Author: Will Tygart

  • 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.

  • Capers + Olives Is the Best Italian Restaurant in Downtown Everett, and It Changes Its Menu Every Two Weeks

    Capers + Olives Is the Best Italian Restaurant in Downtown Everett, and It Changes Its Menu Every Two Weeks

    Quick answer: Capers + Olives (2933 Colby Ave, Everett) is a seasonal Italian-inspired bistro run by chef/owner Jimmy Liang, who trained at The Herb Farm. Menu changes every two weeks based on local farms. Hours: Mon–Sat 4pm–9pm. Happy hour 4–5pm and 8–9pm. 4.6 stars, 413+ Yelp reviews. (425) 322-5280.

    Capers + Olives Is the Best Italian Restaurant in Downtown Everett, and It Changes Its Menu Every Two Weeks

    There’s a restaurant at 2933 Colby Ave in downtown Everett that’s been quietly earning 4.6 stars on Yelp from 413-plus diners over several years, and if you haven’t heard of it, that’s partly by design. Capers + Olives doesn’t market itself hard. Chef and owner Jimmy Liang doesn’t chase trends. The menu changes every two weeks, sometimes more often, based on what local farms and suppliers have available. If something isn’t right this week, it doesn’t go on the menu this week.

    This is how great Italian restaurants have always worked. It’s just not how most restaurants in Everett work. Which is why Capers + Olives is the one we keep coming back to.

    The Chef: Jimmy Liang and The Herb Farm

    Jimmy Liang’s origin story is a good one. He started in Asian cuisine — which you can taste in the precision and restraint that shows up in his Italian preparations — but his first love was always Italian food. His culinary anchor was an internship at The Herb Farm, the legendary Woodinville destination that essentially wrote the rulebook for Pacific Northwest farm-to-table dining over its 30-plus years in operation.

    The Herb Farm’s influence shows in Liang’s sourcing philosophy: nothing goes on the menu until he’s talked to his farmers and suppliers. The menu is seasonal not as a marketing claim but as a literal operating constraint. If peonies are blooming and the ranunculus is done, the menu reflects that rhythm. If fennel sausage is available from the right supplier, it appears. If it’s not, it doesn’t.

    What to Order (With the Caveat That It Might Not Be There Next Week)

    The menu shifts fast enough that specific dishes are moving targets, but certain things tend to anchor the experience. The homemade focaccia is almost always present, and it’s the best version of itself: properly blistered, oily in the right way, crusty enough to serve as a structural element in the meal. Order it. Don’t share more than necessary.

    The Castelvetrano olives are a house constant — bright, buttery, mild, not the jarred-grocery-store version. The homemade burrata with pear, currant, and pistachios is the kind of dish you think about the week after you had it. The contrast between the fresh dairy, the fruit, and the nuttiness of the pistachios is the dish in a sentence.

    The pasta with fennel sausage and cabbage is a recurring seasonal anchor — hearty and precise and less showy than it sounds on paper. And then there’s Liang’s signature: a three-ingredient spaghetti made with pasta imported from Italy, where the point is not complexity but perfection. Three good things, made right, nothing hidden. It’s the dish that makes you understand why he trained where he trained.

    All pasta beyond the imported spaghetti is made fresh in-house daily. This matters. You can taste the difference between fresh pasta made that morning and pasta that came out of a bag three days ago, and at Capers + Olives it always tastes like this morning.

    The Space: Small, Warm, Serious

    Capers + Olives is a small room — bistro-scale, intentionally so. The energy is warm and slightly hushed in the good way restaurants get when the food is the main event and the décor doesn’t compete with it. Cozy armchair atmosphere isn’t how we’d describe it; it’s more like: the lighting is right, the tables have space between them, and whoever is running the front of house knows the menu well enough to answer questions confidently.

    It’s a good first date restaurant. It’s a good “we just got promoted / got engaged / need to mark the occasion” restaurant. It’s not a loud group party venue — bring four people max and keep the conversation to the table.

    Hours, Happy Hour, and When to Go

    Open Monday through Saturday, 4pm to 9pm. Closed Sunday. Happy hour runs 4–5pm and again 8–9pm — the split happy hour is an unusual and generous move. The 4–5pm window makes this one of the better after-work stops in downtown Everett. The 8–9pm late happy hour is for people who ate dinner somewhere else and want to end the night right.

    Call ahead or check their website before you go — the restaurant is small enough that on a busy Friday or Saturday, walk-ins can face a wait. (425) 322-5280.

    How It Fits in Everett’s Italian Landscape

    We covered Luca Italian Restaurant & Wine Bar on Hewitt Avenue earlier this season — Bepi from Florence, Vincenzo from Sicily, a deep Italian wine list, the real cream-free carbonara. Luca is fine dining, European-trained, occasion-worthy in the “special dinner” sense.

    Capers + Olives is something different: casual-elegant, PNW-informed, rotating with the seasons. The two restaurants don’t cannibalize each other. Luca gives you Florence and Sicily. Capers + Olives gives you the Pacific Northwest filtered through an Italian sensibility. They’re solving different problems.

    If you’ve only been to one and not the other, you’re missing half the picture of what Italian food in downtown Everett actually is in 2026.

    The Verdict

    Jimmy Liang built a genuinely excellent restaurant in downtown Everett and has been running it at a high level for years without much fanfare. The menu philosophy — seasonal, local, changes every two weeks, the farmers decide before the chef does — is the right one, and the execution reflects it. The pasta is fresh. The focaccia is worth the trip. The burrata will follow you home.

    Capers + Olives deserves to be fully booked on a Friday. Go, and tell someone about it.

    Capers + Olives
    2933 Colby Ave, Everett, WA 98201
    (425) 322-5280 | capersandolives.com
    Mon–Sat: 4pm–9pm | Closed Sunday
    Happy Hour: 4–5pm and 8–9pm

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Where is Capers + Olives in Everett?

    2933 Colby Ave, Everett, WA 98201 — downtown Everett, between Everett Ave and Pacific Ave.

    What cuisine does Capers + Olives serve?

    Seasonal Italian-inspired farm-to-table cuisine. The menu changes every two weeks based on what local Pacific Northwest farms and suppliers have available.

    Who is the owner of Capers + Olives Everett?

    Chef and owner Jimmy Liang, who trained at The Herb Farm, one of the Pacific Northwest’s most respected farm-to-table restaurants.

    What are Capers + Olives hours?

    Monday–Saturday 4pm–9pm. Closed Sunday. Happy hour 4–5pm and 8–9pm daily.

    Does Capers + Olives take reservations?

    Call (425) 322-5280. The restaurant is small — calling ahead on weekends is strongly recommended.

    What should I order at Capers + Olives?

    The homemade focaccia, Castelvetrano olives, burrata with pear and pistachio, and whatever pasta is on the rotating menu. The three-ingredient imported spaghetti is the signature.

    How is Capers + Olives rated?

    4.6 stars across 413+ Yelp reviews as of February 2026.

  • The Everett Farmers Market Opens This Mother’s Day — Here’s How to Make a Full Morning of It

    The Everett Farmers Market Opens This Mother’s Day — Here’s How to Make a Full Morning of It

    Quick answer: The Everett Farmers Market opens for the 2026 season on Sunday May 10 — Mother’s Day — at 2930 Wetmore Ave, Everett. Hours: 10:30am early access (seniors/high-risk), 11am general. Free admission. Fresh flowers, spring produce, baked goods, local honey, artisans, and live music every week through October.

    The Everett Farmers Market Opens This Mother’s Day — Here’s How to Make a Full Morning of It

    Every year the Everett Farmers Market opens on the second Sunday in May. Every year that Sunday is Mother’s Day. And every year this coincidence creates the best morning in Everett’s calendar: the whole city turns out, the flower vendors are stacked, and downtown smells like fresh bread and spring greens before noon.

    This Sunday, May 10, is that morning. The 2026 season opens at 2930 Wetmore Ave at 10:30am (early access for seniors and high-risk customers) and 11am for everyone else. Here’s how to make it count.

    The Flowers: This Is the Move

    If you are going to the Everett Farmers Market on Mother’s Day, you are going for the flowers. Full stop.

    The market’s Hmong farmer vendors are there every single Sunday with fresh-cut seasonal flower bouquets — and on opening day, which lands on the biggest flower-buying holiday of the year, they arrive loaded. These aren’t grocery store bouquets wrapped in cellophane. They’re cut that morning, arranged right there, priced to move, and the kind of thing you hand someone and they immediately want to know where you found them.

    In early May in the Pacific Northwest you’re looking at tulips wrapping up their final weeks, ranunculus in full bloom, anemones, sweet peas just starting, and the first cutting peonies of the season depending on the growing year. Get there at 10:30 if you can — the best bouquets go to the early arrivals on opening day.

    What’s Fresh in Early May

    The first week of the season is never peak abundance — that’s July and August when the tables are buried in tomatoes and stone fruit. But May has its own season, and it’s worth knowing what you’re shopping for.

    Look for: spring greens (arugula, spinach, mix lettuces, kale), radishes, green onions, asparagus if the season has been warm, greenhouse starts (tomato and pepper seedlings if you’re planting), and fresh herbs. The baked goods vendors are there year-round — look for sourdough, pastries, and local honey. Several local farms bring eggs and early season jams.

    The vendor map is updated by Saturday noon before each Sunday market, so check everettfarmersmarket.com Saturday evening to see exactly who’s coming Opening Day.

    The Opening Day Energy Is Different

    We want to be clear: the Everett Farmers Market in August, when every table is overflowing and the line for the corn guy wraps around the block, is incredible. But Opening Day has something you can’t get any other week.

    Vendors who haven’t seen each other since October are catching up. Regulars who’ve been driving to Arlington or Edmonds for their farmers market fix all winter are finally home. The musicians who play live every Sunday are in the first-day-of-school mood. And the sheer density of people who turn out for Opening Day on Mother’s Day makes the corner of Wetmore feel like a neighborhood that knows itself.

    It’s loud and it’s crowded and it smells like fresh bread and it’s exactly what a farmers market is supposed to be.

    How to Plan the Morning

    Here’s the move: arrive at 10:30 if anyone in your group qualifies for early access. 11am works fine otherwise — just know the flower situation will have thinned slightly. Budget an hour at the market. Buy flowers. Buy something for breakfast if the pastry vendors have what you need. Then head to the waterfront.

    Jetty Bar & Grille at Hotel Indigo (1028 13th St) has Mother’s Day brunch specials this Sunday — Brioche French Toast, Spanish Quiche, mimosas, and their full marina-view brunch. From Wetmore Ave to the waterfront is under 10 minutes by car. You arrive with flowers. You sit down to a view of Possession Sound. That’s the morning.

    If you prefer coffee and a walk, The Loft Coffee Bar on Hewitt Ave is open and a 10-minute walk from the market. STRGZR Coffee & Kitchen at 1422 Hewitt is another solid option if you want breakfast burritos alongside the coffee.

    The Bigger Picture: Why This Market Matters

    The Everett Farmers Market has been running since the early 1990s and has become one of the anchors of downtown Everett’s summer identity. Every vendor at that market is a small business — a farm family, an artisan baker, a beekeeper — and every dollar spent there goes directly to the people who grew or made what you’re buying. No middleman, no distributor markup.

    The market runs through October at the same location, every Sunday, 11am to 3pm. If you make it a weekly habit this season, you’ll notice how the market changes week to week as the growing season advances — from the delicate May greens all the way to the full-load harvest tables of September. Worth the habit.

    Everett Farmers Market — 2026 Season
    2930 Wetmore Ave, Everett, WA 98201
    Every Sunday May 10 through October
    10:30am early access (seniors/high-risk) | 11am–3pm general
    Free admission | (425) 422-5656 | everettfarmersmarket.com

    Frequently Asked Questions

    When does the Everett Farmers Market open in 2026?

    Sunday May 10, 2026 — Opening Day is Mother’s Day. The market runs every Sunday through October at 2930 Wetmore Ave.

    What time does the Everett Farmers Market open?

    10:30am early access for seniors and high-risk customers; 11am general opening. Market closes at 3pm.

    Does the Everett Farmers Market have flowers?

    Yes — Hmong farmer vendors bring fresh-cut seasonal flower bouquets every Sunday. On Opening Day / Mother’s Day expect the biggest flower selection of any single market day.

    Is the Everett Farmers Market free?

    Yes, admission is free. 2930 Wetmore Ave, Everett, WA 98201.

    What can I buy at the Everett Farmers Market in May?

    Spring greens, radishes, asparagus, fresh herbs, greenhouse plant starts, eggs, local honey, baked goods, fresh flowers, and artisan crafts.

    How do I find out which vendors are at the Everett Farmers Market?

    The vendor map is updated by Saturday noon the week before each Sunday market. Check everettfarmersmarket.com/all-vendors/ for the current list.

  • Jetty Bar & Grille: The Everett Waterfront’s Hidden Best Table

    Jetty Bar & Grille: The Everett Waterfront’s Hidden Best Table

    Quick answer: Jetty Bar & Grille (1028 13th St, Everett, inside Hotel Indigo Waterfront Place) serves Salish Sea-inspired seafood with marina views. Weekend brunch Sat–Sun 7am–3pm. Mother’s Day specials May 10 — Brioche French Toast, Spanish Quiche, mimosas. Reserve at (425) 535-4414 or OpenTable.

    Jetty Bar & Grille: The Everett Waterfront’s Hidden Best Table

    The Port of Everett’s Restaurant Row has been getting a lot of well-deserved press over the last 18 months. Tapped Public House with its rooftop deck. Marina Azul’s 100-tequila back bar. Anthony’s halibut season. South Fork Baking’s scratch pastries. The waterfront has become a destination, and that’s a sentence nobody was saying three years ago.

    But one waterfront table has been quietly delivering four-star seafood and marina views the entire time the newer spots were opening: Jetty Bar & Grille, the restaurant inside Hotel Indigo Seattle Everett Waterfront. Located at 1028 13th St in the heart of Fisherman’s Harbor, Jetty has been here since the hotel opened — and it keeps getting underrated in the conversation about where to eat on the water. We’re here to fix that. Especially this Sunday.

    The Setting: Right on the Marina

    Hotel Indigo Everett Waterfront is the glass-and-steel building that anchors the north end of Waterfront Place, and Jetty occupies its ground-floor dining space with direct access to an outdoor patio overlooking the Port of Everett Marina. On a clear May day you get an unobstructed line of sight across Possession Sound toward the Olympic Mountains. The nautical décor inside isn’t overdone — warm wood tones, blue accents, floor-to-ceiling windows — and it feels like you’re actually on the water without being weather-dependent.

    Parking is free in the Waterfront Place lot, and you’re a short walk from the marina docks if someone in your party wants to admire the boats before or after eating.

    What to Order

    The menu focuses on approachable Pacific Northwest seafood sourced from local purveyors. This isn’t white-tablecloth fine dining — it’s well-executed casual-to-midrange that genuinely knows what it’s doing with fish.

    Start with the smoked salmon chowder. It’s thick, properly smoked, and local — not the gluey tourist version you get at some waterfront spots. Follow it with the olive oil poached halibut, which arrives delicate and seasonal and makes a case for halibut prepared simply rather than buried in sauce. The fish and chips set a legitimate benchmark: light batter, fresh fish, crisp fries.

    The cocktail program leans local too — handcrafted drinks, Pacific Northwest spirits where available — and the daily happy hour runs 3pm to 5pm, making the waterfront patio genuinely affordable on a weekday afternoon.

    Brunch: Their Secret Weapon

    Weekday brunch runs Monday through Friday from 6am to 3pm. Weekend brunch is Saturday and Sunday from 7am to 3pm, and it’s where Jetty makes its most compelling argument: the morning light across the marina, a mimosa in hand, avocado toast or eggs Benedict with smoked salmon — this is the strongest brunch case in Snohomish County at this price point. We’ll stand by that.

    Mother’s Day Brunch This Sunday — Reserve Now

    This Sunday, May 10, is Mother’s Day, and Jetty is running brunch specials alongside the regular menu: Brioche French Toast and Spanish Quiche, with mimosas and the full marina view. If you want a reservation for Sunday brunch, do not wait — call (425) 535-4414 or book through OpenTable today. Jetty holds 4.4 stars across more than 400 OpenTable diners, and waterfront Mother’s Day tables at this price go fast.

    Here’s a full morning plan we’d recommend: start at the Everett Farmers Market’s opening day (10:30am, 2930 Wetmore Ave — also Mother’s Day), grab flowers from the Hmong farmer vendors, then walk or drive to the waterfront for Jetty brunch. Flowers in the car, mimosas at the marina. That’s a complete Mother’s Day at a very reasonable cost.

    Dinner Service

    Dinner runs Sunday through Thursday 4pm to 9pm and Friday through Saturday 4pm to 10pm. The seafood focus continues through the evening — the poached halibut and chowder carry over from lunch — joined by a broader selection of Salish Sea fish preparations and a full cocktail menu. This is the restaurant you bring out-of-town guests when you want to show them what Everett’s waterfront actually looks like from inside a good meal.

    The Verdict

    Jetty Bar & Grille has been the quiet backbone of Waterfront Place dining since Hotel Indigo opened. While newer Restaurant Row tenants got bigger marketing pushes, Jetty has been doing consistent, honest Salish Sea seafood with one of the best marina views in the county. Four-point-four stars across 400-plus OpenTable diners over multiple years doesn’t happen without getting the fundamentals right.

    If you haven’t been, this Mother’s Day weekend is the prompt you needed. Make the reservation. Start at the farmers market. Do the mimosa with marina views. Come back in the summer for the patio at sunset. Tapped Public House and Rustic Cork are great neighbors for a waterfront evening that runs long.

    Jetty Bar & Grille
    1028 13th St, Everett, WA (inside Hotel Indigo Waterfront Place)
    (425) 535-4414 | OpenTable reservations
    Brunch: Mon–Fri 6am–3pm | Sat–Sun 7am–3pm
    Dinner: Sun–Thu 4–9pm | Fri–Sat 4–10pm
    Happy Hour: Daily 3–5pm

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Where is Jetty Bar & Grille in Everett?

    1028 13th St inside Hotel Indigo Seattle Everett Waterfront, at Fisherman’s Harbor in the Waterfront Place development.

    Does Jetty Bar & Grille serve brunch?

    Yes — weekdays 6am–3pm, weekends 7am–3pm. Weekend brunch is their strongest meal.

    What are Jetty Bar & Grille’s Mother’s Day 2026 specials?

    Brioche French Toast and Spanish Quiche added to the regular brunch menu Sunday May 10. Reserve at (425) 535-4414 or OpenTable.

    What is Jetty Bar & Grille’s best dish?

    Smoked salmon chowder to start, olive oil poached halibut as the main. For brunch, eggs Benedict with smoked salmon or avocado toast with the marina view.

    Is there parking at Jetty Bar & Grille?

    Free parking in the Waterfront Place lot adjacent to Hotel Indigo.

    What is Jetty Bar & Grille’s rating?

    4.4 stars across 400+ OpenTable diners (as of May 2026).

  • Port Townsend in May: Plein Air at the Lighthouse and a 158-Year-Old Living Museum

    Port Townsend in May: Plein Air at the Lighthouse and a 158-Year-Old Living Museum

    May is the sweet spot for Port Townsend. The Rhododendron Festival is still a week out, the summer ferry crowds haven’t arrived, and the city’s Victorian seaport is fully awake without being overrun. This week, two experiences define what makes a May visit to PT worth planning around: a recurring free outdoor painting event at Fort Worden’s Point Wilson Lighthouse, and a trip to the Rothschild House — an 1868 home so intact it functions less like a museum and more like walking into someone’s house just after they left.

    Plein Air at Point Wilson: Art at the Edge of the Strait

    Quimper Arts has been running free plein air outings in and around Port Townsend since April, and today’s location might be the best one on the calendar. Point Wilson Lighthouse, at the northeastern tip of Fort Worden State Park, sits where the Strait of Juan de Fuca meets Admiralty Inlet — a location that gives painters a panorama of open water, working lighthouse infrastructure, and the distant profiles of the San Juan Islands.

    Every first, third, and fifth Wednesday from April through November, Quimper Arts leads a free gathering at locations across Jefferson County. The Point Wilson session runs 9am to noon, with instructor Joyce Hester giving a live plein air demonstration at 9am sharp for anyone who wants to watch technique before picking up their own brushes. You don’t need to be a member, you don’t need experience, and you don’t need to register — just show up.

    Practical notes: Drive into Fort Worden State Park and park directly at the lighthouse (a Discover Pass is required — $10 daily or $35 annual). From your car, walk north along the fence line toward the jetty. That’s where the group gathers. Bring whatever medium you work in — watercolor, oil, pastel, graphite — the light and the landscape accommodate everything. Pacific weather in early May can change quickly, so bring an extra layer even on a clear morning.

    If you’ve never painted outdoors before, this is a genuinely low-pressure introduction. Quimper Arts events are explicitly welcoming to beginners. The bi-monthly schedule means you can come back to a different location every two weeks through November — check quimperarts.org for the full 2026 calendar.

    The Rothschild House: 1868, Exactly as Left

    Three miles from Fort Worden, up the hill into Port Townsend’s uptown district, the Rothschild House stands at the corner of Jefferson and Taylor Streets. Built in 1868 by D.C.H. Rothschild — a merchant who arrived during Port Townsend’s peak years as a customs port of entry and a city bidding to become the terminus of the transcontinental railroad — the house is now managed by the Jefferson County Historical Society as one of Washington State’s most intact Victorian-era homes.

    What sets it apart from other historic houses is what didn’t happen to it: the rooms were never cleared, the furnishings were never replaced, and the family belongings were never curated away. You’re seeing the actual household, preserved in the actual configuration it occupied when Port Townsend was a boomtown of 5,000 people betting that the railroad would come and they would become the Seattle before Seattle existed.

    The house opens for the 2026 season Thursday through Sunday, 11am to 4pm, and runs through September 12. Tours are managed by the Jefferson County Historical Society; call 360-385-1003 or stop by the JCHS Museum at 540 Water Street (downtown PT) to plan your visit. The museum itself is worth building time around — it covers Jefferson County history from Indigenous maritime cultures through the Victorian era in depth, and the two sites together make for a complete PT history half-day.

    Plan Your Visit

    For plein air at Point Wilson: The event runs every 1st, 3rd, and 5th Wednesday, 9am–noon. Fort Worden State Park is located at 200 Battery Way, Port Townsend, WA 98368. A Discover Pass is required for parking ($10 daily, $35 annual). From the Kitsap Peninsula, take Hwy 104 north — drive time from Kingston is approximately 45 minutes.

    For the Rothschild House: Corner of Jefferson and Taylor Streets, uptown Port Townsend. Open Thursday–Sunday, 11am–4pm through September 12. Free street parking is available in uptown. The JCHS Museum is at 540 Water Street downtown — pairing both in the same visit makes for an efficient and rewarding Port Townsend history day.

    Timing note: Rhododendron Festival runs May 13–17, bringing the Grand Parade on May 16 at 1pm and the 45th Rhody Run on May 17 at Fort Worden. If you want a quieter window to explore uptown and the Fort Worden grounds without festival crowds, this weekend — May 9–11 — is your best opening before the city shifts into full celebration mode.

  • Discovering Port Townsend’s Maritime Soul: From Touch Tanks to Teak Decks

    Discovering Port Townsend’s Maritime Soul: From Touch Tanks to Teak Decks

    Port Townsend has always been defined by the water around it. Perched at the northeastern tip of the Olympic Peninsula where the Strait of Juan de Fuca meets Admiralty Inlet, this Victorian seaport has been drawing people to its shores since the 1850s — first as a boomtown that believed it would become the great metropolis of the Pacific Northwest, then as a quiet backwater that preserved its 19th-century architecture almost by accident, and now as one of Washington’s most beloved destinations for anyone who wants to get close to the natural and human history of the sea. In early May, with the rhododendrons still holding their bloom and the Strait gleaming silver on clear mornings, two institutions anchor what makes a Port Townsend visit genuinely memorable: the Port Townsend Marine Science Center and the Northwest Maritime Center. Together, they tell the full story of this coastline — one from the tide pools up, and one from the dock out.

    Port Townsend Marine Science Center — Where the Intertidal Zone Comes to Life

    The Port Townsend Marine Science Center occupies the historic Battery Kinzie building at Fort Worden State Park, a squat concrete structure that once housed coastal artillery and now holds one of the most accessible marine education facilities on the Olympic Peninsula. The setting alone is worth the visit: the building sits at the edge of the fort’s north beach, a few hundred yards from Point Wilson and the lighthouse that has guided ships through Admiralty Inlet since 1913. On a clear spring morning, you can stand outside the entrance and watch container ships threading their way toward Puget Sound with the snow-capped Cascades as a backdrop.

    Inside, PTMSC’s touch tanks are the centerpiece for visitors of any age. These shallow saltwater pools are stocked with live intertidal animals — purple sea urchins, ochre sea stars, giant hermit crabs, sun stars, and the occasional spiny sculpin — pulled from the rocky shoreline just outside. Staff and volunteers are on hand to guide interactions and explain the ecological relationships at work in this environment. Spring is a particularly rich season: the cold upwelling waters of the Strait support dense intertidal communities, and the longer days bring out species that stayed deeper through winter.

    Beyond the touch tanks, PTMSC maintains natural history exhibits covering the marine ecosystems of the Salish Sea, with a focus on the species and habitats found specifically in the waters off the Olympic Peninsula. The center also runs guided tide pool walks during low-tide windows throughout the spring and summer season — these walks are led by trained naturalists and cover the stretch of rocky beach directly below Fort Worden’s north bluff. It’s the kind of experience that makes you see the beach completely differently afterward. To check current walk schedules and confirm spring hours before making the drive, visit ptmsc.org or call the center directly on weekday mornings.

    The Northwest Maritime Center — A Living Shipyard on the Waterfront

    A mile south along Port Townsend’s waterfront, at 431 Water Street where the downtown blocks meet the boat basin, the Northwest Maritime Center is something harder to categorize than a museum and more interesting than a visitor center. It is, essentially, a working maritime campus — a place where wooden boats are still built, traditional seamanship is still taught, and the connection between a community and the sea it lives beside is treated as something worth actively maintaining.

    The NMC is home to the Wooden Boat Foundation, which has anchored Port Townsend’s identity as the wooden boat capital of the West Coast since the 1970s. The Foundation’s signature event is the Wooden Boat Festival each September, which draws tens of thousands of visitors and hundreds of classic vessels to PT’s harbor. But the NMC operates year-round, and spring is a wonderful time to visit before the summer crowds arrive. The boat shop is open to visitors, and on weekdays you can watch craftspeople restoring historic vessels or building new ones in the traditional lapstrake and carvel methods. There is something genuinely meditative about watching someone fit a plank to a frame in a building that smells of cedar and caulk while the harbor stretches out behind them through the open workshop doors.

    The NMC also runs a full sailing school, with classes ranging from introductory day sails to multi-day coastal passages. Spring enrollment opens in early May for the summer season, and if you have any inclination toward learning to sail, this is one of the finest places on the West Coast to start. The docks immediately in front of the NMC are also the landing point for the Keystone-Port Townsend passenger ferry from Whidbey Island, which makes a car-free arrival possible for visitors coming from the north. Check nwmaritime.org for current programming, workshop schedules, and spring events.

    Plan Your Visit

    Both the Marine Science Center and the Northwest Maritime Center are within walking distance of Port Townsend’s downtown core, which makes combining them into a single day straightforward. A reasonable sequence: start with a morning visit to PTMSC at Fort Worden (about 2 miles north of downtown via the Lawrence Street trail corridor), allow two hours for the exhibits and the beach, then drive or walk back into town for lunch on Water Street before spending the afternoon at the NMC. The waterfront between the NMC and Point Hudson Marina is worth a full slow walk — the views across the Strait toward Whidbey and the Cascades are among the best on the peninsula.

    Parking at Fort Worden requires a Discover Pass (Washington State Parks annual or day-use fee). Downtown PT street parking is free for two hours with extended-stay lots nearby. Both institutions ask that you call ahead or check websites before visiting on weekdays outside the peak summer season, as hours can vary. For lodging, the Fort Worden commons hostel-style accommodations are a unique option if you want to stay on the park grounds — book well in advance for any May or June weekend.