Our PNW Music

Mandy Fer is our guest today. We talk about her and Dave McGraw touring and recording as a folk duo and the progression to the Indie Rock group Sway Wild as it is today.

Orcas Island feels like a jump away and connected to the roots of this podcast, so this interview came easy. Rudy finds himself repeating over and over how impressed he is with Sway Wild.

Songs played:

Hours We Wait - Sway Wild

La Loba - Sway Wild

Shake - Dave & Mandy Fer

Website- https://daveandmandymusic.com

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/DaveMcGrawandMandyFer/

Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/swaywild/

Did Birdsview Brewery Put Birdsview on the Map?

Birdsview Brewery will be celebrating 12 years in business this month. They opened in July of 2006 as a family tuned brewery and deli.

Bill and Kris Voigt their three daughters Sarah, Jessie, and Julie along with Bill's grandson Julian are the family members that regularly pull shifts along with a couple of paid employees.

1,000 square feet of this unique yurt style building are the tap room with great restrooms and a huge 21 and over beer garden. All their beer is brewed in house by Bill and Julie who we talked with.

The story of Birdview Brewery started when Bill won a shotgun in the local Birdsview Fire Department raffle. Kris, his wife, told him she didn't want the gun and so he took the money and bought his first beer kit!

A friend of Bill's found all their brew equipment From Deep Water Brewery in Chelan which closed just before opening back in 2006.

We chat about their current beers, their most popular in house and out of house beer is Ditsy Blonde. Walton Beverage is the brewery's distributor. They also have a Pale Ale, IPA, Scottish, and some summer fruit lagers. They will also release a HopShots beer with some proceeds donated to help fight Wild-land Fires.

They are very excited about the upcoming 12 Year Beer, or Dirty Dozen, which features 12 different hops, 12 different grain and 12 different types of yeast. "It's not an IPA and it's not a Pale Ale... It's what we call a Hybrid!" Says Brewmaster Bill.

Julie lists off some of their food menu items. Burgers, sandwiches and salads. She says that the nachos are amazing. I tried those on my visit and loved them!

The taproom is filled with art, from a huge collection of growlers and old beer cans to the posters and record art. Customers and friends have contributed to all of these collections worth looking at.

Instruments are in plenty. The music room is open to all comers to choose a guitar or bring their own and start playing anytime of the day.

"Something we hear often is that customers feel at home when they come in here. It means a lot to us because we are a family owned and operated business. We put an effort into treating our customers like family."

August 4th is Birdstock, the brewery's biggest event they hold yearly. It is a fundraiser for the Birdsview Fire Department. There will be 6 bands performing this year and it is a blast! Families are welcome to enjoy the outdoor event.

Website- https://www.birdsviewbrewingcompany.com

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/Birdsview-Brewing-Co-87152519417/

Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/birdsviewbrewery/

Bill mentions this book in our discussion- https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Joy-Homebrewing-Revised-Updated-ebook/dp/B00BATINQ8

Chris Nelson joined us today and told us the story behind SkagitBreaking.com, Skagit Valley's number one place to get news.

In 2013, the I-5 bridge collapsed at the freeway section spanning over the Skagit River, just north of downtown Mount Vernon. Chris and his family were shopping nearby. He had been a first responder in Skagit County, so he rushed to the scene to see what he could do. When he arrived, there were already enough people helping, so Chris documented the entire event on social media.

After this, a friend joked that he should start a news site on Facebook. Chris did this, using his trained ear for scanner traffic to generate local news. This started as a profile named Skagit Breaking, which soon reached 5,000 friends. At that point Facebook made him convert his account to a Page, and that has now ballooned to over 80,000 followers.

Chris has a team of 38 moderators to help find news, events, and all things to post on his website and social media. Some of his staff is paid, including a few writers and a small advertising department. All of the others are volunteers, who may get incentives from time to time, like tickets or entry into local events. The community also plays a big role in helping gather and share information. People write in on a daily basis, contributing to news and other stories, such as missing pets, stolen property, and small events.

When the Oso Mudslide hit, even amidst the chaos of this national disaster, Skagit Breaking proved its proficiency in connecting communities with information. Other events, such as the Cascade Mall Shooting and the shooter incident involving Mount Vernon Police Officer Mike "Mick" McClaughry, showed off the agility of Skagit Breaking to distribute correct news in a quick manner.

Skagit Breaking has also helped organize searches for people, including full fledged community searches. One missing persons search unfortunately resulted in the discovery of a deceased person. Other searches have helped to find missing children.

Businesses are usually surprised at Skagit Breaking's social media reach. Live videos from events and giveaways can flood local business social media sites.

One thing Chris will not do is share videos of dramatic events that may get a lot of traffic, but will not benefit the community in the end. He feels strongly that people's lives should not be taken lightly. Overall, the content of Skagit Breaking is not only family friendly, but all around community focused.