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News and Updates from Seattle City Light

Seattle City (spot)Light: Kevin Gorman

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Kevin Gorman began his City career with Seattle Public Utilities before joining City Light in 2017 as part of an out of class assignment. “I love the job and pursued it full-time,” he shared. The job? Working on the LED Streetlight Conversion Program in the Joint Use and Streetlight Engineering group.

Kevin was born in Waco, Texas but has lived in Washington for 32 years. “I’m all evergreens, flannel shirts and raincoats,” he shared. “The seascapes, sunrises and mountains keep me hanging around.” He served in the Coast Guard as a Boatswain’s Mate before pursuing multiple degrees – an A.A. in psychology, a B.S. in small business management/entrepreneurship and a project management certificate from the University of Washington.

In this week’s (spot)Light, Kevin talks about his job, life in Bremerton and his hobbies.

“Like the MXPX song, I moved to Bremerton. I started looking for a home at the start of the housing crisis and was fortunate to stumble upon a place that I should not talk about, because it’s that great! Now only a 30-minute ferry from Seattle, I can walk three blocks from my house, take a free cruise and be downtown. Community is important to me and Bremerton has everything I was looking for.”  

“I was elected to Bremerton City Council in 2017 and presently chair Bremerton’s Public Works Committee and Vice-chair the Finance and Investment Committee. The work is quite interesting, stressful, and rewarding. It adds a new perspective to my work at City Light. I just returned from a monumental trip to Bremerton’s Sister City – Kure, Japan – with my daughter, Summer. We celebrated the 50-year anniversary of the Sister City program and Summer’s 17th birthday!”

“I also chair the Manette Neighborhood Coalition, an organization that provides a unified voice for neighbors and hosts several community events. I own a few rental units that keep me swinging hammers and rolling paint. When I find the time, I like woodworking, making stop animation films and music production.”

“Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) revolutionized the streetlight industry. In my role, I get to research, test and install new streetlight equipment that significantly reduces City Light’s carbon footprint, maintenance and energy cost. My big goal for the program is to implement streetlight control infrastructure, and a robust GIS platform for managing the 85,000+ assets. I’m especially proud of the work we completed for the Historic Globe lights in Pioneer Square and Downtown. The process was challenging, and the payoff is what I consider the most beautiful LED installation in the country, but I could be biased.”

“I’m really into the industry and equipment research, strategic planning, and spreadsheets. But my favorite part of the job are the relationships with the talented and supportive staff across all the utility. After 11 years with the city, I found exactly where I belong.”

American Public Power Association Offers Exclusive Rebate on Nissan LEAF

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The American Public Power Association has partnered with Nissan to offer members of the public power community (such as our City Light customers!) exclusive rebates on the all-electric 2019 Nissan LEAF. The rebates were recently extended through January 2, 2020.

These customers and employees are eligible for a rebate of $3,500 on the 2019 Nissan LEAF 40 kWh Standard and of $2,500 on the 2019 Nissan LEAF 62 kWh ePlus.

To claim the rebate, customers must download the APPA flyer and bring it to a local Nissan dealer, along with proof of eligible residency and a current electric bill. City Light has and will continue to promote these rebates through its multiple communication channels.

To learn more about these rebates, visit https://www.publicpower.org/public-power-rebates-nissan-leaf.

Seattle City (spot)Light: Brandon Melland

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Brandon Melland has been at City Light for 13 years. A journeyman lineman, Brandon began his City Light career as part of the pre-apprentice program. “I’m currently in an out-of-class position as the journeyman assigned to Safety, Health and Wellness (JSHaW). It’s my job to work with crews at our service centers and be an advocate to make changes for the better, “Brandon explained. “Each craft – line, network, tech metering and stations – has its own JSHaW representative. I’m assigned to line which is exciting. I get to work with groups like safety and engineering to help push projects forward. I like it quite a bit.”

Brandon grew up in the Mill Creek area and attended Shoreline Community College where he earned an associate’s degree in Arts & Sciences. “I was accepted into the University of Washington and was just about to transfer, but I changed course and applied for the pre-apprentice lineworker program.” He lives in Bothell with his wife Kristal and their two sons, Sean and Brian.

In this week’s (spot)Light, Brandon talks about his work at the utility, his family and hobbies.

“My family and I like to travel. We’ve been to Japan twice and are planning our third trip. It’s an awesome country and has so much great food. We also like going to Canada. Norway and Hawaii are also on our travel list. I also enjoy woodworking. I inherited a bunch of tools and since I like to work with my hands, I started to build things. Nothing too involved, but I built our bed frame and a few tables.”

“Cooking is popular in our home. My mom and grandma were good cooks, but I didn’t get into it until I started cooking with my wife. She’s a tremendous cook. We do everything – from making our own pasta noodles to baking doughnuts from scratch. I also like to cook fish. My uncles and I take a fishing trip to Alaska just about every year. We visit a town called Soldotna and fish for sockeye salmon along the Kenai River. I like to do nice barbeques with the fish I bring back!”

“I’ve worked in multiple capacities at City Light, from powerline clearance with vegetation management to the docks where we build, maintain and troubleshoot powerlines. I’ve also been involved in different training opportunities. I helped develop our tower rescue program and still do tower rescue. It’s also been fun to work with our apprenticeship team. I’ve participated in some of the outreach efforts where we go to schools and talk to kids about our careers and how being a lineworker is a viable career path. I recently got involved with Grassroots Safety because I care about City Light getting better and safer for the people who work here, myself included. It seems like a good path to make change.”

“I enjoy my work – it’s very satisfying. It’s nice to see a project through completion; to see the results of your labor. Storm work is also very satisfying. It’s the most fun because people are happy to see you for a change! Most of the time, we’re either invisible, in the way or turning off people’s power. But with storm, we’re everyone’s best friend…their heroes…because we’re restoring power. And those reactions are fun.”

City Light Completes Streetlight Infrastructure Upgrades in Shelby-Hamlin

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Seattle City Light continues to improve customer safety by converting streetlights in our service area from high-pressure sodium lights to energy-efficient light emitting diodes, or LEDs. The new LED lights support visibility and safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers.

This past fall, contracted crews completed a six-month project to replace an aging streetlight system in the Shelby-Hamlin/Montlake area. Crews replaced the streetlight fixtures, poles and underground infrastructure with updated equipment. The new fixtures were selected, based on community feedback from local residents.


The new streetlight system will provide improved, reliable lighting for the neighborhood. City Light thanks residents and businesses for their patience during construction.

For additional information about this project, and others in your neighborhood, please visit our construction website.

ESCAPE FROM DIABLO: How a Seattle City Light safety film became so much more

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This story was published originally in the June 2019 issue of Northwest Public Power Association Bulletin Magazine. Please note: positions and titles of contributors may have changed since the time of original publication.

Safety is paramount to our line of work, regardless if you are stationed in an office, a warehouse, or in the field. There are safety protocols for nearly any task or project, and those protocols typically are communicated through staid training videos that often amount to someone reading an instruction manual.

But what if training films were produced like an action movie? What if they opened with a description like this?

It’s a summer morning in Western Washington. A utility right-of-way crew sees a raging fire swallowing the mountainside racing towards a hydroelectric powerhouse. Employees race to evacuate with their loved ones as firefighters battle the flames and protect their beloved community. Will they all evacuate the area in time…safely!?

While this may feel like the trailer of the next summer blockbuster, this actually sets the scene for the opening of an evacuation protocol film produced by Seattle City Light for its Skagit Hydroelectric Project.

In 2017, City Light Videographer Koryn Kennedy and City Light’s Newhalem-Diablo Fire Brigade Chief Cody Watson wanted to make an instructional film for the communities of Diablo (Die-ab-low) and Newhalem. City Light employees, who work at the dams that City Light owns and operates, and their families live in these towns. The goal was to lay out the steps of what to do during an evacuation and they wanted to ensure that it was entertaining, educational, and, most importantly, memorable in a time of crisis.

This idea led to the creation of “Escape from Diablo” (“EFD”), a 12-minute safety film that includes action movie archetypes with Skagit Hydroelectric Project employees serving as the acting talent. The project grew to become more than a film, bringing a community together and transforming a standard safety procedure into something unforgettable.

“Escape From Diablo” Movie Poster

Learning from the past
“EFD,” although funny at times, was inspired by an unprecedented and destructive event: the Goodell Creek Fire. In 2015, lightning struck Ross Mountain in the North Cascades National Park Complex, less than a mile away from the Skagit Hydroelectric Project. The combination of the blaze engulfing the area in flames and the limited amount of aid and resources available put the project at risk. As the fire reached the boundaries of City Light’s facilities, the utility evacuated all of its employees and residents, along with visitors to the area.

The utility and its Newhalem-Diablo Fire Brigade also provided support for the surrounding resorts, national park centers, and small towns within the area. It took nearly 20 days to contain the fire even with the support of 300 volunteer firefighters. All told, the fire burned more than 8,000 acres and cost the utility $2.2 million in damages, response, and labor, along with $900,000 of power purchases and generation loss. Thankfully, no significant injuries were reported.

“The Goodell Creek Fire became a jarring reminder that wildfires in Western Washington, which were unheard of, were now a present threat to our region,” said Watson. “Following the fire, we established evacuation procedures, so both City Light employees and residents of Diablo and Newhalem know what to do in the event of an emergency.”

The Goodell Creek Fire approaching the Skagit Hydroelectric Project

Lights, camera, action!
Kennedy had her work cut out for her. She was the director, producer and entire production team of “EFD,” with occasional support from an intern or colleague willing to hold a boom mic. Most of the footage needed to be filmed at the Skagit Hydroelectric Project, roughly 130 miles northeast of her office in Seattle, and she had to coordinate the cast of 20 City Light employees. Nevertheless, filming took place over a few months and garnered more excitement with each shoot.

“EFD” is set during a fire similar to the Goodell Creek Fire that’s approaching Newhalem and Diablo. With little time to act, the City Light employees implement the new evacuation plan created by Watson and his team. Each scene goes through the procedure step by step with intermittent pauses to define critical terms typed out on the screen. Finally, the community evacuates the area safely because they followed protocol even if at times it may have been easier to cut corners. “EFD” closes with Watson (the protagonist in the Aviator sunglasses and fake mustache) explaining that the film was created to provide a visual element for their plan.

Along with its instructional aspect, “EFD” was written with a niche audience in mind: the tight-knit community of Skagit Hydroelectric Project employees who are not just coworkers but neighbors and friends. Kennedy ensured that “EFD” honored that community. With that in mind, the film includes a myriad of inside jokes suggested by the employees/actors explicitly meant for the community while still being funny to a larger audience. It was authentic, lighthearted, and never lost sight of the seriousness of the subject at hand.

“I believe there are three things that connect people: humor, cultural references, and people they know,” Kennedy explained. “‘Escape from Diablo’ is fun to watch because it’s not taking the subject lightly. Instead, it uses humor and the target audience is in on the joke. The actors were willing to be a little campy because they care so much about their community. They want to make sure that everyone remembers what to do when disaster strikes.”

Koryn Kennedy and Chris Armstrong introducing
“Escape from Diablo” at the Concrete Theatre

Taking “Escape from Diablo” to the big screen
With “EFD” in the can, Kennedy and Watson were ready for its debut. But how can a film of its magnitude just be relegated to a YouTube channel only to be referenced occasionally? A film like this called for a premiere. That’s when Kennedy and Watson brought in Chris Armstrong, City Light’s senior outreach and engagement specialist, to help organize the Baker Street Block Party, a community event in Concrete, Wash., near the Skagit Hydroelectric Project. Armstrong worked on premiering the film at the block party and providing the surrounding communities with an opportunity to connect with City Light and local emergency management agencies in a unique way.

“This might be the first event I’ve planned that was over 100 miles away,” Armstrong said, laughing. “City Light’s Communications team doesn’t work or live in the area, but our employees do. We turned to them for guidance regularly to find out who we needed to connect with locally. Engaging with those stakeholders was vital to ensure that it wasn’t just a team from Seattle trying to put on an event. Having advocates who grew up in that community was crucial.”

Early on, the City Light team connected with Valerie Stafford, the owner of the Concrete Theatre and president of the Concrete Chamber of Commerce. She loved the idea of a premiere and was happy to connect the community with City Light.

On a warm July night in 2018, “EFD” was ready for its premiere at the Baker Street Block Party. The party included a “touch-a-truck” with emergency vehicles of all kinds for the kids, safety tips from local agencies for the parents, and a time for the utility to connect with its neighbors. The event also included a display describing the Goodell Creek Fire, and even Smokey Bear made an appearance. The premiere included two showings of the film at the Concrete Theatre followed by panel discussions with local emergency management officials and a climatologist from the University of Washington to discuss current protocols and the increasing threat of wildfires in the area due to climate change.

The sold-out crowds loved the film. They cheered for their coworkers on screen, laughed at the inside jokes, and asked specific questions to find out how they could prepare in case of an emergency.

“The local community was impressed that City Light put so much effort into bringing such a fun and informative event to our area,” said Stafford. “To have a few hundred people attend an event like this is huge and speaks to what it meant to our community.”

The Concrete Theatre in Concrete, Wash.

Reaching the communities your utility impacts
Like other utilities, City Light operates in communities outside of its service territory. Though opportunities to connect directly with these communities at this level may be rare, it’s essential to identify them as they arise to provide a potentially lasting impact while fostering new relationships.

For Jenny Levesque, City Light’s community outreach manager, even though communities like those near the Skagit Hydroelectric Project aren’t City Light customers, the utility’s presence is apparent and affects their lives.

“It’s important to be aware of the impact we have in these communities and for them to know that they are appreciated,” Levesque explained. “The event in Concrete was an opportunity for us to connect with our employees while giving back to the local community.”

Since the “EFD” premiere and Baker Street Block Party, the event has been recognized as a best practice for utilities and public safety agencies alike. It has been referenced at conferences and is still a topic of conversation throughout City Light. At its core, “EFD” exemplifies City Light’s value of safety and to ensure that standard operating procedures are followed during a catastrophe.

“Any project that aligns and promotes your utility’s values should be embraced and celebrated,” said Faz Kasraie, City Light’s generation operations and engineering director who helped champion the project. “The film and the event never lost sight of the importance that we value the lives of our employees, their families, and their communities.”

Elementary Students Experience Nature Through City Light’s “Homeward Bound” Field Trip

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City Light employees from various divisions completed its fifteenth year of the “Homeward Bound” field trip on Oct. 15. This program gives fifth-graders from Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in south Seattle an opportunity to learn how to read maps and use compasses, witness the return of salmon to local rivers, and learn about natural sciences. We are intentional about offering the program to schools where at least 95% of the students attending are students of color.

Students learning about the Salmon along the Cedar River

Part of the participation in this program includes their teachers using the Land and Water Curriculum, a set of lessons designed by the National Science Resources Center to teach students the story of how the earth formed and how it continues to change. The goal is to give these students, many who have not had field experiences, an opportunity to walk trails, and to learn about rivers, fish and the use of maps and compasses. We hope that at least one child realizes that natural sciences are exciting and that there are job opportunities that can include many of the skills learned that day. Observing and touching (with gloves) salmon carcasses was again a hit with the students.

Students and City Light employees working together

The field trip takes place on the Cedar River at Ron Regis Park near Renton. Staff who participated included Liz Ablow, Meg Andres, Hina Arai, Dave Beedle, Kristin Cappellano, Nida Cayetano, Tim Croll, Sarah Hartwell, Paul Haase, Denise Krownbell, Kathryn Mork, Kiyomi Morris, Julianna Ross, Melissa Skelton and Hannah Staples. Thanks to the Customer Energy Solutions group for the giveaways of rulers, pens, and flashlights-greatly appreciated by the kids and the teachers!

Seattle City (spot)Light: Armand Shahbazian

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Armand Shahbazian joined Seattle City Light in 2015 as an intern in Network Services Engineering. He continued his work in Street Light Engineering and was later hired on the Distribution Services Engineering team. He recently accepted a new position back in Streetlight Engineering! “I’ll be working on new capital improvement projects throughout the city,” Armand explained. “Installing new street lighting on the waterfront and re-doing some of the lighting on 23rd Avenue in South Seattle. One of our group’s larger projects is the installation of 5G antennas on streetlight poles. I’m going to be super busy!”

Growing up in Bellevue, Armand moved a short distance to attend college at Seattle University where he studied electrical engineering. “I just finished my first quarter back at Seattle U where I’m pursuing my master’s degree in public administration!”

In this week’s (spot)Light, Armand shares how he found City Light, his role at the utility, and range of exciting hobbies.

Armand enjoying one of his favorite activities!

“When I was in undergrad, I applied to a scholarship through the American Public Power Association. I was selected and part of the requirement was to meet with a sponsoring utility that happened to be City Light. I met the director of Energy Delivering Engineering which is pretty much the team that I work with now! I shadowed the director for a little bit and it really piqued my interest in the utility.”

“Thankfully all of my positions have meshed together in a way. I interned with Network Service Engineering which covers all of downtown Seattle’s services. One of my biggest projects was working on the machines that freeze the soil for the seawall construction. It was so cool seeing the impact of my work! Street Light engineering covers City Light’s entire service territory so having the network experience was very helpful because we had to use similar resources. It was super nice to have that background. In distribution, I connect people to our grid but in a different system.”

“I’m super pumped for my new position! It’s a lot of plan reviewing. When there are large capital projects, businesses have to apply for a permit from SDOT and City Light reviews the plans. We make sure that they’re going to build something to our standards and regulations.”

“I really love to ride motorcycles! I do that whenever the weather is nice, so in the Northwest, that’s basically spring and summer. I also enjoy going camping and backpacking. I try to take six camping trips per year along with one to two backpacking excursions. I’ve traveled to Canada a lot this year and have really enjoyed exploring the area. I still need to visit Banff National Park. That’s on the bucket list for sure! Surprisingly, I haven’t done much in Washington yet. I’ve done more international traveling up to this point, but I definitely need to see more of the United States. Last year I took a trip to Boston and rented a car to just drive around and state hop along the coast (Maine, New Hampshire, etc.). It was so beautiful!”

Seattle City (spot)Light: Nicole Schultz

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Nicole Schultz has worked at City Light since 2011, but her City career began in 1997 as an intern for Seattle Police Department (SPD). She continued with the City by joining Seattle Municipal Court in 2001 and then the Mayor’s Office in 2002. She is now a Senior Marketing Strategist on the Communications Team where she’s served the past eight years. “My main focus is marketing conservation programs to our residential customer base,” Nicole explained. “My work covers a plethora of topics like energy efficiency, how to lower your bill, ways to save energy, different types of technologies like appliances, lighting, solar and our Green-Up program.”

Nicole was born and raised in Seattle. “I’ve lived in the Seattle and Shoreline area pretty much my whole life,” Nicole shared. A true local, Nicole attended Edmonds Community College before transferring to the University of Washington where she majored in Sociology. She recently moved to Lake Forest Park with her son Jackson and two dogs, Buddy and Swayze.

In this week’s (spot)Light, she talks about her community, her role at City Light and shares her favorite hobbies.

“Before getting into marketing, I wanted to be a police officer. I minored in Society Injustice and one of the requirements was to have an internship. So, I interned at SPD in the Crime Survivor Unit. I loved it so much that after my internship was complete, I stayed on as a volunteer for three years!”

“I love to golf. It’s one of my favorite things to do. I go to Alta Lake Golf Resort as much as I can. My dad is the one who got me into golf – he was the golfer. When I was ten years old, he would sneak me into the Jackson Park Golf Course. That’s how I learned, and I became hooked. I take my son Jackson golfing, too. He can play an 18-hole golf course!”

“I’m also very active in my community. I’ve been involved with the Shoreline Little League for many years and currently serve as the president. After my term is up, I plan to stay on the board. I love the community. It’s so much fun watching Jackson and his team. I also love to gamble and going to casinos. I’ve been lucky and have had two big wins on scratch tickets!”

“I’m big on family and spend almost all my time with Jackson. He’s the main reason for everything I do. In fact, one of my rituals is to take a quick walk to Jackson Street. It’s reminds me why I’m here and provides me with a sense of gratitude. It reminds me to be grateful for where I am and is motivation to keep on going. It works out since I also love to exercise and try to move as much as I can!”

“One thing I’ve always liked about my job is that I’m always learning. It’s constantly evolving because we must keep up with new technologies. But it’s more than knowing the new gadget on the market. It’s also about keeping up with best practices and understanding how the industry is operating and functioning. And people always want to save money! A huge part of my job is telling our customers how they can save money. So, it’s not a hard thing to talk about.”



City Light Continues Lynnwood Link Wire Relocations on I-5

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Seattle City Light crews plan to relocate existing overhead power lines over Interstate 5 near Northeast 189th and 195th streets to support Sound Transit’s Lynnwood Link Extension project. This work will result in traffic impacts on October 22-25.

Crews will relocate existing overhead power lines over Interstate 5 in mid-to-late October.

To complete this work safely, Washington State Patrol troopers and contracted crews must intermittently conduct rolling slowdowns of traffic in both directions of I-5 to ensure safe work operations and passage for motorists. Traffic will be intercepted and escorted at slow speeds for up to 15 minutes between Lynnwood and north Seattle as crews pull overhead feeder cables across the highway. Traffic will return to normal speeds once past the work area.

Rolling Slowdown Limits on I-5

Rolling slowdowns will occur on the following dates:

  • Tuesday night (11:59 p.m.), October 22 to Wednesday morning (4 a.m.), October 23
  • Wednesday night (11:59 p.m.), October 23 to Thursday morning (4 a.m.), October 24
  • Thursday night (11:59 p.m.), October 24 to Friday morning (4 a.m.), October 25

Traffic using the following on-ramps to I-5 will be affected:

  • On southbound I-5: I-405 Interchange, 196th Street Southwest, 44th Avenue West (Lynnwood), 220th Street Southwest, 236th Street Southwest (Mountlake Terrace), State Route 104 (Shoreline)
  • On northbound I-5: Northeast 175th Street, 5th Avenue Northeast (Shoreline), Northeast Northgate Way, Northeast 80th Street (Seattle)

Drivers should expect delays and consider using alternate routes during construction. Real-time traffic information is available on the WSDOT mobile app and the WSDOT Traffic Twitter feed.

For more information on Sound Transit’s Lynnwood Link Extension project, which will extend light rail into south Snohomish County and serve stations in Shoreline, Mountlake Terrace and Lynnwood, please visit www.soundtransit.org/system-expansion/lynnwood-link-extension or seattle.gov/light/atwork.

Haunted Concrete: Exploring the Community’s Creepy Past

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Near City Light’s Skagit Hydroelectric Project stands Concrete, Wash., population: 729. Its earliest settlers can be traced back to the 1890s, and through an influx of industries (including, of course, a cement production), Concrete was set to be the metropolis of Skagit County. Over time, jobs came and went; the lumber industry tapered off, mining dissolved and the cement plant closed.
But the one thing that never left were the people – dead or alive.

Valerie Stafford, owner of the Concrete Theatre, grew up in Concrete. After moving around Washington, she and her husband returned and purchased the Concrete Theatre.

While vacationing in Georgia, Valerie attended multiple ghost tours out of curiosity. When she came home, she questioned if Concrete itself had any ghostly inhabitance.

“I am not particularly susceptible to paranormal experiences” Valerie explains. “I don’t know what to think about people coming back to haunt an area, but after spending time in the theatre alone, I have come to believe.”

The Concrete Theatre on Main Street

“I decided to go door to door to all of the businesses on Main Street to ask them if they thought their buildings were haunted. I was amazed by how many people told me that they had had some paranormal experience or had at least heard stories. However, nobody was scared. Instead, many took that as part of what you got with the structures – most of the buildings had ghosts in them.”

After doing her research and connecting with people around Concrete, Valerie decided to organize the first Concrete Ghost Walk.

“When we advertised it, I didn’t think that anyone would show up, but to my surprise, we had 20 to 30 attendees. I was stunned to see that many people interested in the ghosts of Concrete! We’ve been doing it ever since.”

On the walks, Valerie shares some of her own personal spooky experiences.

“For a while, I was scared to drive home at night after a Ghost Walk,” she explained. “I would drive past the buildings in the dark and couldn’t help but think about what had happened in some of them.”

Sometimes, strange things even happened during the walks from flickering streetlights to issues with technology.  

“We’ve had people tell us that in certain spots, their watches stopped working or they can’t get their phones to work. One year we had a black cat follow us through the whole town, it was bizarre. People also see unexplainable things in the shadows.”

A group on the Concrete Ghost Walk

The frights go beyond just the Ghost Walk. “I have had so many weird and unexplainable experiences in the Theatre. One night, people thought they saw orbs and that their seats were vibrating for no reason.”

Valerie herself has had close encounters with paranormal activity, as well. She shares some of them during the Ghost Walk.

“I have had things brush up against my arm or thought there was someone standing beside me while sitting in the balcony. There are plenty of other weird things that I just can’t explain.”

After all the nonhuman interactions Valerie has experienced, she says that she is never scared to go back to the Theatre.

“After talking to so many people on Main Street about the ghosts in their buildings, we’ve concluded that these ghosts have no intention of harming us. We don’t believe that they are threatening or evil; we think of them as people that loved Concrete so much that they never wanted to leave!”

One of the young volunteers depicting a young girl who has yet to leave Concrete…

The Ghost Walk is a highlight of the spooky season in Concrete, but don’t be fooled; they are not intentionally meant to scare participants or convince them that ghosts exist.

“The walks let you see, meet and hear the stories of the people that used to live there. We share these stories so people can learn why these buildings are haunted. People come from all over, and they have so much fun!” Valerie exclaims.

The 90-minute Ghost Walk is offered at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. every Saturday night in October. Tickets can only be purchased online at https://ghostwalk.bpt.me/. Valerie suggests that attendees be 16 or older to attend the tour. Those with any mobility issues may need to make other arrangements.

The Concrete community offers a variety of unique events year-round! Learn more at concrete-wa.com/.