Plenty of seating for all the park staff.
We closed the Visitors Centers at American and English Camp for the luncheon so no one had an excuse not to attend. The only staff person missing was David because it was his day off. Other than that, everyone was there: interns, biologists, archaeologists, Youth Conservation Corps, administrative, maintenance, and interpretive staff and volunteers. It was the one and only time all summer that everyone was gathered in one place.
The luncheon was catered by Kings Market: subs, salads, and giant cookies. The food was very good. There was even a cake because two of the staff had birthdays the same day as our luncheon.
We got some NPS swag. They gave out hoodies, hats, and mugs. The hats were several different colors and I ended up with an orange one. It is an unusual color for the NPS.
We took a group picture and then headed our separate directions back to work. Tom and I headed back to English Camp, Johnny and Val back to American Camp, the maintenance people back to the maintenance building, and the administrative staff back to the headquarters in Friday Harbor. I’ve never seen a small park with such disparate sections.
It was good to spend time with all the staff in one place. Elexis Fredy, our superintendent, made sure that all of us felt thanked and appreciated for what we do in the park.