I just took out the salmon for this week's Salmon Bake. There are only three more after this week! That seems shocking to me. A month from today the summer season will be over at Seabeck. We get a couple of empty days around Labor Day and then we start a very busy fall. 

 

Speaking of busy, we are having a great year so far. Through June 30th, we are up 20% in Guest Days, meals served and income over the same point in 2017. The summer has been full, and the fall looks great. 2018 will be a great year!

 

We will finish 2018 with a Friends of Seabeck Weekend on December 8-10. This will allow our guests to enjoy the Kitsap Historical Society's Mill Town Christmas on the afternoon of the 9th. We plan to have a special dinner on Saturday night that will showcase the special skills of Mark Regan, the new Food Service Director. We will also help decorate the campus and make some gifts to give the kids attending Mill Town. It's a great time of year to see Seabeck. I hope you will join the fun. More information and registration will be available in September.

 

The Pines Capital Campaign hit an important mark last week. Thanks to the generosity of Seabeck Family Camp and its members, we crossed the $1,000,000 mark! We are making a strong push to get to $1.2 million by the fall so we can start asking various Foundations to join with us. We have sold lots of bricks, but there is room for more. Now is a great time to give to the campaign. Being able to leverage support from Foundations will move the needle in big amounts very quickly.

 

We have delayed the start of the building that will replace Pines until September of 2019. All the signs pointed to the delay. Construction prices just increased due to tariffs, our permits are not in hand and most importantly, the campaign hasn't raised enough money to date. The whole point of the Pines project to help secure Seabeck's future prosperity. Going into huge debt is too big of a risk at this point.  I believe that all of those factors will change in our favor over the next 12 months. I am confident that the new Pines will open in Spring 2020. Pigs will fly!

 

The portable classrooms that will be used while Pines in under construction will arrive on August 20th.  We will be able to use them in addition to Pines for a few months. That should help us serve even more groups this fall and winter. I also hope to get the Pines parking lot installed and run the utilities to the site. That would mean an even quicker start in 2019. We could get the building up in the drier months of September and October if the site work is done beforehand.

 

Thanks for all your support and friendship!