If you’re looking to enroll your youngster into a preschool in the fall, then you need to attend the Mercer Island Preschool Association’s Preschool Fair on Jan. 29.
This is the 12th year that the association has held this event, which will be held at Islander Middle School from 10 a.m. to noon.
The closing of Finders gift shop has left several local artists scrambling to find another venue to show their art or crafts. It’s tough enough being an artist, but in this economy the term “starving artist” takes on new meaning.
But fear not, for some of the artists have found other outlets for their wares.
Kay Hirai is a multifaceted woman. She is a business woman, a leader, an employer, a mother and a philanthropist. Nothing came easy for her, and she wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Hirai was honored Jan. 6 with the “Business of the Year” award by the Mercer Island Chamber of Commerce, for her business, Studio 904. Walking into Studio 904, you get a pleasant sense of calm with the minimalist yet tasteful decor and sweet smells. They only do hair at Studio 904, but they are trained to do it well.
Mercer Island certainly has its share of options outside of the public school system. Yet as much growth that the private independent schools have had in recent years, they have felt the changes in different ways due to the recession.
For Mercer Island High School Junior Ross Showalter, a good interpreter is key to his academic and social success.
Over the years, he has had several.
Yet, Showalter, who is deaf, is now going on his third year working with Charnell Bolger, 51, who has been working as an interpreter for 19 years.
December Multiple Listing statistics show homes that sold in December were on the market for an average of 145 days.
A man apparently commits suicide Jan. 2
This was the final Christmas season for Finders, a Mercer Island fixture for 30 years. The quaint gift shop owned by Judy Olson will close forever on Jan. 15 due to the strain of the recession.
“It’s the economy,” Olson said. “Since the middle of 2008, it’s been going down. The last couple of years have been really tough.”
The Mercer Island home of Frederick Darren Berg has been sold to a Seattle businessman for $5.925 million. The home was listed at $8.2 million, Sept. 17, with Coldwell Banker Bain Associates Wendy Lister and Terry Allen.
Mercer Island High School graduate Rob Marshall, 32, said that stepping off an airplane in Antarctica was the closest thing to stepping on another planet than anything else he has experienced. There are no smells, no plant life, no animals — just white, but beautiful, he said.
The Mercer Island Polar Bear Club will welcome in the new year on Saturday at noon at Clarke Beach, when a group of 20 to 50 people will brave the chilly waters of Lake Washington. Organizer Nile Clarke said this is the oldest Polar Bear Club in the area, with the first plunge in 1968.
Mercer Island police are continuing to investigate a string of burglaries which are connected to the crash of a small van into a Mercer Island residence on Thursday night, Dec. 23.
MIPD Public Information Officer Leslie Burns said considerable damage was done to the home in the 5600 block of 84th Avenue S.E. The occupants of the home were upstairs and therefore unharmed.
It was just another day of business as usual for Chris Foss of Foss Appraisal Services as he prepared for an estate sale at the Mercer Island home of Dr. James W. and Karen Phillips, both deceased. Dr. Phillips died in 1998; his wife died about three months ago. They had no children.
A typical estate sale usually includes china, small collectibles, art, antiques and silver.
