Tygart Media

Author: Will Tygart

  • Everett Public Schools Summer 2026: Your Complete Guide to Summer Academy, Career Link, and What to Register For Now

    Everett Public Schools Summer 2026: Your Complete Guide to Summer Academy, Career Link, and What to Register For Now

    Everett Public Schools Summer 2026: Your Complete Guide to What’s Available, What’s Free, and What to Register For Right Now

    **What summer learning programs does Everett Public Schools offer in 2026?**

    Everett Public Schools runs four primary summer programs in 2026: the High School Summer Academy (July 6–24 in-person at Eisenhower Middle School; June 22–July 30 online), the Everett Ready kindergarten transition program in August, i-Ready online academic support for K–8 students, and Middle School Summer Programming for foundational skills. Most in-district programs are free. Online high school courses carry a tuition of $350 per half credit for in-district students.

    School is still in session, but summer 2026 is already underway in one sense: Everett Public Schools opened registration for its summer programs back on March 9, and for some of them — including the Everett Career Link paid internship program — the window is already closed. If you have an EPS student and haven’t looked at this yet, now is the moment.

    Here’s what’s available, who it’s for, and what it costs.

    High School Summer Academy: Credit Recovery, Acceleration, and Real Support

    The anchor program for EPS high schoolers is the High School Summer Academy, which runs two tracks:

    In-person track: Classes run July 6–July 24, 2026, held at Eisenhower Middle School. These are primarily credit recovery courses — designed for students who need to retake a course or pick up a credit they’re short on before the next school year. In-district students pay no tuition for in-person credit recovery. Support is available for Multilingual Learners and students with IEPs.

    Online track: Classes run June 22–July 30, 2026. These include both credit recovery and acceleration options. Tuition is $350 per half (0.5) credit for in-district students; $450 per half credit for out-of-district students. Online courses are scheduled for students who want to get ahead or who have scheduling conflicts with the in-person session.

    Both tracks include practical support: free breakfast and lunch are provided for all students in in-person sessions, and transportation is available from several pick-up sites across the district. For families managing complicated summer schedules, that combination of free meals and provided transportation removes two of the most common barriers to actually showing up.

    The Summer Academy is the district’s primary mechanism for keeping students on track for graduation — and for Cascade High students working toward IB requirements or other multi-year academic pathways, it’s also a tool for strategic course completion. If your student needs a specific credit before September, this is the fastest path to getting it done.

    Middle School Summer Programming: Building the Foundation Early

    EPS also runs Middle School Summer Programming designed to support students who need to solidify foundational academic skills before the next year begins, as well as students who want to accelerate into more advanced coursework.

    This is worth paying attention to: middle school is when academic trajectories often set in ways that follow students into high school. Students who enter 9th grade with a strong foundation in math and literacy are statistically better positioned for the four years ahead. EPS’s middle school summer option exists precisely to help students get to that starting line in better shape.

    Details on specific middle school session dates and locations should be confirmed directly at everettsd.org/summeropportunities, as enrollment and scheduling are managed through the district’s main summer hub.

    Everett Ready: Kindergarten Is Closer Than You Think

    For families with children entering kindergarten in fall 2026, EPS runs the Everett Ready transition program in August. This program is designed to help incoming kindergartners build confidence, develop familiarity with the school environment, and practice the routines that make the first weeks of school go more smoothly — for kids and parents alike.

    If you have a child who has never been in a structured school setting, or one who is anxious about the transition, Everett Ready is a low-pressure way to make the start of kindergarten feel less like a leap. The program runs before the school year begins, which means students arrive in September having already met teachers, seen their classroom, and practiced the basics.

    This one is first-come, first-served in terms of interest — if you haven’t reached out to your elementary school about Everett Ready, do it soon.

    i-Ready: The Online Tool That Works All Summer

    For students in kindergarten through 8th grade, EPS uses i-Ready as an online learning platform that supports continued academic progress through the summer. i-Ready is an adaptive tool — meaning it adjusts to each student’s level — and it works in both math and reading.

    This is not an assigned summer homework load. i-Ready works best when students are using it consistently, even briefly, to keep skills activated over a summer that can otherwise function as a long academic reset. The data on summer learning loss is real: students who don’t practice over a long break often start September behind where they finished June. i-Ready is the district’s lightweight, low-friction response to that problem.

    If your student has an EPS login, they should already have access to i-Ready. If you’re not sure how to access it, your student’s school can confirm credentials.

    Everett Career Link: One to Watch for 2027

    Everett Career Link is EPS’s partnership program with Snohomish STEM, the City of Everett, and regional employers that places students in real workplace environments — learning what a specific job actually looks like, building professional skills, and earning high school credit in the process. Think of it as a structured paid or credit-bearing internship program designed for high schoolers before they graduate.

    Summer 2026 registration for Career Link is now closed. The window for Summer 2027 opens in January of next school year. If you have a high schooler who is career-curious — especially one interested in aerospace, healthcare, public administration, or manufacturing — Career Link is worth flagging now so you don’t miss the January window. The program fills up.

    Why Summer Learning Matters for EPS Students This Year

    Summer 2026 arrives with some specific context for EPS families. The district is in the middle of a platform transition — Naviance is being replaced by SchooLinks as the state’s mandated college and career planning tool, with the change taking effect September 2026. Students who use Career Link, Summer Academy, or any EPS college-prep pathway this summer will be among the first to navigate that transition on the new platform.

    Everett Public Schools’ graduation rate reached a record 96.3 percent in 2025, and Cascade High hit 96.6 percent specifically — numbers that reflect a district genuinely committed to getting students across the finish line. The summer programs are part of the same infrastructure: they exist because the district has decided that summer is not a gap to manage around but a resource to use.

    You can review the full suite of summer options at everettsd.org/summeropportunities.

    Frequently Asked Questions About EPS Summer 2026

    When does the High School Summer Academy run in 2026?

    In-person sessions run July 6–July 24, 2026 at Eisenhower Middle School. Online sessions run June 22–July 30, 2026.

    Is the High School Summer Academy free?

    In-person credit recovery is free for in-district students. Online courses are tuition-based: $350 per half credit for in-district students and $450 per half credit for out-of-district students. Free breakfast and lunch are provided during in-person sessions.

    What is Everett Career Link?

    Everett Career Link is a partnership between Everett Public Schools, Snohomish STEM, the City of Everett, and regional employers that places high school students in real work environments for experiential learning and high school credit. Summer 2026 registration is closed; Summer 2027 registration opens in January.

    What is Everett Ready?

    Everett Ready is an August transition program for students entering kindergarten in the fall. It familiarizes children with school routines, their classroom, and their teachers before the school year begins.

    What is i-Ready?

    i-Ready is an adaptive online learning platform for EPS students in grades K–8 that supports summer reading and math practice. Students with active EPS logins can access it independently over the summer.

    Where can I find all EPS summer program details?

    The official hub for all Everett Public Schools summer programs is everettsd.org/summeropportunities, which is updated as sessions approach.

  • Power in Unity: Casino Road’s Diverse Communities Come Into Focus During AAPI Heritage Month 2026

    Power in Unity: Casino Road’s Diverse Communities Come Into Focus During AAPI Heritage Month 2026

    Power in Unity: Casino Road’s Diverse Communities Come Into Focus During AAPI Heritage Month 2026

    **What communities make up Casino Road in South Everett?**

    Casino Road is one of South Everett’s most culturally diverse corridors, home to significant Vietnamese, Cambodian, Filipino, and other Pacific Islander and immigrant communities. During May’s Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, those communities and the organizations that serve them offer a template for what “power in unity” actually looks like in a working-class neighborhood.

    May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month — and this year’s national theme, “Power in Unity: Strengthening Communities Together,” reads like it was written with Casino Road in mind.

    South Everett’s Casino Road corridor has never been a neighborhood that waits for outside recognition to celebrate its own strength. It does that continuously, through the restaurants, cultural organizations, faith communities, and neighbors who have built a genuine place here over decades. But Heritage Month is worth pausing to mark, because the communities along Casino Road reflect exactly what the theme describes: a corridor where different cultural communities share space, share resources, and have built a collective infrastructure of mutual support that outsiders rarely see clearly.

    Who Lives on Casino Road

    The Casino Road neighborhood in South Everett has one of the highest concentrations of immigrant and refugee families in Snohomish County, with approximately 25 percent of residents being first-generation immigrants according to community planning documents on file with the City of Everett. The community includes significant Vietnamese, Cambodian, Filipino, and other Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander populations, alongside Mexican, East African, and other communities who have made this stretch of Everett home.

    That diversity doesn’t exist in silos. What’s distinctive about Casino Road is that the communities here have overlapping needs, overlapping institutions, and a growing tradition of showing up for each other across cultural lines. That’s the “unity” part of this month’s theme made concrete.

    The Village on Casino Road: Where Community Actually Gathers

    At the center of Casino Road’s community infrastructure is The Village on Casino Road, operated in collaboration with ChildStrive and the Connect Casino Road initiative. The Village’s history on this block is long — it traces back to 1963 and the founding of the Little Red School House, which expanded operations to Everett in 1988. ChildStrive purchased the building in 1998, and beginning in January 2019 the Community Foundation of Snohomish County began leasing the facility to develop it as a community hub.

    Construction happened in two phases: Phase 1 in August 2019, Phase 2 beginning that November, with the full hub opening in March 2020.

    Today, The Village brings together more than two dozen community organizations to deliver services that the neighborhood’s most vulnerable residents need most. On Tuesdays, the space hosts fun activities and playful learning for families. On Fridays, ChildStrive runs early childhood programming for families with children aged 0 to 5. The regular programming roster also includes:

    • **Free ESL classes for adults**, taught by Everett Community College professors, with infants welcome in the classroom with their caregivers
    • **Free primary care health clinics** for low-income and uninsured adults
    • **Apple Health and health insurance enrollment assistance** for residents navigating the benefits system
    • **An onsite advocate** for survivors of intimate partner violence, with connections to protection orders and referral services
    • **Community event space** for cultural celebrations, neighborhood meetings, and organizational gatherings

    The Village is not a single-purpose building. It’s a gathering point — one where an ESL student in the morning might share the hallway with a family at a health clinic and a neighborhood group holding a planning session in the evening. That overlap is intentional and, over time, community-building in the most practical sense of the term.

    Connect Casino Road: 15+ Partners, One Corridor

    The Village operates within a larger collaborative called Connect Casino Road, which unites more than 15 private and public sector partners around a common goal: creating a safe, welcoming community for Casino Road families, addressing economic mobility in one of South Everett’s highest-need areas, and reducing the displacement pressure that has intensified as light rail development and broader Snohomish County growth reshape the neighborhood’s long-term geography.

    The Connect Casino Road partnership recognizes what any long-time resident of the corridor already knows: this is a high-need area not because of something broken in its residents, but because of decades of underinvestment in the infrastructure — physical, institutional, and economic — that other Everett neighborhoods have taken for granted.

    Heritage Month is a useful moment to name that work explicitly: the organizations operating along Casino Road are doing real things, for real people, with limited resources and consistent commitment.

    AAPI Heritage Month 2026: The Theme and What It Means Here

    The 2026 national AAPI Heritage Month theme — “Power in Unity: Strengthening Communities Together” — was selected to honor the history of collective action within AAPI communities across the United States, and to highlight the role that coalition-building plays in community resilience.

    On Casino Road, that theme is not abstract. It’s the EvCC professor teaching English to a Vietnamese grandmother in the same Village space where a Cambodian family is attending a health clinic. It’s the Filipino community members sharing resources with Mexican neighbors through mutual aid networks. It’s the nonprofit staff and city planners and faith leaders who have committed, over years, to treating Casino Road as a neighborhood worth investing in rather than a problem to manage.

    The AAPI communities along Casino Road — Vietnamese, Cambodian, Filipino, and others — have anchored this corridor’s cultural life for decades. Their restaurants, markets, and faith communities are woven into the everyday texture of South Everett in ways that go far beyond being photographed for a Heritage Month social post. They are the neighborhood.

    How to Engage With Casino Road This Month

    If you’ve never made Casino Road a destination, May is a good month to change that.

    The food alone — Vietnamese pho, Cambodian dishes, Filipino bakeries, Mexican home cooking — represents a concentration of culinary culture that Everett as a whole benefits from having. The FOOD desk at Exploring Everett has covered several of these restaurants individually, and the corridor rewards its own exploration.

    Beyond food: The Village on Casino Road is a public resource, and Connect Casino Road’s work is ongoing. Learning what these organizations do, attending a community event if you’re in a position to, or simply patronizing the businesses along Casino Road with the same enthusiasm you’d bring to a waterfront restaurant is itself a form of participation in Heritage Month.

    South Everett’s Casino Road community doesn’t need validation from the rest of the city. But recognition, attention, and economic participation from neighbors across Everett — that’s something every community can use more of. This month offers a specific reason to show up.

    Frequently Asked Questions About Casino Road’s Community

    What cultural communities live along Casino Road in Everett?

    Casino Road has significant Vietnamese, Cambodian, Filipino, and other Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander communities, alongside Mexican, East African, and other immigrant populations. Approximately 25% of residents are first-generation immigrants.

    What is The Village on Casino Road?

    The Village is a community hub operated in collaboration with ChildStrive and the Connect Casino Road initiative. It offers ESL classes, health clinics, Apple Health enrollment help, family programming, and community event space, bringing together more than two dozen service organizations.

    What is AAPI Heritage Month and when is it?

    Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is observed every May. The 2026 national theme is “Power in Unity: Strengthening Communities Together.”

    What is Connect Casino Road?

    Connect Casino Road is a collaborative of more than 15 local public and private partners working to support families, address economic mobility, and reduce displacement pressure in the Casino Road corridor of South Everett.

    How long has ChildStrive been serving Casino Road?

    ChildStrive’s history on this corridor traces to 1963, with the Little Red School House. ChildStrive purchased the current building in 1998. The full community hub opened in March 2020 following a two-phase construction process.

    Why does Casino Road matter to Everett?

    Casino Road represents one of the most culturally diverse and economically active corridors in Snohomish County. The communities here have built real institutional infrastructure for mutual support. Engaging with Casino Road is engaging with a meaningful part of what makes Everett a genuinely diverse city.

  • Living in Evergreen: South Everett’s Pine-Lined Neighborhood Where Good Schools, Parks, and Everyday Convenience Come Together

    Living in Evergreen: South Everett’s Pine-Lined Neighborhood Where Good Schools, Parks, and Everyday Convenience Come Together

    Living in Evergreen: South Everett’s Pine-Lined Neighborhood Where Good Schools, Walkable Parks, and Everyday Convenience Actually Come Together

    **What is the Evergreen neighborhood in Everett, WA?**

    Evergreen is a south Everett neighborhood of nearly 5,000 residents known for its tree-lined streets, all-ages school pipeline from Madison Elementary through Cascade High, and a commercial corridor along Evergreen Way that puts everyday errands within easy reach. It is one of the few south Everett neighborhoods where walkability, park access, and schools all land in the same zip code.

    Drive south from downtown Everett on Broadway or Evergreen Way and the skyline shifts. The density of the urban core gives way to split-level homes set back from the road, pine trees rising above rooflines, and the particular quiet of a neighborhood that has been doing its job — housing working families within reach of everything — for decades. That neighborhood is Evergreen, and it’s one of the most consistently livable places in south Everett that doesn’t get nearly enough credit for it.

    Evergreen was established as a formal city neighborhood association in late 2004, with assistance from the City of Everett’s Office of Neighborhoods. But the community itself is much older than that — Evergreen Way has been the working commercial backbone of south Everett since long before anyone was holding neighborhood association meetings, and the schools that anchor it have been in place since 1958 when Evergreen Middle School first opened its doors.

    Where Evergreen Is and What It Feels Like

    Evergreen sits in the southern reaches of Everett, roughly 5 miles from downtown and approximately 30 miles from downtown Seattle. The neighborhood is bounded by major corridors and transitions naturally into adjacent areas including Twin Creeks to the south and Westmont-Holly to the west. Evergreen Way is the spine — a 5-mile commercial stretch that runs directly into downtown, lined with restaurants, Fred Meyer, Safeway, QFC, and the kind of corner stores that carry actual produce and spices for a genuinely diverse customer base.

    The residential streets branch off Evergreen Way into cul-de-sacs and quieter side streets. The housing stock is predominantly condos, split-level homes, ramblers, and traditional single-family homes — the kind of mix that attracts first-time buyers who want more space than an apartment but aren’t ready for a new-construction price tag. The median sale price for homes in Evergreen over the last 12 months sits at approximately $530,000, down about 5% from the prior year, and homes have been moving in roughly 33 days on average — significantly faster than the national average of 54 days. That combination of relative affordability by Everett standards and faster-than-average sales velocity tells you something real: people who find Evergreen make up their minds quickly.

    The School Pipeline That Actually Works

    One of Evergreen’s defining characteristics is that the entire K–12 pipeline runs through or near the neighborhood, and all three schools hold a solid grade.

    Madison Elementary feeds into Evergreen Middle School, which feeds into Cascade High School — and all three earn a B grade from Niche. What’s notable is that all three campuses are within walking distance of each other, which is genuinely unusual in a city Everett’s size. For families with kids across different grade levels, that concentration matters.

    Evergreen Middle School has been part of the neighborhood’s identity since it opened in 1958 and was fully remodeled in 1999. Cascade High School, meanwhile, has built a strong reputation for its robotics team, which has grown steadily in membership and actively competes at the regional level. Cascade also offers the International Baccalaureate program — one of the few public high schools in Snohomish County to do so — making it a destination school even for families outside the immediate attendance boundary.

    For parents of older students weighing career pathways, Everett Public Schools’ High School Summer Academy runs at Eisenhower Middle School each July, and Everett Career Link — a partnership between EPS, Snohomish STEM, the City of Everett, and regional employers — offers real-world job experience for high schoolers who want to start building a résumé before graduation.

    Phil Johnson Ballfields: The Park That Got a Real Upgrade

    If there’s one park that defines outdoor life in Evergreen, it’s Phil Johnson Ballfields at 400 Sievers Duecy Boulevard. The 13-acre facility includes four softball and baseball diamonds configured to also fit four soccer fields for youth leagues, a playground, picnic tables, and restrooms — and it was transformed by a $4.65 million renovation that made it one of Snohomish County’s most accessible athletic facilities.

    The renovation added artificial turf, adaptive markings designed for physically and developmentally disabled children, and improvements that make it significantly easier for wheelchair users to access the playground and playing surfaces. It’s one of those upgrades that doesn’t make headlines but changes daily life for families who show up on Saturday mornings. Youth sports leagues run throughout the spring and summer, and the field lighting means the facility stays usable well into the evening.

    The Commercial Corridor: What “Convenient” Actually Means Here

    The Evergreen Way commercial strip is not photogenic. It’s not the kind of streetscape that wins walkability awards. But for the people who live here, it delivers. Major grocery anchors — Fred Meyer, Safeway, QFC — sit alongside independent restaurants, nail salons, auto services, and the kind of small food businesses that reflect Evergreen’s genuinely diverse resident base. The corridor puts essentially every daily errand within a short drive or, for some residents, a walkable distance.

    The proximity to the corridor is also why Evergreen attracts a range of residents: Boeing workers who want a direct shot toward Paine Field, families who want to be in the Cascade High attendance zone, and young buyers who want more living space than north Everett offers at a price that still makes mortgage math work.

    What Long-Timers Know About Evergreen

    Residents who have lived in Evergreen for more than a few years tend to describe it with a specific kind of satisfaction: the neighborhood does what it promises. The schools are real, not aspirational. The park works. The commute to downtown or up to Paine Field is manageable. The streets are quiet without being remote.

    It’s not the most talked-about neighborhood in Everett — that distinction still belongs to the waterfront and downtown. But Evergreen occupies a particular role in the city’s neighborhood ecosystem: a stable, well-established south Everett neighborhood that has been absorbing families for decades without drama, and that continues to deliver on the basics better than its reputation might suggest.

    If you’re looking at south Everett and haven’t put Evergreen on the shortlist, it’s worth a closer look.

    Frequently Asked Questions About Evergreen, Everett

    What schools serve the Evergreen neighborhood?

    The Evergreen neighborhood is served by Madison Elementary, Evergreen Middle School, and Cascade High School — all within the Everett Public Schools district and all earning B grades from Niche. Cascade High also offers the International Baccalaureate program.

    What is the housing market like in Evergreen?

    Median home sale prices in Evergreen are approximately $530,000 (down ~5% year over year). Homes typically sell in about 33 days, faster than the national average of 54 days. The stock includes condos, split-levels, ramblers, and traditional single-family homes.

    Are there parks in the Evergreen neighborhood?

    Yes. Phil Johnson Ballfields at 400 Sievers Duecy Blvd is the area’s primary park — 13 acres with baseball, softball, and soccer fields, plus an accessible playground upgraded during a $4.65M renovation.

    Is Evergreen a good neighborhood for families?

    Evergreen consistently rates well for families because of its walkable school pipeline, accessible park facilities, and commercial corridor that handles daily errands. Niche rates it above average for families.

    How far is Evergreen from downtown Everett?

    Evergreen is approximately 5 miles from downtown Everett via Evergreen Way. It’s also roughly 30 miles from downtown Seattle.

    When was the Evergreen Neighborhood Association formed?

    The Evergreen Neighborhood Association was established in late 2004 with assistance from the City of Everett’s Office of Neighborhoods. The neighborhood itself is significantly older.

  • Celesten Does It Again, Stevenson Wins April Hitter Award: The AquaSox Prospect Pipeline Is for Real

    Celesten Does It Again, Stevenson Wins April Hitter Award: The AquaSox Prospect Pipeline Is for Real

    Q: Which AquaSox players won Mariners minor league awards for April 2026?
    A: Catcher Luke Stevenson won the Mariners Minor League Hitter of the Month, and right-hander Brock Moore won the bullpen award. Additionally, shortstop Felnin Celesten earned NWL Player of the Week honors for the second consecutive week in May.

    The AquaSox Prospect Pipeline Is Producing — In a Big Way

    Most Everett fans probably know Felnin Celesten is one of the more exciting young shortstops in the Mariners system. They might know Jonny Farmelo is a top-6 organizational prospect. But the 2026 AquaSox roster runs deeper than that — and April’s organizational awards, combined with Celesten’s back-to-back NWL Player of the Week honors, paint a picture of a High-A squad that is legitimately developed from top to bottom.

    Here is your guide to the names making noise right now at Funko Field.

    Felnin Celesten: Back-to-Back NWL Player of the Week

    Celesten earned Northwest League Player of the Week honors for the second straight week — an award announced on May 4 — making him the most recognizable name on the AquaSox right now outside of visiting pitchers on rehab assignments. His first POTW came after he went .471 (11-for-17) in five games against the Spokane Indians. He followed that with a .434 average in the Hillsboro Hops’ ballpark, recording at least one hit in every game of that road series and posting three multi-hit performances.

    Through the early part of May, Celesten is hitting .295 on the season — which undersells how hot he has been — while leading the entire AquaSox team in hits (26) and runs scored (18). The 20-year-old Venezuelan shortstop signed with the Mariners as an international free agent in 2023 and is already one of the youngest players in the Northwest League. Two consecutive POTW awards this early in the season is the kind of noise that accelerates prospect timelines.

    Watch his name carefully. The Mariners have been patient with his development, and nights like the ones he strung together in April and early May suggest the patience is being rewarded.

    Luke Stevenson: Mariners’ April Hitter of the Month

    Stevenson did not just have a good April — he had an elite April. The Seattle Mariners announced him as their Minor League Hitter of the Month for April 2026, and the numbers back it up completely: .321 batting average, six doubles, one home run, 10 RBIs, 20 walks, .500 on-base percentage, and a .982 OPS. Twenty walks in one month. That is a number you do not expect to see from a High-A hitter who was drafted just last year.

    Stevenson is the No. 35 overall pick from the 2025 MLB Draft out of the University of North Carolina — the Mariners’ catcher of the future, ranked as the organization’s No. 8 prospect. He is 22 years old, from Flemington, New Jersey, and plays with a veteran’s plate approach that belies his experience level. That .500 OBP is not an accident — it reflects elite pitch recognition and the willingness to work counts and take walks even when pitchers are challenging him.

    In Tuesday’s 8-6 win over Hillsboro, Stevenson delivered an RBI single in the first inning to give Everett the early lead — exactly the kind of contribution you want from your cleanup presence behind high-ceiling tools. He is setting the tone for an AquaSox offense that is beginning to find its rhythm on the homestand.

    Brock Moore: The Bullpen’s Secret Weapon

    If Stevenson is the headline, Moore might be the most dominant performer on the entire AquaSox roster right now. The 25-year-old right-hander from Carmel, Indiana — a seventh-round pick in the 2024 draft out of the University of Oregon — won the Mariners’ Minor League Bullpen Award for April, and the stats are borderline absurd:

    8.1 innings pitched. 20 strikeouts. 1 walk. 4 saves. 2.16 ERA. 0.48 WHIP. Three hits allowed all month. Two earned runs total.

    Twenty strikeouts against one walk in 8.1 innings. That is a 20-to-1 K/BB ratio, which is extraordinary at any level of professional baseball. Moore is attacking hitters and he is getting them out — consistently, emphatically, in high-leverage spots. Four saves in April means four times he was trusted to close out a game and delivered.

    Bullpen arms this reliable at High-A tend to move quickly through the system. Moore is a name to know before he’s in Tacoma.

    The Wider Picture: Farmelo, Jimenez, Washington Jr.

    The AquaSox roster extends well beyond the award winners. Tuesday night’s game gave a snapshot of the depth:

    Jonny Farmelo (Mariners No. 6 prospect) led off the third inning with a double that started the six-run explosion. He is a left-handed hitter with plus raw power and the kind of athleticism that scouts come to Funko Field specifically to see.

    Carlos Jimenez (Mariners No. 21 prospect) delivered a clutch two-run single with two outs in that same third inning, the kind of RBI situational hit that does not show up in a prospect profile but does show up in a player’s development. Jimenez has been building his RBI count steadily all spring.

    Curtis Washington Jr. launched his fourth home run of the season on Tuesday night — a three-run shot to right-center that was the decisive blow in the 8-6 win. His fourth homer is already a new single-season career high. Washington Jr. is not ranked among the Mariners’ top prospects on most lists, but he is producing like someone who wants to change that.

    Why This Matters for Everett Fans

    The AquaSox experience is more fun when you understand what you are watching. These are not just box scores — they are snapshots of the players who will wear Mariners uniforms in Seattle in two or three years. Celesten, Stevenson, Moore, Farmelo: these names will be familiar to Mariners fans by 2027 or 2028. Right now, they are playing at Funko Field in Everett, and tickets are affordable.

    Come watch them before they are too expensive to see.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Q: Who won the Mariners Minor League Hitter of the Month for April 2026?
    A: Luke Stevenson, catcher for the Everett AquaSox, won the award with a .321 average, 20 walks, .500 OBP, and .982 OPS in April.

    Q: Who won the Mariners Minor League Bullpen Award for April 2026?
    A: Brock Moore, a right-handed reliever for the AquaSox, won the award after posting 20 strikeouts, 1 walk, 4 saves, and a 0.48 WHIP across 8.1 innings in April.

    Q: Has Felnin Celesten won NWL Player of the Week twice in 2026?
    A: Yes. Celesten earned NWL Player of the Week honors for two consecutive weeks in late April and early May 2026, batting .471 in his first award week and .434 in his second.

    Q: What are the top Mariners prospects on the 2026 AquaSox?
    A: Key Mariners organizational prospects on the 2026 AquaSox include Jonny Farmelo (No. 6), Luke Stevenson (No. 8), Carlos Jimenez (No. 21), and Felnin Celesten, among others.

    Q: Where can I watch AquaSox games in Everett?
    A: The AquaSox play their home games at Funko Field (Everett Memorial Stadium), 3802 Broadway, Everett, WA. The current six-game homestand against Hillsboro runs through Sunday, May 10. Tickets available at aquasox.com.

  • Your Complete Fan Guide to Silvertips vs. Raiders WHL Final: Game 1 Is Friday at Angel of the Winds

    Your Complete Fan Guide to Silvertips vs. Raiders WHL Final: Game 1 Is Friday at Angel of the Winds

    Q: When is the Silvertips WHL Championship Final Game 1?
    A: Game 1 is Friday, May 8, at Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, with Game 2 on Saturday, May 9. The Silvertips face the Prince Albert Raiders in what is the first-ever WHL Championship matchup between these two franchises.

    Game 1 Is Friday Night at Angel of the Winds

    Two nights from now, Angel of the Winds Arena will be rocking for the biggest game in Everett hockey since the 2018 WHL Championship. The Silvertips are headed to the WHL Final — 12-1 in the 2026 playoffs, two sweeps and a statement 4-1 series in their rear pocket — and Friday night, May 8, Game 1 tips off against the Prince Albert Raiders. Game 2 follows Saturday, May 9, before the series shifts to Saskatchewan.

    This is the moment Everett hockey fans have been watching build all year. Here is everything you need to know heading into the weekend.

    Series Schedule

    The 2026 WHL Championship Series presented by Nutrien follows this format: Game 1 (May 8, Everett), Game 2 (May 9, Everett), Game 3 (May 12, Prince Albert), Game 4 (May 13, Prince Albert), Game 5 if needed (May 15, Prince Albert), Game 6 if needed (May 17, Everett), Game 7 if needed (May 18, Prince Albert). That means Everett gets Games 1, 2, and potentially 6 at home — the opener and a possible series-clincher.

    Tickets for Games 1 and 2 are available at silvertips.com and Ticketmaster. Do not sleep on these — a 12-1 team playing for the Ed Chynoweth Cup is a once-or-twice-a-generation event in this building.

    Why the Silvertips Are a Legitimate Cup Contender

    The 2025-26 Silvertips had one of the best regular seasons in franchise history — a 57-8-2-1 record, first in the WHL Western Conference by a country mile. In the playoffs, they have been dominant: a first-round sweep, a 4-1 series win over the Kelowna Rockets, and a second-round sweep of the Penticton Vees in the Western Conference Final. They have outscored opponents 51-12 across all playoff games entering the Final, and goaltender Anders Miller has been nothing short of spectacular.

    Miller’s playoff numbers are historic. He is posting a .948 save percentage — the best mark in WHL playoff history for a goaltender with nine or more games played. The defense in front of him, anchored by 16-year-old Landon DuPont, has been the backbone of everything that works about this team.

    This is the Silvertips’ third appearance in the WHL Championship Final, following runs in 2004 and 2018. They have never won the Ed Chynoweth Cup. That is the storyline hanging over everything this week.

    5 Silvertips to Watch

    Landon DuPont, D — The first defenseman in WHL history to receive Exceptional Status, DuPont has 17 points (4G-13A) in 13 playoff games. He is 16 years old. He is the best player on the ice most nights and one of the best defensive prospects in North America. His skating and poise under pressure have defined the Silvertips’ playoff run.

    Matias Vanhanen, F — The Silvertips’ playoff scoring leader with 19 points (10G-9A). He provides the offensive engine that DuPont enables from the back end. When Vanhanen is scoring, Everett wins games.

    Carter Bear, F — A Detroit Red Wings prospect with 16 points in 13 games, Bear plays a two-way game that makes Everett’s depth dangerous. You cannot key on DuPont and Vanhanen without Bear making you pay.

    Anders Miller, G — .948 playoff save percentage. WHL record for a goaltender with 9+ GP. The rest of the team could play well enough to win most series; with Miller, they can win them convincingly. He has been the backbone of the most dominant playoff run in recent Silvertips history.

    Landon DuPont (again) — Yes, he deserves two entries. He has 13 assists in 13 playoff games. He is a generational talent playing on the biggest stage junior hockey has. Watch him every shift.

    Know Your Opponent: The Prince Albert Raiders

    The Prince Albert Raiders won the WHL Championship in 1985 and 2019, and they are coming to Everett having just knocked off the Medicine Hat Tigers in the Eastern Conference Final. This is a dangerous, well-coached team with the best individual scorer remaining in the 2026 WHL Playoffs.

    Daxon Rudolph, D — Raiders’ 18-year-old defenseman who leads the ENTIRE WHL Playoffs in scoring with 23 points (9G-14A) in 15 games. He is ranked fifth among North American skaters in NHL Central Scouting’s final 2026 NHL Draft rankings. Rudolph is a 6-foot-2, 202-pound blueliner who reads the ice like a veteran. This is the matchup within the matchup: Rudolph versus DuPont, two generational defensive prospects competing for a championship.

    Owen Corkish — Corkish had a hat trick in the Raiders’ ECF Game 5 win over Medicine Hat. He can score in bunches and will be looking to carry that momentum into the Final.

    The Raiders are appearing in their third WHL Championship, and they have won both previous trips. Everett needs to be aware of that institutional experience and match it with the confidence of a team that has been the best in the WHL all year.

    History: Everett Has Never Won This Trophy

    The Silvertips first reached the WHL Final in 2004, losing to the Kelowna Rockets. In 2018, they returned, losing to the Swift Current Broncos. Both times: close, but not there.

    This is year three of what fans hope is different. The roster is better, the goaltending may be the best in Silvertips playoff history, and a 16-year-old defenseman is leading the way. It is not a stretch to say this is the best team the franchise has fielded heading into a WHL Final. The Cup belongs in Everett. Friday night, the Silvertips get their first shot at proving it.

    How to Watch and Attend

    Tickets: Available at silvertips.com and Ticketmaster for Games 1 (May 8) and 2 (May 9) at Angel of the Winds Arena, Everett. Buy before they’re gone — this is a playoff Final at a 10,000-seat arena and demand will be high.

    Broadcast: Check silvertips.com and CHL.ca for streaming and TV options. The WHL Championship is typically available on TSN for Canadian viewers. U.S. streaming options will be listed on the Silvertips’ official channels.

    Angel of the Winds Arena: 2000 Hewitt Ave, Everett, WA 98201. Doors open approximately 90 minutes before puck drop. The building will be electric.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Q: When is Silvertips WHL Final Game 1?
    A: Game 1 is Friday, May 8, at Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett. Game 2 follows Saturday, May 9.

    Q: Who are the Everett Silvertips playing in the 2026 WHL Championship Final?
    A: The Silvertips are facing the Prince Albert Raiders. It is the first time these two franchises have met in the WHL Final.

    Q: What is the Silvertips’ 2026 playoff record?
    A: 12-1 entering the WHL Final, with two series sweeps and a 4-1 series win over Kelowna.

    Q: Who leads the Silvertips in playoff scoring?
    A: Matias Vanhanen leads with 19 points (10G-9A). Landon DuPont has 17 points (4G-13A) from the blue line. Carter Bear has 16 points.

    Q: Has Everett ever won the WHL Championship?
    A: No. The Silvertips reached the WHL Final in 2004 and 2018 but did not win either time. The 2026 Final is their third chance.

    Q: Where can I buy tickets for the Silvertips WHL Final?
    A: Tickets for Games 1 and 2 are available at silvertips.com and Ticketmaster.

  • Curtis Washington Jr. Goes Off: AquaSox Beat Hillsboro 8-6 in Series Opener

    Curtis Washington Jr. Goes Off: AquaSox Beat Hillsboro 8-6 in Series Opener

    Q: What happened when the AquaSox opened the Hillsboro series on May 5, 2026?
    A: Curtis Washington Jr. hit a three-run home run — his fourth of the season — as part of a six-run third inning, and Everett beat the Hillsboro Hops 8-6 at Funko Field. Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman earned the win and Casey Hintz notched his second save of the year.

    Curtis Washington Jr. Lights Up Funko Field

    The Everett AquaSox are home, and Tuesday night at Funko Field felt like a reminder of exactly why this roster is worth watching. Curtis Washington Jr. blasted a three-run home run to right-center in the third inning — his fourth of 2026, a new career single-season high — as the Frogs took Game 1 of the Hillsboro Hops series 8-6 in front of 754 fans on a spring night in Everett.

    This was a game with some sloppiness, a five-run Hops comeback in the fifth that made it interesting, and ultimately a bullpen that held the door shut. The kind of 8-6 win that leaves you feeling good about the roster depth even while knowing there’s work to be done.

    How It Unfolded: The Six-Run Third

    The AquaSox took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Luke Stevenson (Seattle Mariners’ No. 8 prospect) singled home Carter Dorighi, who had reached on a Hillsboro fielding error and advanced on a wild pitch. Clean, efficient, the kind of early RBI Stevenson has been delivering all month — no coincidence he just earned the Mariners’ Minor League Hitter of April award.

    Hillsboro answered in the top of the third. Adrian Rodriguez walked, Trent Youngblood and Yassel Soler singled to load the bases, Brady Counsell hit a sacrifice fly, and Yerald Nin doubled into the left-center gap to put the Hops up 2-1. It looked for a moment like Hillsboro starter David Hagaman — Arizona’s No. 8 prospect — might settle in.

    He didn’t. The bottom of the third became a six-run avalanche. Mariners No. 6 prospect Jonny Farmelo led off with a double. Josh Caron walked. Luis Suisbel walked to load the bases with two outs. Then Carlos Jimenez (Mariners No. 21 prospect) lined a two-run single to right, scoring Farmelo and Caron to tie it at 3. Austin St. Laurent followed with an RBI single to make it 4-2. And then Washington Jr. stepped in and sent one to right-center — a three-run shot that made it 7-2 and sent the small but enthusiastic crowd home happy before the fifth inning even arrived.

    The Hops Made It Interesting

    Credit the Hillsboro Hops: they didn’t fold. The top of the fifth saw a four-run explosion that cut the lead to 7-6. Slade Caldwell (Arizona’s No. 3 prospect) walked, Counsell knocked an RBI double, Nin added an RBI single, Avery Owusu-Asiedu hit an RBI double, and Modeifi Marte brought home one more with a single to right. Suddenly it was a game again.

    Everett answered in the sixth. Washington Jr. reached on a hit-by-pitch, stole second, advanced to third on a passed ball, and Dorighi drove him home with a sacrifice fly to left. 8-6 AquaSox.

    Pitching: Lunsford-Shenkman and Hintz Slam the Door

    Taylor Dollard started and went four innings. Armbruester tossed one frame. Then Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman came on and was filthy — two scoreless innings, picking up his second win of the season. Casey Hintz closed it out with two more scoreless innings for his second save. The Hops had 12 hits on the night but couldn’t string them together enough in the late innings to tie it up.

    Hillsboro’s pitching staff — Hagaman (2.2), Russell (0.1), Aracena (2.0), Brown (3.0) — eventually settled down, but the damage was already done by the bottom of the third.

    Prospect Watch: Names to Know

    Three Mariners prospects showed out in the box score tonight. Jonny Farmelo (M’s No. 6) set the third inning in motion with his leadoff double. Carlos Jimenez (M’s No. 21) delivered the clutch two-run single with two outs. And Curtis Washington Jr. provided the headline play with his three-run shot. Add in Luke Stevenson (No. 8) providing the first-inning RBI, and you’ve got a prospect showcase tucked inside an 8-6 box score.

    This comes on the heels of Stevenson winning the Mariners Minor League Hitter of the Month award for April (.321 BA, .500 OBP, .982 OPS, 20 walks) and Brock Moore winning the bullpen award (8.1 IP, 20 K, 1 BB, 4 SV in April). The talent pipeline feeding through Everett right now is genuinely impressive.

    Tonight: Bryce Miller on the Mound

    Wednesday night is must-see baseball at Funko Field. Seattle Mariners pitcher Bryce Miller is making his second AquaSox rehab start of 2026 at 7:05 PM, continuing his recovery from the oblique inflammation that sidelined him before the season. His April 24 AquaSox outing (3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, 47 pitches) was excellent. Tonight, he faces the Hops in what may be his final tune-up before rejoining the Seattle rotation.

    What’s Coming This Week

    The six-game Hillsboro homestand runs through Sunday, May 10, with something every night worth showing up for. Coors Light Throwback Thursday is Thursday, Star Wars Night on Saturday, Sunday Fun Day closes the week, and the AquaSox Mother’s Day Picnic rounds it out. Tickets are available at aquasox.com. All games at Funko Field, 7:05 PM first pitch (Sunday at 1:05 PM).

    The Frogs are building something interesting in Everett this spring. Come watch it in person.

    Box Score

    Hillsboro Hops: 0-0-2-0-4-0-0-0-0 = 6 R, 12 H, 1 E
    Everett AquaSox: 1-0-6-0-0-1-0-0-X = 8 R, 9 H, 1 E

    Win: Lunsford-Shenkman (2-0) | Loss: Hagaman (0-1) | Save: Hintz (2)
    Everett pitching: Dollard 4.0 IP, Armbruester 1.0 IP, Lunsford-Shenkman 2.0 IP, Hintz 2.0 IP
    Time: 2:49 | Attendance: 754

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Q: Who won the AquaSox game on May 5, 2026?
    A: The Everett AquaSox beat the Hillsboro Hops 8-6 in the series opener at Funko Field.

    Q: Who hit the home run for the AquaSox on May 5?
    A: Curtis Washington Jr. hit a three-run home run to right-center in the third inning — his fourth of the 2026 season and a new career single-season high.

    Q: Who got the win for Everett on May 5?
    A: Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman earned the win (now 2-0) with two scoreless innings; Casey Hintz earned his second save with two more scoreless frames.

    Q: Is Bryce Miller pitching for the AquaSox this week?
    A: Yes — Mariners right-hander Bryce Miller is scheduled to make a rehab start Wednesday, May 6, at 7:05 PM at Funko Field against the Hillsboro Hops.

    Q: What promotions does the AquaSox homestand have?
    A: Coors Light Throwback Thursday (May 7), Star Wars Night (May 9), Sunday Fun Day, and the Mother’s Day Picnic (May 10). All games at Funko Field — 7:05 PM weeknights/Saturday, 1:05 PM Sunday.

    Q: Who are the Mariners prospects on the AquaSox in 2026?
    A: Standout prospects on the 2026 AquaSox include Jonny Farmelo (No. 6), Luke Stevenson (No. 8), Carlos Jimenez (No. 21), Felnin Celesten, Brandon Eike, and Curtis Washington Jr., among others.

  • Inside the World’s Largest Building: What Boeing Is Actually Building at Paine Field in 2026

    Inside the World’s Largest Building: What Boeing Is Actually Building at Paine Field in 2026

    Q: What airplanes is Boeing building at the Everett factory right now?
    A: As of mid-2026, Everett assembles the KC-46 tanker, 767 commercial freighter (final orders), 777 and 777-8F freighter, and 777-9. The 737 North Line — Boeing’s first narrowbody assembly in Everett — activates midsummer 2026.

    Inside the World’s Largest Building: What Boeing Is Actually Building at Paine Field in 2026

    You can see it from the 526 interchange. You can see it on final approach into Sea-Tac. You can see it — dimly, from miles away — on a clear day from downtown Everett. The Boeing factory at Paine Field is so large that it has its own weather system, its own postal address, its own internal transportation network, and a visitor attraction that hosts 800,000 people a year just to stare at its ceiling.

    It is the largest building on Earth by volume: 472 million cubic feet, 98.3 acres under one roof, built in 1967 and expanded three times since. It covers approximately the same footprint as 75 football fields. The workers inside joke that rainclouds form before they do outside.

    But what people rarely know — even Everett residents who have lived next to it for years — is what exactly is happening inside that building right now, in 2026, and why what happens there over the next 18 months will shape the region’s economy for a decade.

    How the Building Grew

    Boeing chose Everett for a specific reason in the mid-1960s: the 747. The aircraft was so large that no existing Boeing facility could accommodate it. The company needed to build not just a new airplane but a new factory from scratch, and the flat land near Paine Field offered space at a scale that made sense.

    The original main assembly building opened in 1967, covering 43 acres — designed around one airplane, with every dimension calibrated to the 747’s enormous fuselage sections and wing stubs. In 1979, Boeing expanded the factory by 45 percent to launch the 767 program. In 1990, it expanded again by 50 percent for the 777. By the early 2000s, the factory was handling three major programs simultaneously: the 747, 767, and 777.

    The 777X required yet another expansion — but a different kind. Rather than extending the main building again, Boeing built a separate 1.2-million-square-foot composite wing manufacturing facility adjacent to the main structure. Inside, industrial robots lay up carbon fiber to form the 777X’s folding wingtips, which span 235 feet unfolded — longer than the wingspan of any commercial aircraft in service today.

    Today, the entire Everett campus covers approximately 1,000 acres with up to 200 separate buildings and facilities. The main assembly building is the centerpiece. Surrounding it are engine test stands, paint facilities, seal buildings, composite fabrication shops, a training center, and the Future of Flight Aviation Center where visitors rotate through what Boeing calls the world’s largest building tour.

    The 767 and KC-46 Tanker Lines

    The 767 commercial freighter program is in its final chapter. Boeing has fewer than 40 commercial 767 orders remaining — primarily for FedEx and UPS — and the commercial line will close when those are delivered, likely by 2027. For Everett workers on the 767 line, this is a known transition, not a surprise.

    What keeps the line alive is the KC-46 Pegasus tanker. The KC-46 is the Air Force’s next-generation aerial refueling aircraft, derived from the 767 platform but built to military specifications. Boeing is on Lot 12 of a long-term contract, with the Air Force targeting a fleet of 179 aircraft against a full recapitalization requirement of 475. In 2026, Boeing is pacing toward approximately 19 KC-46 deliveries for the year — making the tanker program the most stable production line in the building. Unlike commercial programs, defense contracts are not subject to airline order cancellations or passenger demand swings.

    The 777 Family: Two Programs, Two Futures

    The 777 has been Boeing’s widebody flagship for three decades. In 2026, commercial 777 deliveries from Everett are winding down as the market transitions to the 777X generation. What makes the 777 line relevant this year is what just rolled out of the building.

    On April 23, 2026, Boeing rolled out the first 777-8F freighter from the Everett factory — the physical debut of a program that carries Boeing’s commercial freight ambitions into the 2030s. The jet, which burns approximately 30 percent less fuel per tonne than the 747-8F it replaces, is currently in pre-flight ground testing. First delivery — to Cargolux, the launch customer — is targeted for 2027.

    The 777-9 passenger variant tells a more complicated story. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg disclosed in April that the roughly 30 stored 777-9 jets at Paine Field require multi-year change incorporation work before they can be delivered. Some of those aircraft have been sitting in near-final configuration since 2020, waiting for certification milestones that kept getting pushed. Change incorporation — the engineering-intensive process of updating already-assembled jets to reflect certification-driven design changes — means Everett’s widebody workforce will be occupied with 777X work well into the late 2020s. Lufthansa, the launch customer, has confirmed it expects its first 777-9 in Q1 2027.

    The 737 North Line: Something That Has Never Been Here Before

    The newest addition to the building’s mission is something that has never existed here before: a 737 assembly line.

    For the entire history of 737 production — since 1967, the same year the Everett factory opened — every single 737 has been assembled at Boeing’s Renton facility, 20 miles to the south. Renton was the narrowbody campus. Everett was widebody. That division was considered permanent.

    Midsummer 2026 changes it. The North Line — Boeing’s fourth 737 MAX assembly line — is being activated in the Everett factory in space that has been reconfigured from widebody use. It will initially build the 737-8, 737-9, and 737-10 at a Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) pace, assembling conformity aircraft that demonstrate to the FAA that processes in Everett match those in Renton. Once the FAA validates conformity under production certificate PC700, the line transitions to full production flow.

    The business case is straightforward. Boeing’s current three Renton 737 lines are approaching their practical capacity ceiling. Getting from the current rate of 42 jets per month to the target rate of 52 or more requires additional line capacity. The North Line provides that headroom — and specifically gives the 737 MAX 10, with more than 1,200 outstanding orders, a dedicated production home in Everett where it will be built exclusively.

    Boeing has been hiring 100 to 140 new Everett workers per week to prepare. The workforce is a mix of newly hired employees coming through the IAM 751 Machinists Institute training program at 8729 Airport Road and experienced teammates transferring from Renton and Moses Lake to seed the new line with institutional knowledge.

    The Scale of What’s Inside

    Standing on the factory floor provides a scale reference that no photograph delivers accurately. The 26 overhead cranes that move fuselage sections and wing assemblies operate along 39 miles of elevated track. The widest 777X fuselage section, when positioned for assembly, looks from the wrong angle like a commercial building. The building’s internal road system carries workers between production zones that are physically too far apart to walk in a reasonable time.

    On any given production day in 2026, four distinct programs are in active assembly simultaneously — the KC-46, the 777 family, the 777X, and (by late summer) the first North Line 737s. Each program has its own workforce, its own production rhythm, its own relationship with the FAA. Coordinating them under one roof requires a logistics complexity that rarely gets attention in coverage of Boeing’s delivery numbers.

    The Paine Field Community Day on June 6 will bring the public to the edge of that operation — a chance to see the flight line where these aircraft emerge, the military jets that operate alongside them, and the campus that defines Everett’s economic identity. The Future of Flight center runs daily tours of the main building year-round. It is, by any measure, worth the drive.

    The 747 that gave this building its reason for existing made its final delivery in January 2023. The building it left behind is, in 2026, more active than it has been in years.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Why is the Boeing Everett factory the largest building in the world?

    The factory covers 98.3 acres of floor space and 472 million cubic feet of volume, making it the largest building by volume on Earth. It was built in 1967 for the 747 and expanded three times since to accommodate the 767, 777, and 777X programs.

    What airplanes are built at Boeing’s Everett factory right now?

    As of mid-2026, Everett assembles the 767 commercial freighter, the KC-46 Pegasus tanker, the 777 classic (final commercial orders), the 777-8F freighter (in pre-flight ground testing), and the 777-9 (in change incorporation ahead of 2027 deliveries). The 737 North Line begins LRIP production midsummer 2026.

    What happened to the 747 line in Everett?

    Boeing delivered the final 747 — a freighter for Atlas Air — in January 2023, ending a program that ran for more than 55 years and produced over 1,500 aircraft. The Everett space formerly used for 747 production has been repurposed for 777X and North Line programs.

    Can the public visit the Boeing Everett factory?

    Yes. The Future of Flight Aviation Center at 8415 Paine Field Blvd offers daily tours of the main assembly building and is open seven days a week. It is one of the Pacific Northwest’s most popular aviation destinations, welcoming approximately 800,000 visitors per year.

    How does the 737 North Line differ from Renton?

    The Renton facility has been Boeing’s sole 737 assembly site since the program began in 1967. The Everett North Line will be the first 737 final assembly line outside of Renton. It will initially produce the 737-8, 737-9, and 737-10 — with the MAX 10 slated for exclusive Everett production long-term — and will provide the capacity Boeing needs to reach production rates above 47 jets per month.

  • SPEEA’s 2026 Bargaining Season Is Now Open: What Boeing’s 17,000 Puget Sound Engineers Are Actually Asking For

    SPEEA’s 2026 Bargaining Season Is Now Open: What Boeing’s 17,000 Puget Sound Engineers Are Actually Asking For

    📖 Exploring Everett — In-Depth Coverage of This Story

    Q: When do SPEEA’s Boeing negotiations formally begin in 2026?
    A: SPEEA’s Contract Action Team kicked off in April 2026, with formal bargaining sessions expected to run through spring and summer ahead of the October 6, 2026 contract expiration.

    SPEEA’s 2026 Bargaining Season Is Open: What Boeing’s 17,000 Puget Sound Engineers and Technicians Are Actually Asking For

    The countdown clock on SPEEA’s 2020 contract has been ticking since the day it was signed. Now, with 153 days left before the October 6, 2026 expiration, the union representing Boeing’s 17,000 engineers and technical workers in the Puget Sound has formally opened its bargaining season — and for the first time in years, the people across the table have very different leverage.

    Boeing is hiring. The company is expanding. The 737 North Line is coming to Everett this summer. The Spirit AeroSystems acquisition is integrating. And Ortberg’s Q1 2026 results — 143 deliveries, positive free cash flow trajectory — suggest a company that is genuinely recovering. In 2020, when the last SPEEA contract was signed, Boeing was months into a pandemic, had just grounded the 737 MAX for 20 months, and was cutting 16,000 jobs. Six years later, the company at the negotiating table is a structurally different entity.

    So is what SPEEA is asking for.

    How the Bargaining Season Works

    SPEEA’s negotiation cycle for a contract of this scale doesn’t start when both sides sit down. It starts months before, through a structured preparation process that most Boeing engineers rarely think about until the outcome lands in their paychecks.

    The first formal step was the Negotiation Prep Committee (NPC) — a series of surveys sent to members to identify priorities. The fourth and final NPC survey, which closed in early spring, focused on four specific areas: paid time off and vacation/sick leave consolidation, retirement, annual raise pools, and on-call work compensation. Those four issues form the skeleton of what SPEEA’s negotiating team will put on the table.

    In February 2026, the Bargaining Unit Councils for both the Northwest Professional Unit and the Technical Unit elected their negotiating teams — the members who will represent thousands of Everett engineers when formal bargaining sessions begin with Boeing. In April, SPEEA held its Contract Action Team (CAT) kickoff, the mobilization arm that organizes members at the worksite level to amplify pressure and demonstrate solidarity during negotiations.

    The timeline from here: formal bargaining sessions are expected to run through spring and summer, with an agreement ideally reached before the October 6 expiration. Both sides have strong incentives to avoid a disruption. A work stoppage by SPEEA’s 17,000 members in the middle of the North Line ramp-up would be costly — and Boeing’s FAA oversight climate is not one that can absorb workforce instability.

    The IAM Benchmark Nobody Is Pretending Isn’t There

    When SPEEA’s negotiators put raise pools on the table, everyone in the room will know one number: 43.65%.

    That’s the compounded wage increase IAM District 751’s 33,000 machinists ratified in November 2024 after their historic 57-day strike. The four-year deal also included 401(k) improvements, a commitment to assemble the next new airplane in the greater Seattle area, and cash bonuses. It fundamentally reset the wage floor for Puget Sound aerospace production workers — and it happened at the same company, in the same region, during the same recovery.

    SPEEA’s Professional and Technical units are different bargaining units with different compensation structures. Engineers typically earn significantly more than machinists, and their raises come through a different mechanism — annual compensation review (ACR) pools that determine how salary budgets are distributed across the workforce. SPEEA doesn’t negotiate a flat percentage raise the same way IAM does.

    But the benchmark pressure is real. The last SPEEA contract’s final ACR review paid out in early 2026. Future ACRs will be governed by whatever SPEEA negotiates this spring. If members look across the factory floor and see IAM machinists whose wages rose nearly 44% over four years, the ask for more robust raise pools in 2026 is not unreasonable. The IAM 751 Machinists Institute at 8729 Airport Road is training hundreds of new production workers right now. The engineers supporting that ramp deserve their own reckoning with compensation.

    What the Four Issues Actually Mean

    PTO and vacation/sick leave: Many Boeing employees covered by SPEEA’s Technical Unit navigate a legacy system where vacation and sick leave are tracked separately, with use-it-or-lose-it pressures and carryover limitations. A consolidated PTO model — the norm at most large tech employers in the region — would give workers more flexibility without necessarily costing Boeing more. This is a quality-of-life issue that tends to dominate early-career and mid-career workers’ concerns.

    Retirement: Boeing shifted from a defined benefit pension to a 401(k)-only plan for employees hired after 2015. For newer engineers — now the majority at Boeing — what Boeing contributes to retirement savings and what vesting looks like are the key variables. The IAM’s 2024 deal improved 401(k) matching. SPEEA will be pushing for parallel improvements.

    Raise pools: SPEEA’s contract specifies the total budget Boeing sets aside for ACR raises across the covered workforce. A larger pool doesn’t guarantee every engineer gets a bigger raise — distribution still happens through manager review — but a larger pool changes what’s possible. Post-2020 inflation, plus Boeing’s recovery and expansion, creates a reasonable argument that the 2026 pool should be substantially larger than what the 2020 contract established.

    On-call work: The hybrid/remote work era changed the meaning of “on-call” for knowledge workers. Engineers who support production or certification programs are sometimes pulled into issues outside business hours in ways that weren’t formally compensated under older contract frameworks. With the North Line ramping and the MAX 7/MAX 10 FAA certification programs in active flight testing, the demand for after-hours engineering support is likely to increase. SPEEA members want clearer rules and compensation for that demand.

    What’s Different About 2026

    When SPEEA’s members think about this negotiation, they’re doing it against a backdrop that is both more optimistic and more complicated than anything they’ve faced since the last contract was signed.

    Boeing is hiring 100 to 140 new production workers every week in Everett. The North Line opening this summer means the Everett factory will for the first time be a full-spectrum manufacturing campus — widebodies, tankers, and narrowbodies all under one address. That’s an economic signal about the company’s commitment to this region. And Snohomish County’s 5,200-worker aerospace shortage means the labor market is tight across the board — which gives workers in every classification more options than they had in 2020.

    But it also creates new complexity. Many of the workers being hired for the North Line are IAM-represented machinists coming through the 12-week training pipeline. SPEEA-represented engineers are simultaneously being asked to support that ramp-up — developing production procedures, providing quality oversight, supporting the FAA conformity process — in ways that may exceed what the 2020 contract’s on-call provisions contemplated.

    The SPEEA Wichita Technical and Professional Unit reached a deal with Boeing in January 2026 — a tentative agreement for the 1,600 aerospace professionals at the Wichita site that SPEEA’s national organization unanimously recommended members approve. That deal provides one benchmark. The Puget Sound units are larger, in a more expensive housing market, and face a different set of workplace conditions.

    The Everett Stakes

    For the 42,000 aerospace workers in Snohomish County, SPEEA’s negotiation matters beyond its membership count. The engineering and technical workforce represented by SPEEA is the layer that designs the production systems, certifies the airplanes, troubleshoots the quality issues, and develops the work instructions that IAM members follow on the factory floor. When Boeing hires 140 new machinists a week, it also needs the engineering capacity to support them.

    A failed negotiation — or a protracted one — would not just affect SPEEA members. It would land in the middle of the most consequential aerospace manufacturing ramp in Everett’s history. The North Line team preparing for this summer’s launch includes both IAM workers on the assembly floor and SPEEA engineers in the support structure around them. Those two groups going into contract season with very different outcomes would create friction that no production ramp needs.

    The union’s October 6 deadline is a real constraint on both sides. Boeing does not need a labor disruption during the North Line’s LRIP phase and the MAX 7/MAX 10 certification stretch run. SPEEA’s members know they have leverage in a way they didn’t in 2020. The question is how much of it they’ll need to use.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    When does the current SPEEA-Boeing contract expire?

    October 6, 2026. It is a six-year agreement signed in March 2020 covering SPEEA’s Professional and Technical units in the Puget Sound and at Boeing sites in Oregon, Utah, and California.

    How many people does SPEEA represent at Boeing?

    Approximately 17,000 engineers and technical workers in the Puget Sound region, making SPEEA one of the two major Boeing unions in Everett alongside IAM District 751.

    What are the main issues in the 2026 negotiation?

    The four areas SPEEA’s member surveys identified as priorities are: PTO and vacation/sick leave consolidation, retirement benefits, annual raise pool sizes, and compensation for on-call work.

    How is SPEEA different from IAM 751?

    IAM 751 represents production and maintenance workers — the people who physically build the aircraft. SPEEA represents engineers, program managers, designers, technicians, and other professional and technical roles. The two unions have different contract structures, pay scales, and bargaining dynamics.

    Did IAM’s 2024 strike affect SPEEA negotiations?

    Not directly — SPEEA and IAM negotiate separately. But the IAM’s 43.65% compounded raise over four years creates a visible benchmark that SPEEA members are aware of as they evaluate their own employer’s compensation offers.

    What happens if SPEEA and Boeing don’t reach a deal before October 6?

    The current contract would expire and members could potentially authorize a work stoppage, or both sides could agree to extend negotiations. In 2020, SPEEA ratified the contract extension without a disruption. Given Boeing’s current expansion context, both sides have strong incentives to reach agreement before the deadline.

  • Snohomish County’s Federal Asks Are Being Made in Washington Right Now — Inside the EASC DC Fly-In Underway This Week

    Snohomish County’s Federal Asks Are Being Made in Washington Right Now — Inside the EASC DC Fly-In Underway This Week

    What is the EASC DC Fly-In and what does it have to do with Everett’s waterfront?
    The Economic Alliance Snohomish County (EASC) is leading a delegation of business, government, and community leaders to Washington, D.C. from May 5 through May 7, 2026, to advocate directly with members of Congress and federal agencies on the region’s federal priorities. The fly-in is presented by The Boeing Company, with support from the Tulalip Tribes and Desimone Consulting Group. It’s the most concentrated federal advocacy push our region runs all year — and it’s happening right now.

    A Snohomish County Trip Most Residents Don’t Hear About

    Most of the conversation about Snohomish County’s federal priorities happens in obscure rooms: legislative committee hearings, agency briefings, advocacy board meetings inside the EASC offices on Rucker Avenue. The work is real, but the public-facing moment is rare.

    The annual EASC DC Fly-In is the closest thing to a public-facing moment this advocacy ever gets. For three days each May, a delegation of Snohomish County leaders — business owners, mayors, port commissioners, tribal leaders, education officials — travels to Washington, D.C. to make the case directly to the people who write federal budgets and run federal agencies.

    This year’s trip is happening as you read this. The delegation arrived on Tuesday, May 5, for a welcome reception. Wednesday, May 6, and Thursday, May 7, are full days of meetings on Capitol Hill and at federal agencies. The schedule wraps Thursday evening with a farewell reception before the delegation flies home.

    If you live in Everett and pay any attention at all to Sound Transit, the Port of Everett, federal aerospace research dollars, water infrastructure grants, or the Snohomish River flood mitigation work, then someone at this fly-in is probably in a room arguing for something that affects you.

    What the Fly-In Actually Does

    The EASC DC Fly-In is a coordinated federal advocacy program. The delegation does three things over the course of three days.

    First, it sits down with Washington’s congressional delegation. That includes Senator Patty Murray, Senator Maria Cantwell, and the House members representing the 1st, 2nd, and other relevant districts. These are direct meetings, not a stop-by-the-office handshake. Members and their staff hear specific federal asks tied to specific projects in Snohomish County.

    Second, it meets with federal agencies. EASC has a federal lobbyist who handles the agency calendar — meetings with the Department of Transportation, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Defense, the Maritime Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, and other agencies that touch the region’s industries. These meetings turn into formal grant applications, project endorsements, and technical assistance.

    Third, the delegation participates in panel discussions with policy experts and staff from major think tanks and federal offices. This is the listening half of the trip — what’s coming in the next federal funding cycle, where the discretionary money is going to be steered, what the technical requirements look like for upcoming grant rounds.

    The fly-in is presented by The Boeing Company, the largest single employer in Snohomish County and the most consistent fly-in sponsor over time. The Tulalip Tribes and Desimone Consulting Group are additional supporters this year. EASC is described in its own materials as “the largest business advocacy organization in Snohomish County” and serves as the regional business voice in both Olympia and Washington, D.C.

    What’s on the Federal Asks List

    EASC has not published a public document listing the specific 2026 federal asks the delegation is carrying this week. The agenda is built around the agency’s broader Regional Federal Priorities, developed with the Advocacy Board.

    What we can say from the publicly stated framework is that EASC’s federal priorities are organized around four broad categories: multimodal transportation and utilities infrastructure, an educated and skilled workforce, support for key regional industries, and a competitive business environment for innovation and entrepreneurship.

    For Everett specifically, the development-side priorities most likely on the table this week — based on EASC’s public advocacy positions over the past year and the projects with active federal funding components — include:

    Sound Transit Everett Link Extension. A $7.7 billion segment of the regional light rail system that depends on a combination of local subarea funding, state contributions, and federal transit grants. The Sound Transit Board meets May 28 to choose between three approaches that determine whether the line reaches downtown Everett Station or stops at the SW Everett Industrial Center. Federal funding posture matters at the agency level.

    Port of Everett infrastructure investments. The port’s $11.25 million federal Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) grant for the Pier 3 structural rebuild was announced April 27. That single grant is the kind of federal-state-port partnership the fly-in exists to nurture. The port has a $70 million 2026 budget and is in active investment cycles on the working waterfront, the Mukilteo waterfront acquisition, and Marina bulkhead modernization (the final $6.75 million Bergerson Segment E phase wraps in May 2026).

    Snohomish River flood mitigation and stormwater. The $8.7 million Lenora Stormwater Treatment Facility broke ground in April 2026 with state grant funding under WQC-2025-EverPW-00177. Future phases of the citywide combined sewer overflow program — including the recently approved $113 million West Marine View Drive pipeline that feeds the planned Port Gardner Storage Facility — depend on a mix of federal and state matching dollars.

    Aerospace research and workforce. Boeing’s North Line at Paine Field opens this summer building 737 MAX aircraft. The Aviation Technical Services MRO operation, ZeroAvia’s hydrogen-electric flight testing, and the broader aerospace ecosystem in Snohomish County all benefit from federal research funding and workforce development grants.

    Naval Station Everett. The $282.9 million FF(X) frigate contract awarded to Ingalls in April 2026 reframed the conversation about NAVSTA Everett’s homeport bid. Federal advocacy on military construction, family housing, and base infrastructure is an annual priority.

    Paine Field commercial terminal expansion. Federal Aviation Administration coordination on additional gates and terminal capacity, particularly with the June 10, 2026 launch of Alaska Airlines’ Paine Field-Portland nonstop, is part of the airport’s ongoing growth conversation.

    Why This Trip Matters More in 2026 Than Most Years

    Three things make this year’s fly-in higher-stakes than usual.

    The first is the Sound Transit timeline. The May 28 board meeting is precisely three weeks after the delegation lands in DC. Federal agency posture on transit grants, especially under the New Starts and Capital Investment Grant programs, is one of the variables board members weigh when picking between approaches. A clear signal from the federal side that the full 16-mile spine is grant-eligible can shift the calculus at the local level.

    The second is the broader federal funding environment. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding rounds are still actively being awarded. The CHIPS and Science Act has reshaped advanced manufacturing grant pipelines. Defense industrial base initiatives have created new funding streams that overlap with the Naval Station Everett and Boeing footprints. The window for shaping how those dollars land in Snohomish County is open right now.

    The third is the SR 529 / Edgewater Bridge moment. The new $34 million Edgewater Bridge opened on April 28, 2026, after years of delays. That gives the delegation a concrete success story to present in DC — federal-state-local infrastructure partnerships actually delivering — at exactly the moment when the next round of bridge and roadway funding is being shaped.

    The Boeing Sponsorship Is a Signal, Not a Conflict

    It’s worth saying out loud: the Boeing Company presenting the fly-in is not unusual, and it’s not a conflict to be apologetic about. Boeing is the largest employer in Snohomish County. The 737 North Line opens this summer in Everett. The 777X is on the runway at Paine Field. Tens of thousands of paychecks and the property tax base of multiple cities run through Boeing’s Everett facilities.

    What the Boeing sponsorship tells you about the delegation’s posture is that this is a business-led advocacy effort, not a city-government-led one. The asks are framed in terms of regional economic competitiveness — workforce, supply chain, infrastructure that supports private investment — not in terms of social policy or regulatory positions. That’s the EASC lane.

    The Tulalip Tribes’ support broadens the picture. Tribal economic priorities in Snohomish County — including waterfront, environmental, and infrastructure interests — get a seat at the same table.

    What Comes Back to Everett From This Week

    The deliverable from any fly-in is rarely a single decision. It’s a set of relationships, a refreshed understanding of the federal funding calendar, and a more specific picture of what the next round of grant applications has to look like to be competitive.

    The concrete things to watch over the next 60 days:

    • Whether any of the federal agencies the delegation met with announce new grant rounds or technical assistance programs that align with the asks Snohomish County brought to the table.
    • Whether the May 28 Sound Transit Board vote shifts in any way that suggests the federal posture on transit grants influenced the room.
    • Whether the Port of Everett’s next federal grant submission — particularly under PIDP and Maritime Administration discretionary programs — reflects coordination that came out of this week’s meetings.
    • Whether the Snohomish River flood mitigation and stormwater program picks up additional federal matching commitments in the next federal budget cycle.

    The delegation flies home Thursday night. The follow-up calls start Monday morning.

    If you want to know what Snohomish County is asking for in DC right now, the EASC DC Fly-In is the answer. We’ll keep watching what comes back.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What dates is the EASC DC Fly-In happening in 2026?
    The 2026 EASC DC Fly-In runs Tuesday, May 5 through Thursday, May 7. The welcome reception is May 5 evening, full meeting days are May 6 and May 7, and a farewell reception caps the trip Thursday evening.

    Who is on the EASC delegation in DC this week?
    EASC has not published the full 2026 attendee list. The delegation typically includes business leaders, elected officials from cities and the county, port commissioners, tribal leadership, education representatives, and EASC staff including the federal lobbyist. The fly-in is presented by The Boeing Company with support from the Tulalip Tribes and Desimone Consulting Group.

    Are Everett’s specific federal priorities published?
    EASC develops Regional Federal Priorities through its Advocacy Board but does not always publish them in granular form. The framework focuses on multimodal transportation and utilities infrastructure, workforce development, support for regional industries, and a competitive business environment.

    Does the fly-in directly affect the Sound Transit Everett Link decision?
    Not directly. The Sound Transit Board’s three-approach decision on May 28 is a regional governance decision. But federal posture on transit grants — Capital Investment Grants, New Starts, FTA technical assistance — is one variable board members consider when evaluating which approach is fundable. Federal advocacy this week feeds that posture.

    What was the most recent federal grant announcement for Everett-area infrastructure?
    The Port of Everett’s $11.25 million Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) grant for the Pier 3 structural rebuild was announced April 27, 2026. The Lenora Stormwater Treatment Facility uses an $8.7 million state grant (WQC-2025-EverPW-00177) and broke ground in April 2026.

    Where can residents track outcomes from the 2026 EASC DC Fly-In?
    EASC’s news center at economicalliancesc.org/news-center publishes post-trip summaries and key advocacy outcomes. Federal grant announcements typically lag the fly-in by 30 to 90 days as agency calendars and appropriations move forward.

    Is there a way for residents to support EASC’s federal asks?
    Direct advocacy from residents is most effective with the congressional delegation: Senator Patty Murray, Senator Maria Cantwell, and the U.S. Representatives covering Snohomish County districts. EASC’s advocacy page at economicalliancesc.org/advocacy/advocacy lists current legislative priorities and ways to engage.

  • Sound Transit’s May 28 Board Meeting Is the Most Important Everett Light Rail Vote You Haven’t Heard About

    Sound Transit’s May 28 Board Meeting Is the Most Important Everett Light Rail Vote You Haven’t Heard About

    Why does the Sound Transit board meet on May 28, 2026, and what does it decide for Everett?
    On May 28, 2026, the Sound Transit Board of Directors meets in Tacoma to consider three “approaches” for closing a $34.5 billion long-term funding gap and updating the ST3 System Plan. Two of the three approaches preserve the full 16-mile Everett Link Extension to downtown Everett Station; the third truncates the line at the SW Everett Industrial Center. The board is expected to recommend one approach by the end of June. The May 28 vote is the technical decision that shapes everything that follows.

    The Vote Everyone Is Watching Without Realizing It

    Most of the Everett Link conversation this spring has rotated around a single date: June 30, 2026. That’s when the Sound Transit Board is expected to formally adopt an updated ST3 System Plan. Headlines have framed it as the “do-or-die” vote on whether trains will reach downtown Everett.

    But there’s a vote a month earlier that matters more in practical terms — and it has flown almost completely under the radar.

    On Thursday, May 28, 2026, the Sound Transit Board of Directors meets from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Ruth Fisher Board Room at 401 Jackson St. in Tacoma. That meeting is where the board is expected to choose between three “approaches” the agency has put on the table for closing its $34.5 billion long-term funding gap and updating the ST3 System Plan. The June 30 vote then ratifies whatever the May 28 meeting recommends.

    In other words: by the time the calendar flips to June, the substantive decision will already be made.

    We’ve spent the last six weeks talking about whether the public would be heard. The May 1 public-input survey closed last week. So now the question shifts. With the survey closed and the board’s options narrowed to three, what is actually being decided on May 28? And which approach gets Everett to the finish line?

    What the $34.5 Billion Gap Actually Is

    Sound Transit calls the planning effort the Enterprise Initiative. It’s the agency’s response to a long-term funding shortfall that has grown well past anyone’s original estimates.

    The number to remember is $34.5 billion. That’s the total budget gap projected over the next 20 years across the Sound Transit district. Roughly $30 billion of that gap is concentrated in the North King and South King County subareas, driven by capital cost growth on the West Seattle and Ballard Link extensions.

    That last detail matters for Everett. Each of Sound Transit’s five subareas — Snohomish, North King, South King, East King, and Pierce — has its own dedicated funding pot. According to Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers, who chairs the Sound Transit Board, “the Snohomish section is almost fully funded.”

    In other words, the funding crisis is not a Snohomish County crisis. It’s a King County cost-overrun crisis. But because the board has to update the entire system plan as one document, Everett ends up on the table whether the local money is there or not.

    The Three Approaches in Plain English

    Here is what the Sound Transit board is actually choosing between on May 28. We’ve simplified the agency’s published descriptions for a non-transit-nerd reader.

    Approach 1 — Spine first, hold the West Seattle and Issaquah extensions.
    Funds the full Everett Link Extension to downtown Everett Station. Funds full construction to the Tacoma Dome. Funds West Seattle to Alaska Junction only. Funds South Center only. Defers everything else. This approach finishes the Federal Way-to-Everett spine before spending on east-west extensions.

    Approach 2 — Spine plus a partial Ballard.
    Funds the full Everett Link Extension to downtown Everett Station. Funds construction to Smith Cove (a partial Ballard build). Funds full construction to the Tacoma Dome. Funds the South Kirkland-Issaquah Extension. Defers other deferrals. This approach is similar to Approach 1 but trades the full West Seattle build for a partial Ballard build.

    Approach 3 — Phase everything, stop short of downtown Everett.
    Truncates the Everett Link at the SW Everett Industrial Center, not downtown Everett Station. Truncates the Tacoma extension at Fife instead of the Tacoma Dome. Funds Delridge in West Seattle, South Center, and several infill stations including Graham and Boeing Access. Funds initial phases only on the T Line and South Kirkland-Issaquah extensions. This approach phases every project rather than fully completing fewer of them.

    All three approaches deliver roughly 86 to 87 percent of the original ST3 ridership target, and all three involve major changes to the Ballard Extension as originally promised in 2016.

    What Approach 3 Would Actually Mean for Everett

    Approach 3 is the one Snohomish County is fighting against.

    The most important consequence is geographic: it would end the Everett Link line at the SW Everett Industrial Center — roughly the area near the Boeing factory and Paine Field — rather than continuing the line into downtown Everett Station. That is a meaningful difference on a map and a much bigger difference on the ground.

    Downtown Everett Station is the planned multimodal hub adjacent to the Sounder commuter rail platform, the Everett Transit and Community Transit bus integration, the under-construction stadium and outdoor event center site, and the heart of the city’s downtown housing and retail core. SW Everett Industrial Center is a job site — important, but not where most riders live, eat, or change between buses and trains.

    Approach 3 also pushes the schedule. The Everett Link is currently expected to open between 2037 and 2041 depending on phasing. Under Approach 3, the downtown segment would be deferred indefinitely, with no committed funding to extend service the rest of the way once the SW Everett Industrial Center segment opens.

    That’s why Mayor Cassie Franklin, who sits on the Sound Transit Board, has been making the public case for the full spine. In an April 27 letter to the board summarized by the Lynnwood Times, Franklin laid out the case that Everett is now home to a Boeing factory, an expanding Paine Field commercial terminal, minor league baseball, hockey, an under-construction event center, and a growing industrial base — and that “it is the spine from Everett to Tacoma that is actually going to connect this region.”

    Why the May 28 Meeting Beats the June 30 Meeting in Importance

    The June 30 vote is the formal vote on the updated ST3 System Plan. It’s the procedural moment when the board adopts the new document.

    The May 28 meeting is when the board takes the chair’s recommendation and signals which of the three approaches will form the basis of the final plan. By the time June 30 rolls around, the public deliberation about which approach will be over. The June meeting becomes a yes-or-no on a specific package, not a choice between three options.

    That makes May 28 the real decision date for anyone trying to understand where the Everett Link ends up.

    It also makes May 28 the last realistic moment for public comment to land. The May 1 online survey is closed. Written comments to the board can still be submitted, and the board takes verbal public comment at meetings. The May 28 meeting accepts virtual attendance via Zoom — the link is published on the Board of Directors event calendar at soundtransit.org.

    What Snohomish County Is Saying Right Now

    Two votes on the Sound Transit board come from Snohomish County: County Executive Dave Somers, who chairs the board, and Mayor Franklin.

    Somers has framed the spine completion as the priority. At the April 14 town hall in Everett, he told a standing-room crowd that board support for finishing the spine is the strongest he has seen, and that the funding crisis is concentrated in King County, not Snohomish. He has floated the idea of a King County subarea levy, public-private partnership investment, or other localized revenue tools to close the West Seattle and Ballard cost overruns without sacrificing the spine.

    Franklin’s $7.7 billion letter — the figure roughly matches the projected cost of the Everett Link Extension as currently scoped — went directly to the board on April 27 and was reinforced by an April 30 unanimous Everett City Council letter demanding the full 16-mile extension.

    That posture is local policy now. Whether it carries the May 28 vote is a different question.

    What Riders and Future Riders Should Do This Month

    If you live in Everett and care about the outcome, the practical to-do list for the next three weeks is short:

    1. Email the full Sound Transit Board. Mayor Franklin made the point at the April 14 town hall: she and Somers can vote, but the board has 18 members. The three approaches will be decided by a majority of the room. Email addresses for board members are published at soundtransit.org/get-to-know-us/board-of-directors.

    2. Attend the May 28 meeting in person or on Zoom. The meeting runs 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. at 401 Jackson St., Tacoma. Public comment is accepted at the meeting. Virtual attendance details are on the agency’s Board of Directors event calendar.

    3. Check whether your city council has joined the chorus. Everett City Council voted unanimously on the full extension. Mukilteo, Lake Stevens, Mill Creek, and Snohomish councils have varying public positions; if your council hasn’t weighed in, that’s the kind of action that gets noticed at the board level.

    The April 14 town hall in Everett showed the agency is listening. What the board does on May 28 will tell us how loudly.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    When and where does the Sound Transit Board meet on May 28, 2026?
    Thursday, May 28, 2026, 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., Ruth Fisher Board Room, 401 Jackson St., Tacoma. Virtual attendance via Zoom is available — the join details are published on the Board of Directors calendar at soundtransit.org.

    What happens if the board picks Approach 3 on May 28?
    Approach 3 would truncate the Everett Link Extension at the SW Everett Industrial Center rather than continuing to downtown Everett Station. The downtown segment would be deferred without committed funding, pushing the Everett Station opening past the current 2037-2041 window indefinitely.

    Is the Everett Link Extension fully funded under Approaches 1 and 2?
    According to Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers, the Snohomish County subarea is “almost fully funded.” Approaches 1 and 2 both preserve the full 16-mile line from Lynnwood to downtown Everett Station. The funding crisis is concentrated in North King and South King County subareas.

    What is the difference between the May 28 vote and the June 30 vote?
    May 28 is when the Sound Transit Board chooses among the three approaches and signals direction for the updated ST3 System Plan. June 30 is the formal adoption of the new plan. By June 30, the substantive choice is already made.

    How can the public still weigh in if the May 1 survey has closed?
    Email all 18 Sound Transit Board members directly, attend the May 28 meeting in person or on Zoom, and provide written or verbal public comment at the meeting. City council resolutions also influence the regional conversation.

    What is the $34.5 billion gap?
    A 20-year projected shortfall across the Sound Transit district. Roughly $30 billion of the gap is in the North King and South King County subareas, driven by West Seattle and Ballard cost overruns. Snohomish County’s section is almost fully funded according to Somers.

    When would Everett Link service actually open under Approaches 1 or 2?
    Sound Transit currently lists 2037 as the SW Everett Industrial Center opening target, with downtown Everett Station service following by 2041 under current financial constraints. Approach 3 would push the downtown opening indefinitely past those dates.