Exploring Everett - Tygart Media

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Category: Exploring Everett

Everett, Washington is in the middle of something big. A $1 billion waterfront transformation. A Boeing workforce that built the world’s largest commercial jets. A port city with a downtown that’s finally catching up to its potential. A Navy presence at Naval Station Everett. A comedy and arts scene punching above its weight. And neighborhoods — Riverside, Silver Lake, Downtown, Bayside — each with their own identity and story.

Exploring Everett is Tygart Media’s hyperlocal coverage vertical for Snohomish County’s largest city. We cover the waterfront redevelopment, Boeing and Paine Field, city hall, the food and arts scene, real estate, neighborhoods, and everything in between — written for people who live here, work here, or are paying attention to what’s coming.

Coverage categories include: Everett News, Waterfront Development, Boeing & Aerospace, Business, Arts & Culture, Food & Drink, Real Estate, Neighborhoods, Government, Schools, Public Safety, Events, and Outdoors.

Exploring Everett content is also published at exploringeverett.com.

  • The 5,200-Worker Aerospace Shortage in Snohomish County: A Complete 2026 Guide to the Pipeline at Paine Field

    The 5,200-Worker Aerospace Shortage in Snohomish County: A Complete 2026 Guide to the Pipeline at Paine Field

    How big is the aerospace worker shortage in Snohomish County? The Aerospace Futures Alliance projects a net shortage of approximately 5,200 skilled aerospace manufacturing workers across Washington state by the end of 2026, concentrated in CNC machining, composite fabrication, and quality inspection. Most of the demand sits within five miles of Paine Field in Snohomish County, where Boeing’s Everett factory, the Washington Aerospace Training & Research Center, and the Machinists Institute form the densest aerospace training and employment cluster in the United States.

    Why this number is the story right now

    The 5,200-worker shortfall is the headline that should be coming out of every Washington aerospace earnings call this spring. Boeing has publicly committed to adding more than 10,000 workers in Washington to restore production flow and meet tightened FAA quality oversight. Blue Origin grew from roughly 3,500 employees to over 4,000 by late 2025 with another 1,500 hires projected through 2026. The 600-plus aerospace suppliers spread across Snohomish County compete for the same skilled tradespeople. The math does not work yet — and the front line for fixing it sits inside a five-mile radius of Paine Field.

    Where the shortage actually hits

    The 5,200 figure is not evenly distributed across roles. Three concentrations dominate:

    CNC machining. Computer-numerical-control machinists turn engineering designs into precise metal parts. Every airframe coming out of the Everett factory contains thousands of CNC-machined components. Skilled CNC operators take 18 to 36 months of focused training before they can run complex jobs unsupervised. New entrants are not arriving fast enough to backfill retirements.

    Composite fabrication. Modern widebodies — including the 777X being readied for first delivery from Paine Field — depend on composite structures for weight savings and durability. Composite work requires layup, autoclave operation, and damage-inspection skills that traditional metal-shop training does not provide.

    Quality inspection. The discipline Boeing has emphasized most since the 2024 quality push and the FAA’s tightened oversight requirements. Inspectors verify that every part, every join, and every wire run meets specification. They are also among the most experienced people on any factory floor, which makes the inspector retirement wave especially hard to backfill. A new mechanic can become productive on a final-assembly line in months. A skilled inspector or machinist takes years.

    The Snohomish County training pipeline

    Almost every credible answer to the shortage runs through a small geographic radius around Paine Field. Snohomish County hosts the densest cluster of aerospace training infrastructure in the country, and most of it sits within five miles of the Boeing factory.

    Washington Aerospace Training & Research Center (WATR)

    Operated by Edmonds College on the Paine Field site at 3008 100th Street SW in Everett, WATR opened in 2010. It runs 12-week certificate programs in Manufacturing Assembly Mechanic, Electrical Assembly Mechanic, Manufacturing Composites, Tooling Mechanic, and Quality Assurance. The center reports that approximately 90% of graduates secure entry roles in manufacturing, with roughly 86% of those landing in aerospace specifically. The hybrid delivery model — online coursework plus a substantial in-person lab component on industry-standard equipment — was built so a working adult could complete the program in a single quarter.

    Machinists Institute (IAM District 751)

    IAM District 751 opened the new 23,000-square-foot Machinists Institute and Union Hall on June 6, 2025, at 8729 Airport Road in Everett — directly across the street from the Sno-Isle Tech Skills Center and adjacent to the Boeing Everett Factory. The Institute is built to train up to 700 new machinists per year. Its training equipment includes CNC simulators, paint and welding virtual-reality rigs, advanced metrology tools, 3D printers, programmable logic controllers, and augmented-reality applications. The direct Boeing-pathway program at the Everett center trains workers in spray painting, manual machining, blueprint reading, and assembly-line quality control — exactly the disciplines Boeing’s hiring funnel is hungriest for.

    Sno-Isle TECH Skills Center

    Sno-Isle TECH on Airport Road is the high-school side of the pipeline. It pulls juniors and seniors from districts across Snohomish County into half-day technical programs in welding, machining, aviation maintenance, and engineering technology. Many graduates flow directly into apprenticeships with Boeing, suppliers, or one of the Edmonds College programs.

    Everett Community College Advanced Manufacturing

    EvCC’s Advanced Manufacturing Group at the main Everett campus carries the longer-form credentials — welding, machining, composites, and technical design — for students who want a full associate’s degree rather than a 12-week certificate. EvCC also operates the bridge programs that hand WATR graduates the additional coursework needed to step into more advanced roles.

    AJAC apprenticeships

    The Aerospace Joint Apprenticeship Committee runs a free 10-week foundational manufacturing program for adults 18 and over. AJAC apprenticeships are paid from day one — the model that has historically moved the most underemployed workers into aerospace careers in this region.

    Why the math still does not close

    Add up the pipeline capacity and it looks like a lot of throughput. WATR has trained more than 4,300 students since 2010. The Machinists Institute is built for 700 a year. Sno-Isle TECH and EvCC together graduate hundreds more. AJAC adds another stream.

    The catch is concentration. Boeing alone needs more than 10,000 workers across all Washington programs over the next several years. Blue Origin needs another 1,500. Suppliers need a steady backfill. And the disciplines in shortest supply — composite fabrication, advanced CNC, and senior quality inspection — are the slowest to train. A 12-week assembly-mechanic certificate gets a worker onto a line, but the inspector that line needs has 10 years of factory experience that nobody can manufacture overnight.

    The other complicating factor: the Boeing 737 North Line in Everett is now ramping. The 777X first-delivery push is on. And Boeing disclosed on its April 23, 2026 Q1 earnings call that roughly 30 already-built 777X widebodies parked at Paine Field need a multi-year change incorporation before delivery — work that pulls on the same skilled labor pool as new production.

    Why this matters specifically to Everett

    Everett is the city the math runs through. The Boeing Everett Factory is the largest building in the world by volume and the single biggest aerospace employment site in the country. Paine Field hosts not just Boeing but also ATS, Aviation Technical Services, ZeroAvia (now two years on-site), and dozens of suppliers. The training infrastructure is in city limits or directly adjacent. When the 5,200-worker number lands, it lands here first.

    For new residents weighing a move to Everett, the workforce story is also a housing story — see our 2026 housing guide for Boeing 737 North Line workers and the broader three-submarkets housing guide for context. For workers reading this who already live in the city, the related 767 sundown and KC-46 worker guide walks through how the program transitions interact with the broader hiring picture.

    The forward look

    The Snohomish County training pipeline is being asked to do something it has not been asked to do at this scale before: backfill a generation of retiring skilled workers and supply a generation of new aerospace programs at the same time. The infrastructure is in place. The question is whether the throughput keeps up with the demand curve over the next 24 months. Watch the Machinists Institute enrollment numbers, the WATR placement rate, and the AJAC apprentice count. Those three numbers will tell the story.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What is the Aerospace Futures Alliance?

    The Aerospace Futures Alliance (AFA) is the Washington state aerospace industry association that unites and advocates on behalf of aviation, space, and unmanned aircraft systems businesses across the state. AFA aligns business priorities with workforce, training, and education planning, and it produces the analyses that document workforce gaps like the 5,200-worker shortage projection.

    Where is the Washington Aerospace Training & Research Center?

    WATR is located at 3008 100th Street SW in Everett, on the Paine Field campus. It is operated by Edmonds College and has trained more than 4,300 students since 2010.

    How long is the WATR certificate program?

    WATR runs 12-week certificate programs in Manufacturing Assembly Mechanic, Electrical Assembly Mechanic, Manufacturing Composites, Tooling Mechanic, and Quality Assurance. Programs use a hybrid model with online coursework and substantial in-person lab work on industry-standard equipment.

    What is the Machinists Institute?

    The Machinists Institute is the IAM District 751 training facility that opened June 6, 2025, at 8729 Airport Road in Everett. The 23,000-square-foot facility is built to train up to 700 new machinists per year, with CNC simulators, virtual-reality welding and paint training, advanced metrology, 3D printers, and PLC and AR equipment.

    How many workers is Boeing trying to add in Washington?

    Boeing has publicly committed to adding more than 10,000 workers in Washington to restore production flow and meet tightened FAA quality oversight requirements after the 2024 quality push.

    What roles are hardest to fill?

    Three concentrations dominate the Aerospace Futures Alliance shortage analysis: CNC machining, composite fabrication, and quality inspection. CNC machinists need 18 to 36 months of focused training before running complex jobs unsupervised; quality inspectors typically build years of factory experience before reaching journeyman level.

    How can a Snohomish County resident get into aerospace work?

    The most direct entry points are the WATR 12-week certificate programs, the Machinists Institute Boeing-pathway program, AJAC’s free 10-week foundational program, and Sno-Isle TECH for high schoolers. Edmonds College and Everett Community College carry longer-form credential pathways for workers who want associate’s degrees alongside certificates.


  • Want to Argue For or Against the EMS Levy? Everett Needs Pro/Con Committee Volunteers by Tomorrow Night

    Want to Argue For or Against the EMS Levy? Everett Needs Pro/Con Committee Volunteers by Tomorrow Night

    How does Everett’s EMS levy Pro and Con committee process work? The City of Everett is recruiting volunteers to serve on Pro and Con committees that will write the official 250-word arguments for and against the August 4, 2026 EMS levy ballot measure. Applications close at 11:59 p.m. Monday, April 27, 2026. The City Council appoints committee members at the April 29, 2026 meeting. Statements are due to Snohomish County Elections by May 7, with rebuttals due May 11. Committee members’ names are printed in the local Voters’ Pamphlet alongside their statement.

    If you have an opinion on Everett’s EMS levy and you want it printed in the official Voters’ Pamphlet that lands in every Everett mailbox before the August 4 primary, here’s the deal: the city needs your application by 11:59 p.m. tomorrow night, Monday, April 27, 2026.

    This isn’t writing a letter to the editor. This is a statutory role. Under Washington State law (RCW 29A.32.280), when a jurisdiction puts a measure on the ballot, the city has to appoint a committee for and a committee against. Those committees draft the words voters read.

    What this measure does and what’s at stake

    The Everett City Council voted at its April 22, 2026 meeting to place an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) property tax levy lid lift on the August 4, 2026 primary ballot. If voters approve, the EMS levy rate would be restored from approximately $0.36 per $1,000 of assessed value back to $0.50 per $1,000 — the rate Everett voters originally approved in 2018.

    For a typical home in Everett, restoration works out to roughly $5 to $8 per month. The city’s published yearly examples:

    • $450,000 home → +$63 per year
    • $575,000 home (the 2026 city average) → +$81 per year
    • $700,000 home → +$98 per year

    EMS levy funding supports approximately 78 positions at the Everett Fire Department — the firefighter-paramedics and EMTs who answer the bulk of 911 calls. EMS calls made up about 82% of Everett Fire dispatches in 2025; the department responded to more than 25,700 total calls last year, an increase from 22,955 in 2018.

    “Emergency medical services are a critical part of how we serve our Everett community every day,” Mayor Cassie Franklin said in the city’s April 22 press release announcing the ballot measure. “This measure provides our residents with the opportunity to sustain and support robust, high quality and timely emergency care as our community and service demand grows.”

    That’s the city’s framing, and it is one side of the argument voters will see. The other side gets equal space in the pamphlet — and that side has to come from somewhere. That somewhere is the Con committee.

    What a Pro or Con committee actually does

    Per the city’s published process and Snohomish County Elections rules, here’s what you sign up for:

    • Write a 250-word-maximum statement. Pro committees argue for approval. Con committees argue for rejection. Word counts are strict — Snohomish County Elections enforces the limit.
    • Work independently from the City. Once appointed, committees operate without city involvement in the drafting. The city doesn’t review or edit your argument.
    • Optionally write a rebuttal. After the statements are filed, each committee can read the other side’s statement and write a shorter rebuttal.
    • Have your name printed in the local Voters’ Pamphlet alongside your statement. This is on-the-record civic participation, not anonymous.

    The structure is meant to give voters a clean apples-to-apples view: the city’s neutral fiscal explainer, the proponents’ case, the opponents’ case, the rebuttals, and the official ballot title. People who want to fight this measure in print, and people who want to defend it in print, get the same number of words and the same distribution channel.

    The deadline calendar — short and unforgiving

    Snohomish County Elections runs a tight timeline. Miss any of these and you’re out:

    • Monday, April 27, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. — Application deadline to volunteer for either committee. Online application form. Late or incomplete applications are not accepted.
    • Wednesday, April 29, 2026 — Everett City Council appoints committee members at its meeting.
    • Friday, May 1, 2026 — City submits committee appointments to the Snohomish County Auditor.
    • Thursday, May 7, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. — Pro and Con statements (≤250 words each) due to Snohomish County Elections.
    • Monday, May 11, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. — Rebuttal statements due.

    From sign-up to filed argument, you have about two weeks. Most of that two weeks is just waiting for council appointment and reading the opposing committee’s statement to draft your rebuttal.

    Who gets picked and why

    The application form goes to the City of Everett Fire Department, but the appointing body is the City Council. There’s no formal qualification beyond being an Everett resident willing to put your name to a public position on a ballot measure. In practice, councils often appoint people who have previously testified at council on related issues, who are active in neighborhood associations or relevant advocacy groups, or who have professional context for the question (a retired firefighter for the Pro committee, a tax-policy critic for the Con committee, for instance).

    If both Pro and Con receive multiple qualified applicants, the council selects the committee that best represents the position. If a side receives zero applicants, the city is required to make an effort to find someone — but the statement may end up shorter, signed by fewer people, or in rare cases not filed at all. That last outcome leaves only the city’s neutral explainer and the ballot title in the pamphlet, which historically benefits the Pro side.

    What the Con argument might look like

    This is where the levy debate actually lands. The neutral case for “yes” is well documented in the city’s release: rising call volume, capped 1% revenue growth under state law, restoration of a previously voter-approved rate.

    The case for “no” tends to draw from a few standard angles, each of which the Con committee would have 250 words to make:

    • Property tax fatigue. Everett homeowners are also weighing other levies, special districts, and a structural 2027 general fund deficit that has the city looking at additional revenue measures.
    • The 1% growth limit’s purpose. Initiative 747 (and subsequent legislation) was passed to constrain property tax growth on purpose. A lid lift is a vote to override that constraint.
    • Service-level questions. Whether the additional revenue is the only path to maintain the EMS service level, versus reallocation from other funds.
    • Scope of the levy lid lift. The temporary two-year structure (2027–2028) means the question will be back. Some voters object on principle to a recurring revenue lift.

    None of these are the city’s framing. That’s the point. Pro/Con committees exist precisely because the neutral fiscal note can’t carry the political argument on its own.

    What the Pro argument might look like

    Likely framing for the Pro committee, which would also have 250 words:

    • Restoration, not increase. Voters previously approved $0.50 per $1,000 in 2018; the levy has been eroded by the 1% cap, not voted down.
    • Call volume math. 25,700 calls in 2025 versus 22,955 in 2018, with EMS as 82% of dispatches.
    • Cost in personal terms. About $5–$8 per month for the median Everett homeowner.
    • Direct connection to staffing. Approximately 78 firefighter-paramedic positions tied to the levy.
    • Quote from Fire Chief Dave DeMarco in the city release: “Our firefighters and EMS personnel respond 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year to a wide range of emergencies, with the majority involving medical care. EMS funding supports the personnel, training, and equipment needed to respond effectively and provide care when it is needed.”

    What residents should actually do

    For the next 24 hours or so, the action item is concrete:

    • If you want to write the Pro or Con argument: apply by 11:59 p.m. Monday, April 27, 2026 at the city’s online form. To request accommodations, email communications@everettwa.gov.
    • If you want to watch the appointment vote: Wednesday, April 29, 2026, 12:30 p.m. council session, William E. Moore Historic City Hall / Police North Precinct, 3002 Wetmore Ave., or the council livestream on the city website.
    • If you want background on the levy itself: see the city’s EMS levy information page and the full April 22 city press release.
    • If you want to know more about how Pro/Con committees work in Snohomish County: the Snohomish County 2026 District Guide spells out the rules. For procedural questions, call Snohomish County Elections at (425) 388-3444.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Do I get paid to serve on a Pro or Con committee?
    No. These are unpaid volunteer roles. The compensation, in a sense, is having your name printed alongside your argument in a document that gets mailed to every registered voter in Everett.

    Can I serve on the Pro committee if I work for the city?
    City employees and elected officials are typically excluded from these roles to keep the committees independent. The form will flag eligibility issues. If you’re unsure, the city’s communications office can clarify.

    What if I want to argue against the levy but I’m not sure I can write a 250-word legal-style statement?
    You can apply, get appointed, and work with the other committee members on drafting. The committee can include up to a small number of named members; the statement is collective.

    What’s the difference between the local Voters’ Pamphlet statement and a campaign committee?
    A campaign committee — a registered Political Action Committee (PAC) — raises money, runs ads, and reports to the Public Disclosure Commission. The Pro/Con committee under RCW 29A.32.280 is purely about writing the official statements that go into the pamphlet. You can do one, the other, or both.

    What happens if no one applies for the Con committee?
    The city has to keep trying to recruit. If a committee can’t be seated by the deadline, the pamphlet will run only the available statements, which historically benefits whichever side did organize. That’s a significant reason civic groups pay attention to these deadlines.

    How is this levy different from the City Council’s other tax proposals?
    This one is voter-decided in August. The 2027 general fund gap involves separate options the council has been discussing, including potential annexation, joining a Regional Fire Authority, library regionalization, and another levy lid lift. The August 4 EMS levy is its own ballot question; voters can support or oppose it independent of any other future measure.

    If I miss the April 27 deadline, is there any other way to write into the official pamphlet?
    Not for this measure cycle. The voter pamphlet statements are limited to the formally appointed Pro and Con committees. You can still write to the local newspapers, write to the council, or organize a campaign committee — but the words printed in the pamphlet next to the ballot title come from the committees only.

    The bottom line for Everett

    The August 4 EMS levy is going to the voters with or without volunteer committees. But the words those voters read in their official pamphlet are about to be written by a small number of Everett residents who decide, in the next 24 hours, to put their name on the page. If you have a position — for or against — the path to having that position printed in every Everett ballot envelope is open until 11:59 p.m. Monday.

    Sources

  • Everett Wants to Lock In 7 Mobile Home Parks: The New NR-MHC Zone and the May 6 Public Hearing

    Everett Wants to Lock In 7 Mobile Home Parks: The New NR-MHC Zone and the May 6 Public Hearing

    What is the NR-MHC zone Everett is proposing? The Neighborhood Residential – Manufactured Home Community (NR-MHC) zone is a new land use category the City of Everett is creating to protect seven existing manufactured home parks from being redeveloped into other uses. The proposal amends Sections 15.02 and 19.03–19.13 of the Everett Municipal Code and repeals Title 17 (Mobile Home Parks). The Everett City Council holds a public hearing on the ordinance on Wednesday, May 6, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. in council chambers at 3002 Wetmore Ave.

    If you live at Creekside, Fairway Estates, Lago De Plata Villa, Loganberry, Mobile Country Club, Silver Shores Senior, or Westridge, the City of Everett is about to put your community on the zoning map in a way it has never been before — and the public hearing is May 6.

    The proposal creates a new zoning designation called Neighborhood Residential – Manufactured Home Community (NR-MHC). In plain language, that means the underlying land where these seven parks sit can no longer be quietly rezoned for apartments, retail, or anything else without the city explicitly saying so. The new zone is a fence around the use itself, not just the buildings.

    For people who own the home but rent the lot, that’s the difference between knowing where you live in five years and not.

    What this ordinance actually does

    The proposed code amendment, posted by Everett Planning – Public Notices on April 10, 2026, would do four things at once:

    • Create the new NR-MHC zoning category in Title 19 EMC (Sections 15.02, 19.03, 19.04, 19.05, and 19.13).
    • Apply the new NR-MHC zone to seven specific manufactured housing communities (the addresses are below).
    • Repeal Title 17 of the Everett Municipal Code — the older “Mobile Home Parks” chapter — folding that regulation into the unified development code.
    • Implement two specific policies from Everett’s adopted Comprehensive Plan:
      • HO-10: Protect manufactured/mobile home communities from redevelopment into other uses.
      • HO-19: Collaborate with local partners to preserve and maintain affordable housing units.

    Goal 4 of the Comprehensive Plan, which the city is invoking here, reads: “Ensure equitable access to opportunity and housing choice throughout the city’s neighborhoods so that all residents may choose their neighborhood.”

    The seven communities being put on the map

    Per the city’s public notice, the new NR-MHC designation would apply to:

    • Creekside Mobile Home Park — 5810 Fleming St.
    • Fairway Estates Mobile Home Park — 1427 100th St.
    • Lago De Plata Villa — 620 112th St.
    • Loganberry Mobile Home Park — 9931 18th Ave. W.
    • Mobile Country Club — 1415 84th St.
    • Silver Shores Senior Mobile Home Park — 11622 Silver Lake Road
    • Westridge Mobile Home Park — 7701 Hardeson Rd.

    That’s roughly the manufactured-housing population of Everett’s south end, plus a chunk of the Silver Lake area. Several of these are 55+ communities. Several have been in place for decades. None of them, until now, have had a zoning designation that says “this is a manufactured home community and that’s the use we’re protecting.”

    Why this matters more than a typical code update

    Manufactured home parks are one of the only forms of unsubsidized affordable homeownership left in Snohomish County. The standard pattern in Puget Sound over the last 20 years has been straightforward and unkind: a park sells, residents get notice to relocate, and the land is redeveloped into apartments or townhomes. Households that owned their manufactured home but rented the lot lose the home equity they had — moving a manufactured home is often more expensive than the home is worth, and many older units can’t legally be relocated under current code at all.

    The NR-MHC zone doesn’t make a sale impossible. It does make redeveloping the land into a different use a slow, public, and explicit process — one that requires the city to actively rezone the parcel out of the protected category, with the corresponding hearings and political visibility.

    That’s the tradeoff the city is asking residents and property owners to weigh. A landowner gives up the ability to swap to a higher-value use without a zoning fight. The community gains time, predictability, and a place at the table.

    The HO-10 policy, in plain English

    HO-10 — “Protect manufactured/mobile home communities from redevelopment into other uses” — has been on the books in the Everett Comprehensive Plan as adopted policy. The NR-MHC zone is the implementation tool. Comprehensive plans are aspirational; zoning ordinances are how they actually bind. This is the city moving an aspiration into the ordinance code.

    HO-19 — “Collaborate with local partners to preserve and maintain affordable housing units” — sets the broader frame. The state Housing Trust Fund, nonprofit park-acquisition models like ROC USA, and Snohomish County’s preservation programs all become more effective when the underlying land use is locked in. Without a zone, those programs are buying parks that could still be rezoned. With a zone, they’re buying parks the city has formally committed to keeping as housing.

    What residents and owners can actually do before May 6

    The public hearing is the formal step. The council has already taken first action; earlier procedural votes occurred in January 2026. The May 6 hearing is the council’s last formal opportunity to take public testimony before voting.

    If you live in or own one of the seven parks:

    • Read the public hearing notice and the proposed ordinance language at the city’s posted PDF.
    • Submit written comment to the city before the hearing — written comment becomes part of the record and is read by council members ahead of the vote.
    • Show up at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 6, 2026, in council chambers (3002 Wetmore Ave., 3rd floor), or join the hybrid video link the city posts on the meeting agenda.
    • Sign up for public comment at the meeting if you want to speak. Each commenter typically gets two to three minutes.

    If you have a related comprehensive plan or zoning map change you want considered alongside this: the city is also accepting specific amendment requests — applications to change the comprehensive plan text, the land use map, or Title 19 EMC — until 5 p.m. Monday, May 4, 2026. Pre-screening meetings are available; contact Planning at (425) 257-8810 or Everett2044@everettwa.gov.

    The bigger picture for Everett’s housing inventory

    Manufactured housing parks aren’t huge inventory in absolute terms — the seven communities together represent a few hundred to perhaps a thousand homes — but they punch well above their weight in unsubsidized affordability. A manufactured home in Snohomish County typically lists below $200,000 even in an environment where the median single-family list price is multiple times that. Every household kept in a manufactured home is a household not absorbing rental supply elsewhere in Everett.

    The city’s 2044 Comprehensive Plan target for total housing units is in the tens of thousands. Compared to that, NR-MHC is a small piece. But it is one of the clearest pieces — a discrete decision the city can make once that compounds for decades.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Does the NR-MHC zone freeze rents at the affected parks?
    No. Land use zoning controls what can be built or operated on a parcel. It does not control lot rents, which are governed separately. A separate body of state law — and any private lease — governs the rent paid by manufactured home owners to park owners.

    Does NR-MHC stop a park owner from selling?
    No. Owners retain the right to sell. What changes is what a future buyer can use the land for. Without a zoning amendment, the buyer is purchasing a manufactured home community — that’s what NR-MHC permits. A future owner who wanted a different use would need to apply to rezone, which is a public process.

    Why is the city repealing Title 17?
    Title 17 EMC is the older “Mobile Home Parks” chapter that predates Everett’s unified development code. The city is consolidating that regulation into Title 19 EMC and the new NR-MHC zone, so all land-use rules live in one place.

    Can the new zone be undone later?
    A future council could amend zoning code, just like any council can. But the NR-MHC zone moves the default from “park can be redeveloped unless someone fights it” to “park stays unless the city actively rezones it.” The political cost of removing the protection is meaningfully higher than the cost of never adopting it.

    What happens at the May 6 hearing if the council approves the ordinance?
    The ordinance takes effect after the council vote (typically with a short waiting period for publication). The new NR-MHC designation appears on the zoning map. Existing parks continue to operate as they do now; the zoning simply matches the use that’s already there.

    I don’t live at one of the seven parks. Why should I care?
    Two reasons. First, the same redevelopment pressure that affects manufactured home parks affects other older, more affordable housing across Everett — apartment complexes, older single-family neighborhoods. How the city handles this ordinance signals how it’ll handle the next one. Second, displaced households don’t disappear; they move into the rest of the rental market and the rest of the city’s housing inventory.

    The bottom line for Everett

    The NR-MHC zone is one of those quiet, technical, slow-moving ordinances that disappears into a code book and then quietly does its job for thirty years. May 6 is the day to weigh in if you have a stake in any of the seven parks, or in how Everett protects its remaining unsubsidized affordable housing.

    Sources

  • Twin Creeks: How Everett’s Mall Neighborhood Renamed Itself After the Two Buried Creeks Beneath It

    Twin Creeks: How Everett’s Mall Neighborhood Renamed Itself After the Two Buried Creeks Beneath It

    There is a moment in every neighborhood’s life when it decides what it wants to be called, and a name a mall picked is rarely the answer.

    That moment came for Twin Creeks more than a decade ago, after a longtime resident said out loud what plenty of her neighbors were already thinking: she did not particularly want to live in a neighborhood named Everett Mall South. The complaint went to the neighborhood association. The association threw an ice cream social. People wrote suggestions on slips of paper. Twin Creeks won.

    The name stuck because it was honest. The neighborhood does, in fact, have two creeks. They run under it.

    The Two Creeks the Neighborhood Is Named For

    If you stand in the Everett Mall parking lot today, you are standing on top of the headwaters of Silver Lake Creek. Forested wetlands once covered the western half of the lot. The creek itself is largely buried now — culverted under the asphalt, threading under I-5, and finally surfacing again at Thornton A. Sullivan Park, where it empties into Silver Lake. It is the same creek that gives the lake its inflow.

    The other creek is North Creek. Its headwaters are just north of Everett Mall Way, and from there it begins one of the longer runs in the south Snohomish County watershed. North Creek flows through McCollum Park, past the Northwest Stream Center, down through Mill Creek Town Center, into Canyon Park, past the University of Washington Bothell campus, and eventually into the Sammamish River and on to Lake Washington.

    Two creeks, both buried at the start, both meaningful to the wider region. A pretty good naming choice for a neighborhood that wanted to be more than a mall.

    Where Twin Creeks Actually Is

    The neighborhood is bordered by Everett Mall Way to the north, 112th Street SE to the south, Interstate 5 to the east, and Evergreen Way to the west. Its center of gravity is the mall itself, and its northwestern edge brushes up against the Casino Road neighborhood.

    This is one of the south Everett neighborhoods where the city limits are uneven — the city has annexed much of the area over the years, but there are still residential pockets that sit in unincorporated Snohomish County. If your house is in Twin Creeks, it is worth checking which side of the city line it is on, because that determines which permitting office, which police agency, and sometimes which utility you deal with.

    Population is around 11,455 — large enough that Twin Creeks is one of the bigger neighborhoods in Everett by headcount, even though it doesn’t always carry the cultural weight of the older historic neighborhoods to the north.

    The Housing Mix

    Twin Creeks is mostly single-family homes, but it has more apartment options than many Everett neighborhoods. That mix is part of what makes it a practical place for people who don’t fit cleanly into one housing category — young professionals priced out of Seattle, families who need a yard but also need to be close to I-5, downsizers who want one floor and a small lawn.

    The housing stock is mostly post-1970, which means most of it doesn’t have the historic character of Northwest Everett or Port Gardner — but it also means the bones tend to be solid, the lots tend to be regular, and the systems (electrical, plumbing) are generally in better shape than older parts of the city. The neighborhood has steady turnover rather than dramatic price swings, which makes it a popular target for first-time buyers in the south Snohomish County market.

    The Trail That Threads Through It

    The Interurban Trail runs through Twin Creeks, the same trail that runs through Pinehurst-Beverly Park to the north and continues south toward Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, and eventually Seattle. For Twin Creeks specifically, the trail is the connector between the residential streets and the broader regional path network. You can pick it up near Everett Mall Way and ride or walk it for miles in either direction.

    Locals use it for commuting, for exercise, for getting to the mall without dealing with traffic, and for the occasional long weekend ride to Lake Forest Park or Edmonds. The trail is paved, mostly flat, and one of the most consistently maintained in south Snohomish County.

    The Mall, the Hub, and the Question of What Comes Next

    Twin Creeks is home to Everett Mall, which has been in transition for years. The redevelopment of part of the mall site into the Hub @ Everett — a mixed retail and service district — has been a slow, complicated process. As of April 2026, the Hub is roughly half open and the Topgolf piece of the original plan is stuck in development limbo.

    For Twin Creeks residents, the mall question is the existential question. The neighborhood was effectively built around the mall in the late 1960s and 1970s. If the mall keeps shrinking, the question of what replaces it — housing, mixed-use, more retail, parkland — is the question of what kind of neighborhood Twin Creeks becomes over the next twenty years.

    That’s not unique to Everett. Mall-adjacent suburbs across the country are working through the same question. But it is unusually live in Twin Creeks because the mall sits squarely inside the neighborhood, not at its edge.

    The Neighborhood Association

    Twin Creeks shares a chairman with the adjacent Cascade View neighborhood — Michael Trujillo serves as chairman of both — and the two associations meet jointly each month as the Cascade View / Twin Creeks Monthly Meeting. The shared meeting is listed on the City of Everett events calendar, and the city’s neighborhoods staff at 2930 Wetmore Avenue, Suite 10-A can connect residents with the most recent meeting time, location, and agenda.

    The shared chairmanship is a small detail with a big implication: Twin Creeks and Cascade View are talking to each other, not past each other. Two neighborhoods that share a creek system, share a school feeder pattern, and share the same questions about south Everett’s future have decided that doing the work jointly makes more sense than doing it twice. That is not how every neighborhood in Everett operates.

    What Long-Timers Say

    Ask someone who has lived in Twin Creeks since the late 1980s what has changed and you will get a fairly consistent answer. The traffic on Evergreen Way has gotten worse. The mall has gotten quieter. The trail has gotten busier. The houses are still mostly the same houses, but the prices are not the same prices.

    Ask someone who moved in five years ago and you will hear something different. They will tell you the neighborhood feels under-the-radar in a good way — not as expensive as the historic neighborhoods to the north, not as remote as Mill Creek to the south, close enough to Boeing that the commute to Paine Field is short, close enough to I-5 that the commute to Seattle is doable when traffic cooperates.

    Both versions are true. Twin Creeks is a neighborhood in the middle of a slow change, with deep roots and a name that finally fits. Up the road in Silver Lake, residents are working through a parallel set of questions about growth, density, and what gets built around an aging anchor — Twin Creeks just happens to have the mall instead of the lake at the center.

    What’s Next for Twin Creeks

    The big variables for the next decade are the mall’s redevelopment, the future of the Hub @ Everett project, the city’s comprehensive plan, and how the future Sound Transit Link light rail extension lands in south Everett. None of those are decided yet. All of them will affect Twin Creeks more than most neighborhoods in the city, because the neighborhood literally surrounds the parcel where most of the change will happen.

    Residents who want a voice in that change have a clear path: show up to the joint Cascade View / Twin Creeks meeting. Get on the city’s neighborhood notification list for Twin Creeks (the city maintains a Twin Creeks-specific alerts feed). Watch what the planning department does with the comprehensive plan as it lands in this part of the city.

    The neighborhood that named itself after two buried creeks is still here, and so are the creeks. The question is what gets built on top of them next.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Where is Twin Creeks in Everett?

    Twin Creeks is in south Everett, bordered by Everett Mall Way to the north, 112th Street SE to the south, I-5 to the east, and Evergreen Way to the west. It sits between Casino Road and Pinehurst-Beverly Park to the north and Silver Lake to the northeast.

    Why is it called Twin Creeks?

    The neighborhood is named after Silver Lake Creek and North Creek, the two waterways whose headwaters sit beneath and just north of the Everett Mall site. The name was chosen at a neighborhood ice cream social after a resident objected to the previous name, “Everett Mall South.”

    How many people live in Twin Creeks?

    The neighborhood has a population of approximately 11,455.

    Where does Silver Lake Creek go after the mall?

    Silver Lake Creek is largely buried as it passes the Everett Mall area. It runs under I-5 and surfaces again at Thornton A. Sullivan Park, where it empties into Silver Lake.

    Where does North Creek flow?

    North Creek flows south from its headwaters near Everett Mall Way through McCollum Park, the Northwest Stream Center, Mill Creek Town Center, Canyon Park, the UW Bothell campus, and eventually into the Sammamish River and Lake Washington.

    Who chairs the Twin Creeks neighborhood association?

    Michael Trujillo serves as chairman of both the Twin Creeks and Cascade View neighborhood associations. The two associations meet jointly each month.

    When does the Twin Creeks neighborhood association meet?

    Twin Creeks meets jointly with Cascade View as the Cascade View / Twin Creeks Monthly Meeting. The City of Everett events calendar lists the current schedule, and the city’s neighborhoods office at 2930 Wetmore Avenue, Suite 10-A can confirm the most recent meeting details.

    Is Twin Creeks fully inside the Everett city limits?

    Most of Twin Creeks is in the city, but there are still residential pockets in unincorporated Snohomish County. Residents should confirm their address with the city’s permitting and planning department to know which jurisdiction applies.

  • Stations Unidos Just Brought Casino Road Into Everett’s Biggest Anti-Displacement Project

    Stations Unidos Just Brought Casino Road Into Everett’s Biggest Anti-Displacement Project

    If you’ve lived in Casino Road for any length of time, you already know the rhythm. A new apartment complex goes up, the rents on the older buildings climb to match, and the families who made the neighborhood what it is start quietly disappearing. It happens in the spaces between the news cycles, and by the time anyone outside the neighborhood notices, it’s done.

    That’s the problem Stations Unidos was built to slow down — and as of early 2026, Casino Road has a seat at the table.

    What Just Changed

    Stations Unidos is the new operating name for what used to be the Everett Station District Alliance, the nonprofit that has been working since 2014 to envision a different future for the area around Everett Station at 3201 Smith Avenue. The organization incorporated as a 501(c)(3) in 2017, and for several years it focused mostly on cleaning, safety, and placemaking work in the immediate Everett Station footprint.

    In 2024, the board contracted with LISC Puget Sound — the same regional intermediary that has anchored years of community investment in Casino Road — to figure out how to evolve from a station-area alliance into a full-fledged community development corporation. After more than a year of community engagement, the ESDA board adopted LISC’s recommendations in 2025, and the organization formally rebranded as Stations Unidos in 2026.

    The new name is the most visible change. The bigger one is structural.

    The Board Looks Different Now

    Under the new governance, the board of directors is split equally between the Everett Station District and South Everett. The Casino Road side of the table is just as full as the downtown side, and future board seats will be nominated by neighborhood advisory boards in each area.

    The current board reads like a who’s who of two neighborhoods that haven’t always talked to each other. From the Everett Station District: Roland Behee, Mary Anne Dillon (Vice Chair), and Joe Sievers (Secretary). From South Everett: Julio Cortes, Alvaro Guillen (Chair), and Tony Hernandez. Three at-large members round it out: Victor Caesar, Amber Harrington (Treasurer), and Bobby Thompson.

    Brock Howell is CEO and President. Ed Petersen serves as Chief Strategic Housing Officer. The fact that a strategic housing officer is in the room — at all — is the tell. This is not a placemaking nonprofit anymore. This is a housing organization with placemaking in its toolkit.

    Why Casino Road, Why Now

    The honest answer is the light rail.

    Sound Transit’s Link extension to Everett Station is years away from opening, but the planning is happening now, the property speculation is happening now, and the displacement risk is happening now. Marshall Foster, Sound Transit’s Chief Planning and Development Officer, said at the Stations Unidos launch that the work the organization will be doing in the years before the trains arrive is going to be critical.

    That’s not a generic compliment. Sound Transit has watched what happened along the Link extensions in Seattle — neighborhoods like the Rainier Valley and Beacon Hill saw exactly the kind of displacement Casino Road is now staring down. The lesson the agency took away is that you cannot wait for the station to open before you start protecting the people who will need it most. By then it’s already too late.

    Casino Road is one of the most economically and ethnically diverse neighborhoods in Snohomish County. It is home to large Latino, Cambodian, Vietnamese, and East African communities, several of the most-trafficked food banks and pantries in the city, and dozens of immigrant-owned businesses. The corridor’s working-class, immigrant-rooted character is exactly what gets lost first under transit-driven displacement — and exactly what’s already showing up in places like the small Casino Road tortillerías and family-run restaurants that anchor day-to-day life in the neighborhood.

    Stations Unidos’s mission, in its own words, is to “advance housing, support local businesses, and connect communities to neighborhood-led solutions that help families stay rooted and thrive in Everett.” Every piece of that sentence is doing work. Advance housing — meaning produce, preserve, or protect affordable units. Support local businesses — meaning the carnicería, the pho shop, the East African cafe. Neighborhood-led solutions — meaning the people who live there are the ones setting the agenda.

    What “Equally Represented” Actually Looks Like

    The most consequential thing about the new structure is the equal seat count. In a lot of community development organizations that try to bridge two neighborhoods, one neighborhood ends up dominant. Sometimes by intent, more often just by inertia — the existing board recruits from its existing networks, and those networks tend to be geographically clustered.

    Splitting the seats 3-and-3 with future appointments running through neighborhood advisory boards is a structural commitment. It means a Casino Road advocate who shows up to a meeting can’t be voted down by a downtown majority. It means the strategic housing plan for south Everett has to be co-written by people who live there.

    That’s not the case for most community development corporations in the region. It’s a meaningful design choice, and it’s worth watching whether it holds up under pressure once funding decisions get harder.

    The Everett Station District Doesn’t Disappear

    One thing worth clearing up: the Everett Station District isn’t being absorbed or sidelined. It continues both as a division of Stations Unidos and as the place name for the area around the actual train station at 3201 Smith Ave. The downtown placemaking, cleaning, and safety work that ESDA built over the last decade keeps running. What changed is that a parallel division now exists for South Everett, with the same level of organizational support.

    The two divisions share a CEO, a strategic housing officer, and a board, but each has its own neighborhood advisory body. The intent, as the organization describes it, is for residents and businesses in each area to lead, transit to connect them, and growth to strengthen the people already there.

    Whether that works depends on what comes next. A community development corporation can do real things — buy buildings, hold land in trust, build affordable units, fund small business preservation, support tenant organizing. Or it can talk a lot. The next eighteen months, before light rail planning gets concrete, will tell which kind of organization this is going to be.

    What This Means for Casino Road Right Now

    If you live, work, or own a business on Casino Road, the practical questions are: what’s actually happening, and what do you do about it?

    For now, the practical answer is that there is finally a citywide community development organization with an official mandate to be in the neighborhood, with paid staff, with a board structured to give the neighborhood real power, and with technical support from LISC Puget Sound. That didn’t exist 18 months ago.

    The neighborhood-led solutions piece of the mission means the organization is going to need community input, advisory board members, and partnerships with the existing players — Connect Casino Road, Volunteers of America Western Washington, the food banks, the schools, the immigrant-led nonprofits. If you’re already plugged into VOAWW’s food, housing, or family services on Casino Road, you’re already inside the network this work will lean on. Anyone who has wanted a seat at the table on the displacement question now has a clearer place to ask.

    You can find Stations Unidos at stationsunidos.org. CEO Brock Howell can be reached at brock@stationsunidos.org. Board chair Alvaro Guillen leads the South Everett side of the work.

    A Note on What This Isn’t

    Stations Unidos is not Sound Transit. It does not control whether or where the light rail station gets built. It does not set city zoning, the comprehensive plan, or the property tax rate. It cannot stop a private developer from building market-rate apartments on a parcel they own.

    What it can do is the slower, less-visible work of building community ownership of the change that is already coming — through housing acquisition, business preservation, tenant support, and the kind of neighborhood organizing that makes sure the people who live there now are still the ones living there in 2032. The same kind of work other south Everett neighborhoods like Pinehurst-Beverly Park are also navigating as growth pressure climbs along the Casino Road corridor.

    That’s a long bet. But the alternative is the rhythm Casino Road already knows.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What is Stations Unidos?

    Stations Unidos is a nonprofit community development corporation in Everett, Washington that evolved from the Everett Station District Alliance (ESDA) in 2026. Its mission is to advance housing, support local businesses, and connect communities to neighborhood-led solutions in both the Everett Station District and the Casino Road area of South Everett.

    Why did the Everett Station District Alliance change its name?

    The ESDA Board of Directors adopted recommendations from LISC Puget Sound in 2025 to evolve the organization’s programs and governance to support anti-displacement and equitable transit-oriented development citywide. The rebrand to Stations Unidos took effect in 2026 to reflect the broader service area, including both the original station district and South Everett’s Casino Road neighborhood.

    Who is on the Stations Unidos board?

    The board is split equally between the Everett Station District (Roland Behee, Mary Anne Dillon, Joe Sievers) and South Everett (Julio Cortes, Alvaro Guillen, Tony Hernandez), plus three at-large members (Victor Caesar, Amber Harrington, Bobby Thompson). Alvaro Guillen serves as Chair, Mary Anne Dillon as Vice Chair, Joe Sievers as Secretary, and Amber Harrington as Treasurer.

    Why is Stations Unidos focused on Casino Road?

    Sound Transit’s Link light rail extension to Everett is bringing additional displacement pressure to a neighborhood already facing rising housing costs. Casino Road is one of the most economically and ethnically diverse neighborhoods in Snohomish County, with large Latino, Cambodian, Vietnamese, and East African communities. The expansion is intended to give residents and businesses more tools to stay rooted before the train arrives.

    Where is Stations Unidos located?

    The Everett Station District remains both a division of Stations Unidos and the name for the area around Everett Station at 3201 Smith Ave in downtown Everett.

    Who leads Stations Unidos?

    Brock Howell serves as CEO and President. Ed Petersen serves as Chief Strategic Housing Officer.

    How is this different from Connect Casino Road?

    Connect Casino Road is a coalition of more than 15 partners that has worked on the ground in Casino Road for years on family services, food access, education, and community building. Stations Unidos is a community development corporation with a citywide remit and a focus on housing, business support, and transit-oriented development. The two organizations operate in complementary lanes, and Stations Unidos’s work in Casino Road will involve partnership with Connect Casino Road and other existing community organizations.

  • Sorticulture 2026 Returns to Downtown Everett June 5–7 — Ciscoe Morris, 140+ Vendors, and the Free Festival the City Built Its Summer Around

    Sorticulture 2026 Returns to Downtown Everett June 5–7 — Ciscoe Morris, 140+ Vendors, and the Free Festival the City Built Its Summer Around

    Sorticulture 2026 Returns to Downtown Everett June 5–7 — Ciscoe Morris, 140+ Vendors, and the Free Festival the City Built Its Summer Around

    What is Sorticulture 2026? Sorticulture is Everett’s free Garden Arts Festival, held Friday through Sunday, June 5–7, 2026. The festival runs along Colby and Wetmore avenues in downtown Everett with 140+ garden artists and nurseries, the Sunnyside Nursery Garden Stage at Hewitt and Colby, free outdoor yoga at Wetmore Plaza, a wine garden hosted by Wick-Ed Wine & Social Club, and a Sunday afternoon lecture from Ciscoe Morris at the Historic Everett Theatre.

    Verdict: GO. Three reasons we’re calling it without hedging. (1) The lineup is unique to this market — over 140 garden artists and nurseries on one downtown grid, plus Ciscoe Morris on a 1901 stage on Sunday, plus the City of Everett, Schack Art Center, Funko, and Imagine Children’s Museum all within four blocks. (2) The room is the right size for the act — Sorticulture isn’t a stadium festival; it’s a downtown street festival that closes Colby and Wetmore and lets the venues hold the weekend. (3) Ticket value is honest: the festival is free, the yoga is free, the Ciscoe lecture is free, and the only money that has to leave your pocket is whatever you spend on plants, a glass of wine, or a food truck dumpling. The math is on Sorticulture’s side.

    If you have ever told yourself you should spend more weekends downtown, this is the one. Clear the calendar.

    The dates, the hours, the address — all of it

    Friday, June 5: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

    Saturday, June 6: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

    Sunday, June 7: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

    The festival fills the heart of downtown Everett along Colby Avenue from Everett Avenue to the north and Pacific Avenue to the south, then expands east and west along California Street toward Funko and Hewitt Avenue toward Port Gardner Bay. That’s a real footprint. You can spend three hours here without retracing your steps.

    Admission is free for all three days. No wristband, no ticket, no RSVP. Walk in.

    Ciscoe Morris at the Historic Everett Theatre — Sunday at 1 p.m.

    The single highest-leverage block on the schedule is Sunday, June 7, at 1 p.m. inside the Historic Everett Theatre at 2911 Colby Ave. Ciscoe Morris — the Pacific Northwest gardening voice most local gardeners grew up listening to on KIRO and watching on KING 5 — is giving a free lecture titled “Newest plant picks and Q&A,” and the venue’s own listing confirms it as a “free educational lecture on June 7, 1:00 pm.” This is a building that opened in 1901 as the Everett Opera House. The seating is real, the sight lines are real, and Ciscoe at 1 p.m. on a Sunday is the kind of programming you usually have to pay for at a botanical garden gala.

    If you have to pick one ticketed-feeling thing to do across the whole weekend, this is it. And it isn’t ticketed — it’s free.

    The Sunnyside Nursery Garden Stage — at Hewitt and Colby

    The festival’s main outdoor classroom sits at the intersection of Hewitt and Colby — about as central as Everett gets. The Sunnyside Nursery Garden Stage runs classes across all three days. Trevor Cameron from Sunnyside Nursery is the workhorse of the lineup, with sessions including “Hydrangea-licious!” (a deep cut on modern reblooming hydrangeas), “Japanese Maples,” “Gardening in the Shade,” and a “Pitcher Plants (Carnivorous Plants)” workshop at 11 a.m. that we’d happily watch sober.

    The stage is sponsored by Sunnyside Nursery — the venerable Marysville garden center that has been a fixture on the I-5 corridor for decades — and that sponsorship is the reason the stage exists in a recognizable form year after year. The festival itself is supported in part by Snohomish County Lodging Tax grants, which is what local lodging-tax dollars look like when they actually land in something the city’s residents can use.

    Free outdoor yoga at Wetmore Plaza

    Saturday and Sunday mornings, 11 a.m., Wetmore Plaza. Free. Hosted by Yoga Shala Everett. This is one of those rare festival add-ons that actually delivers — open-air yoga in a closed-street setting, surrounded by 140+ vendor booths, with garden art and the smell of plants on three sides. Bring a mat. If you forget the mat, bring a towel. If you forget the towel, the grass at Wetmore Plaza is forgiving.

    The wine garden, the food trucks, the kids

    The wine garden is hosted by Wick-Ed Wine & Social Club at 2707 Colby Ave, with live music inside the wine-garden zone. Snacks, beverages, and food trucks run throughout the festival footprint. You will not need to leave Sorticulture to eat.

    Youth activities are programmed by Imagine Children’s Museum, Everett Parks, and Funko — yes, that Funko. The Funko HQ flagship sits at 2802 Wetmore, less than two blocks from the festival’s spine, and Funko’s youth booths are part of why families with elementary-school kids treat Sorticulture as a default June weekend. The kids don’t run out of things to do, which is the entire point.

    Getting there, parking, and the Everett Transit shuttle

    ADA parking runs along Wetmore Avenue between Everett and California avenues. The downtown public parking garage is free on weekends — under-promoted but true. Pay lots in the immediate vicinity are inexpensive on a per-hour basis. And critically, Everett Transit runs a complimentary shuttle service to Sorticulture, which means if you live in north or south Everett you don’t need to fight the I-5 weekend traffic at all.

    Plan the visit as a downtown afternoon, not a quick stop. Park once. Walk the festival. Eat. Sit through a class. Walk back.

    How Sorticulture fits the rest of the weekend

    The Saturday night card downtown is heavy. Tony V’s Garage at 1716 Hewitt typically books shows the same weekend as Sorticulture, and the Historic Everett Theatre runs evening programming around the festival days too — recent culture-desk coverage of Schack Art Center’s Contemporary Northwest Artists exhibition opens around the same week, so a smart Saturday looks like Sorticulture during the day, gallery walk through Schack on Hoyt Avenue late afternoon, dinner downtown, and a show after sundown.

    The downtown cultural cluster — Schack at 2921 Hoyt, the Historic Everett Theatre at 2911 Colby, Funko at 2802 Wetmore, Tony V’s at 1716 Hewitt, and Imagine Children’s Museum nearby — is the reason Sorticulture works as well as it does. The festival is the pretext. The cluster is the product.

    What to actually buy at Sorticulture (the only opinionated section)

    If you have never been: skip the impulse buys on Friday and walk the entire grid first. The most interesting work — handmade pots, garden steel, ceramic ware, sculptural plant supports — sits in the middle blocks of the footprint, not the edges, and the best vendors sell out by Saturday afternoon. If you see a piece on Friday and it’s between $50 and $200, buy it then; if it’s over $200, sleep on it and come back Saturday morning before the foot traffic ramps. If you’re plant shopping, hit the Sunnyside Nursery presence and the regional nurseries first — the festival is one of the few places those nurseries bring inventory off their home lots.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    When is Sorticulture 2026?

    Friday through Sunday, June 5–7, 2026, with festival hours of 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is free.

    Where exactly is Sorticulture held?

    Downtown Everett, along Colby Avenue from Everett Avenue (north) to Pacific Avenue (south), and east-west along California Street toward Funko HQ and Hewitt Avenue toward Port Gardner Bay. The Sunnyside Nursery Garden Stage is at the intersection of Hewitt and Colby.

    Is Ciscoe Morris really speaking at Sorticulture 2026?

    Yes. Ciscoe Morris is presenting “Newest plant picks and Q&A” on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at 1 p.m. inside the Historic Everett Theatre at 2911 Colby Ave. The event is free per the venue’s own listing and is part of the festival’s continuous-learning programming.

    How much does Sorticulture cost?

    Sorticulture is free. There are no admission fees, no wristbands, and no ticket purchases required for general festival access, the Sunnyside Nursery Garden Stage classes, the outdoor yoga, or the Ciscoe Morris lecture at the Historic Everett Theatre.

    Where do I park for Sorticulture?

    ADA parking is along Wetmore Avenue between Everett and California avenues. The downtown public parking garage is free on weekends. Affordable pay lots are available in the immediate vicinity. Everett Transit also runs a complimentary shuttle service to the festival.

    Is Sorticulture good for kids?

    Yes. Youth activities are programmed by Imagine Children’s Museum, Everett Parks, and Funko. Strollers work fine on the closed-street footprint, and Wetmore Plaza has open space for kids who need to burn energy between vendor stops.

    Are dogs allowed at Sorticulture?

    Sorticulture is an outdoor downtown street festival on closed public streets, so well-behaved leashed dogs are generally welcome in the festival footprint. Dogs are typically not permitted inside indoor venues like the Historic Everett Theatre or vendor tents that explicitly post otherwise. Bring water and watch the heat.

    What time does Ciscoe Morris speak?

    Sunday, June 7, 2026, at 1 p.m. inside the Historic Everett Theatre at 2911 Colby Ave. The lecture title is “Newest plant picks and Q&A” and seating is first-come.




  • Forest Park’s New Pickleball Courts Open in June: What’s Built, What’s Closed, and Why It Matters for Everett

    Forest Park’s New Pickleball Courts Open in June: What’s Built, What’s Closed, and Why It Matters for Everett

    What’s being built at Forest Park in Everett? The City of Everett is constructing its first multi-court outdoor pickleball facility at Forest Park, including four dedicated regulation pickleball courts, two renovated multi-use sport courts, sport fencing, a pickleball practice wall, site lighting, drinking fountain, benches, cornhole, and horseshoe pits. Construction began in November 2025 and is estimated to complete in June 2026. Some park access east of the water park is currently affected by the project.

    Forest Park’s Pickleball Courts Open This June: What’s Built, What’s Closed, and Why It Matters

    Outdoor recreation is a sport. That’s how this desk treats it. And the biggest outdoor-rec story in Everett right now isn’t on a hiking trail or out at Jetty Island — it’s tucked into the trees at Forest Park, where the city is six weeks from opening its first dedicated multi-court outdoor pickleball facility. If you’ve been driving past the trailhead and wondering why a chunk of the park east of the water park has been fenced off all winter, this is the answer. June 2026 is the target. The shape of the project tells you Everett is serious about outdoor rec.

    What’s Being Built

    Per the City of Everett’s Parks Department project documentation, Forest Park’s new outdoor recreation hub includes:

    • Four new dedicated regulation-size pickleball courts on a new paved court
    • Renovation and expansion of two existing multi-use sport courts
    • New sport fencing around the courts
    • A pickleball practice wall
    • Site lighting (so courts can run into the evening)
    • A drinking fountain
    • Benches
    • Cornhole pits
    • Horseshoe pits

    Read that list as a unit and what you’re actually looking at is a small park-within-a-park: a casual outdoor recreation hub that supports the fastest-growing outdoor sport in the country plus a pair of casual lawn-game options for the people who didn’t come to play pickleball. The lighting matters more than it sounds. Lit courts mean weeknight league play, weeknight pickup, and a community asset that doesn’t shut off when the sun goes down — which in Pacific Northwest seasonal terms is the difference between a 5-month facility and a 10-month one.

    Why It Matters for Everett

    Pickleball is the fastest-growing organized recreational sport in the country. Snohomish County has been chasing demand for years — local YMCAs, indoor athletic clubs, and converted tennis courts have been eating the demand on borrowed time. A purpose-built outdoor facility with four dedicated regulation courts plus two multi-use courts plus a practice wall is the kind of investment that turns Everett into a regional destination for the sport instead of a county that loses players to Marysville and Mill Creek.

    It also fits Forest Park’s identity. The park already runs miles of wooded trails, a self-guided nature tour, a hill-climb course, and an orienteering course. A pickleball complex with cornhole and horseshoes is exactly the right addition: low barrier to entry, social, intergenerational, and not a thing that competes with the park’s existing trails or wildlife. You don’t have to choose between the trail-running crowd and the pickleball crowd. They can share the parking lot.

    What’s Closed Right Now

    Heads up before you head to Forest Park this weekend: the section just east of the water park is blocked off due to the construction. Most of the park’s signature wooded trails, the central loop, the playground, and the picnic shelters are unaffected. But if you’ve got a regular running route or a dog-walk loop that hits that east section, plan around it. The Washington Trails Association notes that not all trails are currently accessible because of the work. Save your scouting; check the park’s posted signage before you commit to a route.

    If you want to keep your trail-running miles up while Forest Park is partially closed, the rest of Everett’s trail network is fully open: Lowell Riverfront Trail, Langus Riverfront, Forsgren Park, Howarth Park down to the beach. Lowell Riverfront has its own active project right now (worth checking signage there too), but the main path is intact and is one of the flattest, fastest 5K-loop options in the city.

    The Bigger Outdoor Rec Picture

    The Forest Park project is one piece of a broader Everett parks investment cycle. The city’s Active Projects list includes other parks-and-trails work in different stages — Lowell Riverfront Trail being the other one most regular outdoor users will notice. Add the upcoming Jetty Island ferry season opening on July 8 and the Snohomish River paddling launch points coming back online for spring, and Everett’s outdoor calendar in 2026 is fuller than it’s been in years.

    From a fan-of-Everett perspective: the city has decided that outdoor rec is part of the downtown stadium / waterfront / arena economy, not an afterthought. A pickleball complex at Forest Park, the Jetty Island ferry, the Lowell Riverfront work, and the year-round trail system at Forsgren and Howarth are all the same project from 30,000 feet — they’re the city saying “we are a place where you can live outside.” The new courts open in June. Mark the calendar.

    If You Want to Get Ready

    If you’re new to pickleball and want to be ready for opening week in June, Snohomish County has a strong indoor scene to get reps before the outdoor courts come online. Local YMCAs and rec centers run drop-in sessions; USA Pickleball has a beginner clinic finder; and most sporting-goods stores in the county now stock starter paddles in the $40-80 range. The barrier to entry is genuinely low — that’s why the sport is growing the way it is — and an outdoor weeknight league at Forest Park is the kind of thing that turns a casual player into a regular.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    When do Forest Park’s new pickleball courts open?

    Estimated completion is June 2026, per the City of Everett project documentation. Construction began in November 2025.

    How many pickleball courts will there be?

    Four dedicated regulation pickleball courts on a new paved court, plus two renovated multi-use sport courts that can be used for additional pickleball or other court sports.

    Is Forest Park currently open?

    Yes — most of Forest Park is open, including the wooded trail network, central loop, playground, and picnic areas. The section just east of the water park is closed due to active construction. Check posted signage on site before committing to a route.

    What else is being built besides the pickleball courts?

    The project also includes a pickleball practice wall, sport fencing, site lighting, a drinking fountain, benches, cornhole pits, and horseshoe pits.

    Will the courts have lighting for evening play?

    Yes. Site lighting is part of the project scope, which means the courts will be usable into the evening hours — important for weeknight league play in the Pacific Northwest.

    Where is Forest Park in Everett?

    Forest Park is a Everett city park with a wooded trail network, water park, and event facilities. Full address and trail maps are available via the City of Everett Parks Department website.

  • Bryce Miller Threw 3 Scoreless With 6 Strikeouts: AquaSox Walked Off Spokane 2-1 to Cap His Rehab

    Bryce Miller Threw 3 Scoreless With 6 Strikeouts: AquaSox Walked Off Spokane 2-1 to Cap His Rehab

    How did Bryce Miller’s AquaSox rehab start go? Mariners right-hander Bryce Miller threw 3 scoreless innings on Friday, April 24, 2026, at Funko Field, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out six on 47 pitches (35 strikes). The AquaSox then walked off the Spokane Indians 2-1 on an Axel Sanchez sacrifice fly to cap Miller’s two-start minor-league rehab assignment.

    Bryce Miller Walked Out of Funko Field With Six Strikeouts. The AquaSox Walked Off Spokane 2-1.

    Friday night at Funko Field had the kind of energy you only get when a Mariners big-leaguer is on the mound for the AquaSox. Bryce Miller — recovering from oblique inflammation that cost him spring training — made his second and final minor-league rehab outing, and he pitched like a guy who’s about to be back at T-Mobile Park: three scoreless, six punchies, 47 pitches, 35 strikes. Then the Frogs went out and walked it off 2-1 against the Spokane Indians on an Axel Sanchez sac fly. Fireworks Friday delivered the rare combination of major-league rehab work, a tense one-run nightcap, and an actual walk-off in front of a sellout-energy Funko crowd.

    The Bryce Miller Line

    Miller did exactly what a healthy 27-year-old big-league starter on rehab is supposed to do at High-A: he was too good for the league. Three innings, one hit, one walk, six strikeouts, no runs. Through the first two innings he didn’t allow a single baserunner. The one moment of trouble came in the third when he had two runners in scoring position with two outs — and he punched out Indians first baseman Kevin Fitzer on four pitches to escape it. That’s the kind of inning that tells the Mariners’ player development staff everything they needed to see.

    Compare that to his first rehab outing the week before in Tacoma — 1.2 innings, four hits, three runs, two strikeouts, one walk on 33 pitches. Friday at Funko was a clear escalation: more pitches, more strikes, more strikeouts, no damage. Two scoreless innings to start, a tough spot navigated cleanly, and a clean exit. The Mariners now have to decide whether Miller is ready for a Triple-A finishing touch in Tacoma or whether he goes straight back to the big-league rotation.

    The Walk-Off

    The AquaSox didn’t waste Miller’s start. Locked in a 1-1 game late, Everett got runners moving in the bottom of the inning that mattered, and Axel Sanchez delivered the sacrifice fly to center field that ended it. Final: AquaSox 2, Spokane 1. Sixth straight loss for the Indians, which tells you Spokane’s not having a great early-season trip through the Northwest League — but Friday wasn’t about Spokane. It was about a homegrown Mariners arm in front of an Everett crowd, and a Frogs roster that keeps finding ways to win one-run games.

    That’s three straight wins now for Everett, on the heels of the Carlos Jimenez 6-RBI Thursday-night blowout. The Frogs are still climbing toward .500 territory but the run differential is back in the green and the offense is finally chaining at-bats together. Saturday and Sunday wrap the homestand against Spokane — Saturday at 7:05 PM and Sunday at 1:05 PM at Funko Field — and the Frogs have a real chance to take five of six in the series before they head out on the road.

    Prospect Watch

    Friday wasn’t just a Bryce Miller showcase — it was also a chance for the AquaSox prospects to share a clubhouse with a guy who’s already done it. The fan-eye view from Funko Field this week:

    Carlos Jimenez — 6 RBI on Thursday is the kind of night that pulls scouts. Power-and-RBI profile is what the system needs after the Lazaro Montes promotion conversation cooled off.

    Axel Sanchez — Walk-off sac fly Friday. Not a stat-line player but a guy who keeps showing up in late-game spots. The kind of A-ball at-bat that grades up scouting reports.

    The pitching staff behind Miller — Whoever gets handed the ball after a big-league rehab outing has to keep the lead. Friday’s bullpen got the result. That’s a quiet thing, but it matters when you’re tracking who’s developing.

    What’s Next for Bryce Miller

    Two rehab starts down. The natural next step is either a Triple-A Tacoma tune-up or activation off the IL and back into the Mariners rotation. Friday’s outing makes the case for the latter — three scoreless against pro hitters, six strikeouts, fastball back where it needs to be after his April 18 Tacoma outing reportedly clocked at 98+. The Mariners haven’t said publicly which way they’re leaning. Either way, his time at Funko Field this spring is done, and the AquaSox roster goes back to being all about the prospects.

    Saturday and Sunday at Funko Field

    The homestand wraps with Saturday’s 7:05 PM game and Sunday’s 1:05 PM matinee. If you missed Friday, those are the last two chances to see this Spokane series at Funko before the AquaSox hit the road. Tickets are still available through milb.com/everett. Funko Field on a sunny April Sunday afternoon is one of the better cheap-date afternoons in Snohomish County.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What was Bryce Miller’s line in his April 24 AquaSox rehab start?

    3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K on 47 pitches (35 strikes). It was Miller’s second and final minor-league rehab start.

    What was the final score of Friday’s AquaSox game?

    Everett AquaSox 2, Spokane Indians 1, walk-off win at Funko Field on April 24, 2026, on an Axel Sanchez sacrifice fly.

    Why was Bryce Miller pitching for the AquaSox?

    Miller is a Mariners right-handed starter rehabbing oblique inflammation that sidelined him in spring training. The AquaSox start was the second outing of his minor-league rehab assignment after a brief Triple-A Tacoma appearance the week before.

    When are the next AquaSox home games?

    Saturday April 25 at 7:05 PM and Sunday April 26 at 1:05 PM at Funko Field, closing the homestand against Spokane.

    Will Bryce Miller pitch for the AquaSox again this season?

    Friday was Miller’s final rehab outing with Everett. His next appearance will likely be either Triple-A Tacoma or back with the Mariners, depending on the team’s decision on activation.

    Where do the AquaSox play and where can I get tickets?

    The AquaSox play at Funko Field in Everett (formerly Everett Memorial Stadium). Tickets are available at milb.com/everett.

  • Silvertips Beat Penticton 5-4 in Double OT: Series Lead 2-0 Heading to South Okanagan

    Silvertips Beat Penticton 5-4 in Double OT: Series Lead 2-0 Heading to South Okanagan

    How did Silvertips Game 2 end? The Everett Silvertips beat the Penticton Vees 5-4 in double overtime at Angel of the Winds Arena on Saturday, April 25, 2026, taking a 2-0 series lead in the WHL Western Conference Final. The winning goal came on a power play in the second overtime period after the Vees had tied the game 4-4 with 56 seconds left in regulation.

    This One Had Everything: Silvertips Take Game 2 of the Western Conference Final 5-4 in Double OT

    If you left Angel of the Winds Arena early Saturday night, you missed one of the best Silvertips games in years. Everett took Game 2 of the Western Conference Final 5-4 over the Penticton Vees in double overtime, and Tips Nation now heads up to the South Okanagan Events Centre with a commanding 2-0 series lead and a team that simply will not lose.

    The shorthand version: Everett built a lead, Penticton clawed all the way back to tie it with 56 seconds left in regulation, the first overtime period was a Vees goalie clinic from AJ Reyelts, and a delay-of-game penalty a few minutes into the second overtime gave the Silvertips a power play. They cashed it in. Series 2-0. Eight playoff games, eight wins. Best run anyone in the building can remember.

    How the Game Got to Double Overtime

    This wasn’t a game where Everett played down to a lower seed. The Vees came in as the second seed in the Western Conference for a reason — they’re a hungry, structured team with NHL-drafted scoring and a goaltender who can steal a game. Saturday night, Reyelts almost did exactly that.

    The Silvertips carried play for big stretches and built a 4-3 lead late in the third. Then, with the goalie pulled, the Vees converted with 56 seconds remaining to send a packed AOTW crowd into a collective groan. That’s the game where seasons either turn or get sealed.

    The first overtime belonged to Reyelts. Everett poured shots on him, the bench was rolling four lines hard, and nothing got through. The way the building was leaning, it felt like the kind of marathon OT where one bad bounce ends a series — for either side.

    The Power Play That Ended It

    The break came a few minutes into the second overtime. Penticton was whistled for delay of game — the kind of call you can’t argue with because the rule book is the rule book — and Everett went to the power play with a chance to end it. They did. The Silvertips converted and the building emptied 5-4 winners, the AOTW horn going off at the kind of hour where weeknight Tips fans are usually already asleep.

    The Silvertips are now 8-0 in the 2026 WHL playoffs. Anders Miller has been the constant in net all postseason, and Saturday added another marathon to his ledger. Landon DuPont and Carter Bear continue to drive offense. Hunter Rudolph, fresh off his Game 1 third-period dagger, was a factor again. Different game-winners every night — that’s what good teams do, and that’s what Everett has been all year.

    Series Now Heads to Penticton

    The series shifts to Penticton’s South Okanagan Events Centre for Games 3 and 4. The Vees are now in the worst spot a 117-point regular-season Everett team can put a 2-seed in: down 0-2, going home to a building that’s loud but has been outscored over the regular-season head-to-head 3-1. Penticton needs to win Games 3 and 4 just to keep this series alive, because no team wants to come back to Everett trying to win three straight in a barn that’s 5-0 at home in these playoffs.

    For the Silvertips, this is the part of a deep run where the math gets interesting. Two more wins in any combination of the next five games and Everett is in the WHL Final, four wins from the Memorial Cup. That’s where the conversation should be after a Game 2 like this — not whether they can do it, but how soon.

    Everett Sports Coverage

    If you’re new to Silvertips coverage on Tygart Media, you can catch up on the playoff run from Round 1 through this Western Conference Final via our running game-by-game coverage of the 2026 WHL playoffs. The Game 1 4-1 recap is here for context on how the Vees series opened, and our pre-series preview lays out the Penticton matchup, NHL-drafted talent, and head-to-head record.

    Game 3 is in Penticton — check the WHL schedule for puck drop. Watch parties at downtown Everett spots will be back if Game 5 returns home next week. The way this team is playing, you want to see every minute of it.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What was the final score of Silvertips Game 2 vs Penticton?

    Everett 5, Penticton 4 in double overtime at Angel of the Winds Arena on April 25, 2026.

    Where does the Silvertips-Vees series stand?

    Everett leads the best-of-seven WHL Western Conference Final 2-0. The series shifts to Penticton’s South Okanagan Events Centre for Games 3 and 4.

    How did the Silvertips win Game 2?

    Everett scored the game-winner on a power play in the second overtime period after Penticton was assessed a delay-of-game penalty. The Vees had tied it 4-4 with 56 seconds left in regulation to force overtime.

    What is the Silvertips playoff record in 2026?

    Everett is 8-0 in the 2026 WHL playoffs through Game 2 of the Western Conference Final.

    When are Games 3 and 4 of the WHL Western Conference Final?

    Games 3 and 4 are at the South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton, BC. Check WHL.ca and Silvertips official channels for confirmed puck-drop times.

    Who is Everett’s goaltender in the 2026 playoffs?

    Anders Miller has been Everett’s starter throughout the 2026 playoff run, posting historically strong save percentages over the team’s first eight playoff games.

  • Memorial Day 2026 in Snohomish County: A Practical Guide for Military Families and Veterans New to Everett

    Memorial Day 2026 in Snohomish County: A Practical Guide for Military Families and Veterans New to Everett

    Quick answer: Memorial Day 2026 is Monday, May 25. The closest VA national cemetery to Naval Station Everett is Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent, which holds its annual Memorial Day Commemorative Ceremony at 1 p.m. that Monday at the Main Flag Pole Assembly Area. Closer to home, Snohomish County’s Eternal Flame at the County Courthouse (3000 Rockefeller Ave., Everett) is the central county-level remembrance site, and Lake Stevens American Legion Post 181, Floral Hills in Lynnwood, and Evergreen Cemetery in Everett all host community services that morning.

    If you’ve just PCS’d to Naval Station Everett, retired in Snohomish County, or moved here to support a sailor or soldier in the family, Memorial Day is one of the days the local military community is easiest to find. The bases are quieter than Navy Birthday or Veterans Day, but the cemeteries and memorials are full — and the people who run those services are the same people who run the volunteer drivers at the VA, the American Legion posts, the VFWs, and the spouse networks the rest of the year.

    This is a practical 2026 guide to where to go, when, and what to expect — written for the family that wants to do the day right and meet a few of the people who’d be good to know once the parade ends.

    Why this matters for the Everett military community

    Snohomish County is home to roughly 52,000 veterans — about one in eleven county residents — plus the active-duty population at Naval Station Everett, the five Arleigh Burke-class destroyers homeported there (USS Momsen, USS Kidd, USS Gridley, USS Sampson, USS Ralph Johnson), and several thousand military family members spread across Mukilteo, Marysville, Lake Stevens, and the unincorporated edges of the county.

    Memorial Day is the day that community shows up in one place. Active-duty sailors stand color guard at services. Vietnam-era VFW members read the names. Gold Star families lay wreaths. Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts plant flags at headstones the Saturday before. Local mayors give the speeches that don’t make the regional news but matter enormously to the families in the front rows.

    For a military family that’s two months into a Naval Station Everett tour, going to one of these services is often the fastest way to meet the people who’ll be at every PCS hello-and-goodbye for the next three years. (For more on what life looks like at NAVSTA Everett right now, see our guide to the FF(X) frigate decision and what it means for PCS plans, school choices, and the next decade for Navy families based in Everett.)

    The closest VA national cemetery: Tahoma in Kent

    Tahoma National Cemetery at 18600 SE 240th St., Kent, is the federally-administered national cemetery serving the Puget Sound region — the burial ground operated by the National Cemetery Administration under the Department of Veterans Affairs. It is the closest VA national cemetery to Naval Station Everett.

    The drive from NAVSTA Everett to Tahoma is roughly 50 minutes south on I-5 in Memorial Day morning traffic, longer if you leave after 11 a.m.

    The 2026 ceremony: Memorial Day Commemorative Ceremony, Monday, May 25, 2026, 1 p.m., at the Main Flag Pole Assembly Area. The program follows the standard Tahoma format — wreath-laying, rifle volley, and Taps, with remarks from local civic leaders and retired military officers. The ceremony is free and open to the public.

    Practical notes for first-time visitors:

    • Arrive by 12:15 p.m. Parking inside the cemetery fills early. Once the lots are full, staff direct cars to overflow parking with shuttle service.
    • Bring water, sunscreen, and a hat. The assembly area is exposed and seating is minimal — most attendees stand.
    • Wear comfortable walking shoes. Even from the closest lots, the walk to the flag pole is several hundred yards on uneven ground.
    • The cemetery hosts a “Run to Tahoma” community event the same morning organized through the Kitsap County Veterans Advisory Board for those who want a longer-distance commemoration before the 1 p.m. service.

    For sailors, families, or veterans who want the most formal Memorial Day service in the region — full military honors, full federal protocol — Tahoma is the answer.

    The county-level service: Snohomish County Eternal Flame

    The Snohomish County Eternal Flame sits in front of the Robert J. Drewel Building at the County Courthouse complex, 3000 Rockefeller Ave., Everett. It is the county’s central memorial to its veterans and the most accessible Memorial Day stop for anyone living in central or downtown Everett.

    Snohomish County typically holds an 11 a.m. Veterans Day service at the Eternal Flame in November, and the same site hosts informal Memorial Day gatherings — wreath placements, individual remembrances, and small ceremonies coordinated by local VFW and American Legion posts — throughout the morning of the holiday. Families with school-age kids who want to keep the day local often come here first, then move to one of the cemetery services.

    The Drewel Building is also where the Snohomish County Veterans Assistance Program (VAP) office is located — the county-funded program that helps veterans and their families with rent, utilities, prescriptions, transportation, and emergency needs. Most county veterans don’t know the program exists. Memorial Day is a quiet, low-pressure day to walk past the office, see the staff, and pick up the contact card. (For a deeper look at how the county program fits with the federal VA system, see our complete 2026 guide to getting VA claims help in Snohomish County.)

    The community services in Snohomish County

    Multiple community services across the county happen Memorial Day morning. These are the longest-running and most reliable for 2026.

    Lake Stevens American Legion Post 181

    Post 181 traditionally hosts two Memorial Day services on Monday morning:

    • 10 a.m. at the Lake Stevens War Veterans Memorial flag display, 1808 Main St., Lake Stevens
    • Noon at the Machias Cemetery, 1201 Silva St., Snohomish

    The Lake Stevens services are short, family-friendly, and are some of the only regularly attended community services east of I-5 in the county. Post 181 has been doing this for decades.

    Floral Hills in Lynnwood

    The Purdy & Walters at Floral Hills annual Memorial Day program at 409 Filbert Rd., Lynnwood typically runs:

    • 10:30 a.m. band concert
    • 11 a.m. ceremony

    Floral Hills is the largest cemetery in southwest Snohomish County and the regular Memorial Day stop for families based out of Mountlake Terrace, Mukilteo, and the south end of the county. Programs are listed annually on the Washington Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA) calendar.

    Evergreen Cemetery in Everett

    Evergreen Cemetery, 4505 Broadway, Everett is the historic in-city cemetery — the burial ground for many of Everett’s earliest civic leaders and Civil War-era veterans. The site has hosted Memorial Day commemorations going back more than a century. For 2026 program times, the Everett Public Library and the city’s Parks and Recreation calendar typically post details in the two weeks before the holiday.

    For veterans buried at Evergreen, families typically come the Sunday afternoon or Monday morning before the larger county services to place flowers and flags individually.

    What to do the rest of the weekend

    Memorial Day weekend is three full days in 2026 — Saturday May 23 through Monday May 25. A practical Snohomish County itinerary for a military family looks like:

    Saturday morning — Flag-placement events. Boy Scout troops, Cub Scout packs, and Civil Air Patrol cadets across the county place small American flags on veteran headstones. Tahoma National Cemetery, Floral Hills, Cypress Lawn (1615 SE Everett Mall Way), and Evergreen all get flags this weekend. Showing up to help is a fast way to meet the local Scouting and youth-veterans community.

    Sunday — Quiet day. Many Snohomish County churches incorporate Memorial Day remembrances into their Sunday services. The American Legion and VFW posts are typically open in the afternoon.

    Monday — The day itself. Tahoma at 1 p.m. for the most formal service. Lake Stevens, Floral Hills, or Evergreen in the morning if you want a community-scale event.

    Monday afternoon — Most VFW and American Legion halls in the county host open houses, family-friendly gatherings, or potlucks after the morning services. VFW Post 2100 in downtown Everett (Suite 101 of the Vet Center building) and American Legion Post 6 in Snohomish are the two most active in central county. (The Vet Center building also houses the VFW Service Officer who handles VA claims help — making the Suite 101 location worth knowing year-round.)

    If you can’t make a service

    A practical alternative for sailors who can’t get away from the base, or family members who can’t make a public service:

    • Place a wreath at the Snohomish County Eternal Flame any time on Monday. The site is unstaffed and unrestricted.
    • Make a contribution to a service organization — the USO Northwest, the Snohomish County VAP, or a county VSO — in lieu of attendance.
    • Read the names of the Snohomish County service members who’ve died in service since 9/11 at the Centennial Trail memorial at Haller Bridge in Arlington. The kiosk includes interpretive panels for each name.

    Resources for military families new to the area

    Three numbers and links worth keeping for any military family doing their first Memorial Day in Snohomish County:

    • Naval Station Everett Fleet & Family Support Center: 425-304-3735 — for any deployment-related question, family event, or community resource referral.
    • Snohomish County Veterans Assistance Program (VAP): snohomishcountywa.gov/veterans — for emergency assistance, transportation, or VSO referral.
    • Tahoma National Cemetery: cem.va.gov/cems/nchp/tahoma.asp — for burial eligibility, memorial benefits, and event schedule.

    For anyone arriving on PCS orders this spring or summer, the practical follow-on after Memorial Day is the Fleet & Family Support Center’s resource intake — the same office that runs the spouse employment programs and the deployment family support groups. Memorial Day is when you meet the community. The week after is when the FFSC plugs you into it. (See our deep dive on how NAVSTA Everett supports Navy kids and families through the FFSC and the school liaison office.)

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What day is Memorial Day 2026?

    Memorial Day 2026 is Monday, May 25. It is the last Monday of May, as set by the 1968 Uniform Monday Holiday Act.

    Is there a VA national cemetery in Everett?

    No. The closest VA national cemetery to Naval Station Everett is Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent, about 50 minutes south on I-5. Tahoma is the only VA national cemetery in the Puget Sound region.

    Is Tahoma National Cemetery’s Memorial Day ceremony open to the public?

    Yes. The ceremony is free and open to the public. Plan to arrive by 12:15 p.m. Monday May 25, 2026 because parking inside the cemetery fills early and overflow parking requires a shuttle.

    Where is the Snohomish County Eternal Flame?

    The Eternal Flame is at the Snohomish County Courthouse / Robert J. Drewel Building, 3000 Rockefeller Ave., Everett. It is the county’s central veterans memorial and is accessible 24 hours a day.

    Are the Memorial Day services in Snohomish County family-friendly?

    Yes. The Lake Stevens services at the War Veterans Memorial and Machias Cemetery, and the Floral Hills program in Lynnwood, are designed for family attendance with short program lengths, seating, and accessible venues. Tahoma’s main service is longer and more formal but is still family-friendly with adequate planning.

    How can a Naval Station Everett family find local Memorial Day events the week before?

    Two reliable sources: the Naval Station Everett Fleet & Family Support Center at 425-304-3735, and the Washington Department of Veterans Affairs event calendar at dva.wa.gov. The HeraldNet and MyEverettNews local outlets also publish Memorial Day round-ups in the days before the holiday.

    Where can I get help with a VA claim related to a service member I’m honoring on Memorial Day?

    The Snohomish County Veterans Assistance Program at the Drewel Building is the closest in-person resource for VA claims help in the county, alongside the VFW Service Officer at the Vet Center building Suite 101 and the monthly Veterans Benefits Administration field visits to the Everett Vet Center. (See our prior coverage on VA claims help options after the 2026 Vet Center schedule change for the full breakdown.)