Community

Gig Harbor Now and Then | Maybe this column will make you want to yell at me

The Gig Harbor Now annual fundraiser was Sept. 23. On the whole, it went very well. But my participation was a complete failure.

Community Sponsor

Community stories are made possible in part by Peninsula Light Co, a proud sponsor of Gig Harbor Now.

Tonya Strickland was unable to attend, and she was going to bring a prominent YELL AT ME lapel button to help with my offer to let any and all readers chew me out for stupid columns I’ve written that they hated or disagreed with. I had no alternative but to improvise.

I made a very crude YELL AT ME tag out of my table number card and fastened it to the right pocket of my shirt with the flap button.

While it stayed in place, always on full display, nobody yelled at me. I pointed out the tag to several people I talked with, but they all declined the offer.

At the very least, somebody at the annual Gig Harbor Now fundraiser should’ve yelled at me for making such a lousy YELL AT ME tag.

Too polite is what they were. Every single person I talked with was upbeat, friendly, and in good spirits.

To be fair, they were there to support Gig Harbor Now, which is a very good thing. I suppose it was too much to expect any yellers to be among a group of such nice and helpful people. But let the record show I was willing to take it.

From one disappointment to another

On Sept. 25, 2023, I wrote a bit about the paving of the Jerkovich dock in Gig Harbor in 1983.

Spadoni Brothers paved the now-destroyed Jerkovich dock in 1983. Photo by Greg Spadoni.

In the story, I pointed out that because Steve Fagerud, the raker on that job, was an artist with an asphalt rake, it would be an act of vandalism to remove the remainder of the dock that stood as a work of art on the Gig Harbor waterfront.

This impressive work of art was totally destroyed by order of the city of Gig Harbor. Photo by Greg Spadoni.

But did anybody listen?

Nooo.

At the city’s direction, a couple weeks ago the remainder of the Fagerud artwork was removed.

The vandals!

Gig Harbor Now contributor Chapin Day caught the vandals in the act, and took this picture as evidence.

There’s always a general hue and cry over the mere speculation of any other old structure in Gig Harbor (i.e., the former Masonic Hall and the house at 3509 Harborview Drive) being torn down, yet nobody other than myself said a single word about saving the last section of the Jerkovich dock.

Where were all the historical preservationists on this one?

They could’ve spoken up, but they did not, and now it’s too late. The up-til-now enduring 43-year display of asphalt art is gone, never to return. Not simply relocated to another prominent spot in town, it was — gasp! —  cut into pieces!

The butchered remains were stacked on a barge and hauled away, like common refuse.

And for what? To make a tiny bit more room for the new commercial fishermen’s dock.

In spite of how long they’ve been waiting for a new, useful dock, had they known that the impressive artwork of Steve Fagerud — the son of a former Gig Harbor commercial fisherman, no less — would be so callously trashed and tossed, is there any doubt that the commercial fishermen would’ve collectively said, “Never mind with the new dock. We can do without it. Preserving peerless, one-of-a-kind art, in all its forms, no matter where it lies, is more important”?

Of course there isn’t.

The city of Gig Harbor, both government and citizens, really blew it this time.

New business

Leaving the sorry state of current affairs behind, we now retreat back into the stability of the unchangeable past with a photograph of Gig Harbor Now and Then Location of Mystery No. 4. It was taken in the late 1940s by Claude Spadoni.

Photo by Claude M. Spadoni.

While newcomers to Gig Harbor won’t have a clue where that is, it isn’t much of a mystery to local old-timers. The bulldozer pretty much gives it away. But the bulldozer is the reason the picture was taken, so it can’t be faulted for tipping off the location.

As should be expected, the question of the week is:

Where is Gig Harbor Now and Then Location of Mystery No. 4?

To make it more challenging for those who already know the answer, here are more questions concerning the picture, and none of them are easy:

What is the make and model of the bulldozer?

What is the make and model of the six-wheel-drive truck towing the trailer?

Who was the first owner of the truck?

What was the building behind the truck originally used for?

That was not the first location of the building. Where did it come from?

That’s a lot of questions, but relax — no one will be keeping score.

Unfortunate timing

The topic of a future question of local history was going to be Towhead Island. I’d never heard of it before about a month ago, when I saw it on an old map from the 1940s. I made a note to use it as a history question, but the news side of Gig Harbor Now revealed the answer before I had the chance. By necessity, Ted Kenney’s story on a recent open-house meeting concerning the replacement for the Fox Island Bridge had to mention Towhead Island, as it was one of the topics discussed.

Even though I can’t use it as a question of local history, this gives me the opportunity to point out that Towhead Island wasn’t included on most early maps because it was an island only at low tide. The rest of the time it was just an underwater bump.

A June 29, 1953, article in The News Tribune that notes the intermittent nature of Towhead Island also provides an opportunity for a slightly different question of local history, but it would be way too easy. After mentioning the early progress of the construction of the new bridge to Fox Island, the second paragraph of the article says, “Simultaneously, crews are rip-rapping and graveling a 1,400-foot fill from Fox to Towhead island for a bridge approach.”

The way-too-easy question is: What local company was doing the riprapping and graveling of the 1,400-foot approach to the future bridge?

See what I mean?

Next time

In addition to the answers to today’s questions (except that last, way-too-easy one), on Oct. 19 there will be a new topic of local history. It will involve preparing the Peninsula for a nuclear attack during the darkest days of the Cold War.

That’s usually a fascinating topic for people of a certain generation. I doubt if later generations find it nearly as interesting. But they never lived through the first ominous years of a nuclear-armed Red Menace, so it’s understandable if they don’t.

For those who are too young, be aware that some readers in that certain generation are saying to themselves, “I haven’t heard the term ‘Red Menace’ in years!”

Neither have I, but it just came drifting back into mind while I was typing.

Although completely true, it’s nonetheless misleading to say that the Red Menace was there when I needed it. It’s a case of context being everything.

— Greg Spadoni, October 5, 2026