Town celebrates Wharf as it turns 120

The Coupeville Wharf is celebrating its 120th birthday on July 19 in typical Island County fashion: a giant waterfront party.

The event, from noon to 6 p.m., will feature live music, a beer garden, the Whidbey Island Sirens Pod, Clementine the face painter, local food and drinks, marine exhibits and more family fun. There will be live music performances from the Shifty Sailors, Sage Haze and others. One of the last remaining Mosquito Fleet ships, the historic Virginia V, will be offering dock-side tours as well as two Penn Cove cruises.

Tour and cruise tickets are available at the “Coupeville Wharf 120th Anniversary Party” website.

Before it was the public dock, cafe and gift shop that we know today, the iconic red wharf had a different function, Island County Historical Museum Archivist and Collections Manager Clara Burns explained.

“At first it was mostly for farmers and merchants to get their goods off the island and into markets in Everett and Seattle,” Burns said. “That’s how they got their news, that’s how they got their goods, that’s how they got their letters. Everything came through the wharf. The people would hang out there waiting for the news. It was really a cultural center since the beginning.”

A Whidbey News-Times article dated Feb. 11, 1937, details the mischievous adventures of a cat named “Cat” who resided at the wharf while his owner, Elmer Calhoun, managed it from 1914 until 1949.

The story explains that the cat loved to fish off the wharf and inspect each boat that came in. On multiple occasions, boats had to turn around and return to the wharf because the cat was discovered on board.

Calhoun later sold the wharf to Faith and Richard Hansen, who owned the Coupeville Wharf and Seed Co. until 1968, when it was sold to the Port of Coupeville.

Last year, the wharf was placed on the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation’s “Most Endangered Places” list due to rising sea levels. The port has modified the wharf’s structure to make it sturdier. It has replaced some pilings and redone the siding, the windows, the roof and the doors.

“In the future, hopefully the near future, we can raise it up six feet, so it’s gonna be safe from the rising sea levels,” the Port of Coupeville’s Project Manager Mary Hogan said.

The wharf has withstood the trials of time, rising sea levels, a curious cat and different owners, but if it wasn’t for Coupeville residents rallying together, the wharf wouldn’t have survived its near destruction, Burns explained.

“At first they were thinking about tearing it down and building a new marina, but the Coupeville residents didn’t want that to happen, and they wanted to keep the wharf and to restore it and so that’s why it’s still here,” Burns said.

Hogan thanks the community for making the wharf possible, with additional help from the Coupeville Chamber of Commerce, the Island County Historical Museum and the Historic Waterfront Association. She is excited to celebrate the accomplishment of preserving the wharf and its cultural significance for the community.

“Having something that is 120 years old, made of wood, over saltwater, and it’s still standing and still a thriving part of the community, I think is something to celebrate,” Hogan said.