LOCAL WHIDBEY WITH MAGSY

Welcome to Local Whidbey Podcast, where we share the stories of the people who live, work, and make a difference on Whidbey Island, Washington. I’m Magsy, and today I’m continueing the conversation within the Creative Economy Builders. When we talk about a creative economy, it’s easy to think about artists, restaurants, theaters, makers and entrepreneurs. But there’s something all of those people need before they can build a life—or help build a community. They need a place to live. And on Whidbey Island, that’s becoming increasingly difficult. So, for this episode of Creative Economy Builders, I wanted to start with someone working on one of the most fundamental pieces of our island’s future. Amy Wheeler is the Executive Director of Home on Whidbey, a community land trust with a mission to create permanently affordable homes and thriving communities on Whidbey Island. Amy is no stranger to building community here. Before taking on this role, she spent years leading Hedgebrook, helping grow the Whidbey-based writers’ residency into an internationally recognized organization. Now she’s turning her attention to a very different challenge—and one that ultimately affects nearly everything else we talk about on this podcast. Who gets to call Whidbey home? How do teachers, artists, healthcare workers, restaurant employees, entrepreneurs and young families build lives here when home prices continue moving beyond their reach? And what if there’s another way to think about homeownership altogether? Amy Wheeler, welcome to Local Whidbey. WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK   Follow LOCAL WHIDBEY WITH MAGSY at @LocalWhidbeyPodcast ... Link: INSTAGRAM and on Facebook. You may also get to know Magsy and subscribe for invites to her supper club, at https://withmagsy.com. PODCAST SPONSORED BY THE OAK HARBOR CREATIVE ARTS FOUNDATION. Click on link to show your support for the Oak Harbor Performing Arts Center.  

There are towns you visit because of the scenery, towns you visit because of their history—and increasingly, there are towns you visit because you know you’re going to eat really well when you get there. Coupeville might just be becoming all three. Over the last several years, something interesting has been happening in this little town overlooking Penn Cove. A collection of restaurants, bakeries, farms and food entrepreneurs has begun creating what feels less like a group of separate businesses and more like a culinary ecosystem. And three of the people helping make that happen are sitting with me today. Sophia and Chef Ben Jones are the owners of The Oystercatcher, the beloved Coupeville restaurant they took over in 2023, and Osprey Fish Co., its considerably more casual—and maybe slightly mischievous—younger sibling. And then there’s Tyler Hansen, who knows The Oystercatcher very well because he once owned it himself. Today, he’s one of the people behind Little Red Hen Bakery, where a bread-making experiment that started with eight Dutch ovens grew into a business built around locally grown grain. Then their worlds connected again. Sophia and Tyler, along with their partners, helped create Goldie’s and The Roost, bringing pizza, pasta, natural wine, cocktails and another gathering place into Coupeville’s growing food scene. What fascinates me isn’t simply that all these businesses exist. It’s that they’re connected. The baker works with the farmer. The grain grown just outside town becomes flour, bread, pizza and pasta. Former restaurant owners become collaborators with new restaurant owners. And rather than competing for the same diner, they seem to be creating more reasons for people to come to Coupeville in the first place. So for Creative Economy Builders, I wanted to ask a bigger question: Can a handful of food businesses actually help change the identity—and the economy—of a small town? Sophia, Ben and Tyler, welcome to Local Whidbey. LITTLE RED HEN | OYSTERCATCHER | OSPREY | GOLDIES   Follow LOCAL WHIDBEY WITH MAGSY at @LocalWhidbeyPodcast ... Link: INSTAGRAM and on Facebook. You may also get to know Magsy and subscribe for invites to her supper club, at https://withmagsy.com. PODCAST SPONSORED BY THE OAK HARBOR CREATIVE ARTS FOUNDATION. Click on link to show your support for the Oak Harbor Performing Arts Center.  

When most of us hear the word port, we probably picture boats, docks and shipping. But on Whidbey Island, the Port of Coupeville is something much more interesting. It is responsible for two of the island’s most recognizable public assets: the historic Coupeville Wharf and Greenbank Farm.  One sits over Penn Cove and has been part of Coupeville’s waterfront identity for generations.  The other encompasses farmland, trails, wetlands, businesses, art, food and gathering spaces in the middle of the island.  And both have something important in common:  They’re public assets that also have to work economically.  That makes the Port of Coupeville a fascinating Creative Economy Builder.  Its job isn’t simply to preserve historic buildings or maintain property. It’s to think about how these places can support entrepreneurs, attract visitors, host events, create opportunities for local businesses and continue serving the community for generations.  And there’s a relatively new person leading that work.  Marisa Michaud became Executive Director of the Port of Coupeville this past year, bringing more than two decades of experience in logistics and transportation leadership along with ten years of experience serving on a public school board.  She also happens to be someone who was already spending time walking Greenbank Farm, biking around Coupeville and enjoying Penn Cove long before it became her job to help steward them.  So today I want to talk about something bigger than buildings.  How do you preserve what people love about Whidbey while still allowing places to evolve?  How can publicly owned spaces help small businesses grow?  And what could Greenbank Farm and the Coupeville Wharf become next? WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM Follow LOCAL WHIDBEY WITH MAGSY at @LocalWhidbeyPodcast ... Link: INSTAGRAM and on Facebook. You may also get to know Magsy and subscribe for invites to her supper club, at https://withmagsy.com. PODCAST SPONSORED BY THE OAK HARBOR CREATIVE ARTS FOUNDATION. Click on link to show your support for the Oak Harbor Performing Arts Center.  

This episode of Creative Economy Builders is a little different.   I’m reaching back into Season 2 of Local Whidbey to revisit a conversation that, looking at it now, was really a Creative Economy Builders story all along.   Every Labor Day weekend, downtown Oak Harbor transforms. Streets fill with people. Musicians come in from across the country. Food trucks roll in. Local businesses see crowds they might never see on an ordinary weekend. And the public gets to experience all of it for free.   The Oak Harbor Music Festival is obviously about music. But it’s also about what happens when creativity becomes an economic catalyst. A great event gives people a reason to come downtown. Then they stay. They eat. They shop. They discover businesses they may not have noticed before. And for one weekend, the energy of an entire city changes.   My guest is Larry Mason, one of the driving forces behind the Oak Harbor Music Festival. When we originally recorded this conversation, we talked about moving to Oak Harbor as a toddler, his musician journey, Island Trollers, the festival, the musicians and what it takes to put an event of this scale together.   Listening back now, I hear something else too. I hear a story about how culture can create foot traffic, community pride, tourism and economic activity — all while remaining accessible to everyone. That makes it a perfect fit for Creative Economy Builders.   Here’s my conversation with Larry Mason. WEBSITE OH MUSIC FESTIVAL | WEBSITE ISLAND TROLLERS | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM   Follow LOCAL WHIDBEY WITH MAGSY at @LocalWhidbeyPodcast ... Link: INSTAGRAM and on Facebook. You may also get to know Magsy and subscribe for invites to her supper club, at https://withmagsy.com. PODCAST SPONSORED BY THE OAK HARBOR CREATIVE ARTS FOUNDATION. Click on link to show your support for the Oak Harbor Performing Arts Center.

When we talk about Whidbey’s creative economy, we often talk about the people who live here and build something.  But there’s another piece of a creative economy that may be just as important:  Can you create something compelling enough that talented people choose to come here—and then choose to come back?  Every year, Island Shakespeare Festival brings professional actors, directors, designers and theater artists to Whidbey to create work alongside local talent.  They live here. They eat here. They shop here. They become part of the community. Some return year after year. And sometimes, the work they create here begins to belong to Whidbey itself.  Today I have three people who can tell that story from very different perspectives.  Olena Hodges is the Executive Artistic Director of Island Shakespeare Festival. She grew up on Whidbey, left the island for professional theatrical training, and ultimately came home to help build professional theater in the community where she first discovered it. Davion Brown is an internationally nomadic freelance artist originally from Australia. This is his third season with Island Shakespeare Festival. This summer he played Robin Hood—and now he’s moved from interpreting someone else’s story to writing one of his own. He’s the playwright behind ISF’s current project, Marcellus Andronicus: The Curse of House Andronici. an-dro-NEE-sigh  And Brandon Gregory is originally from Atlanta and now lives in Baltimore. He returned to Whidbey for his second season with ISF and is directing the current project.  So today, I don’t just want to talk about putting on Shakespeare.  I want to talk about something bigger.  Why do professional actors come to a little island in Washington to make theater?  What makes them come back?  What happens when an arts organization moves beyond presenting existing work and starts creating new work here?  And what would it take for Whidbey to become not simply a place that appreciates artists—but a place where artists come specifically to create? ISF WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM   Follow LOCAL WHIDBEY WITH MAGSY at @LocalWhidbeyPodcast ... Link: INSTAGRAM and on Facebook. You may also get to know Magsy and subscribe for invites to her supper club, at https://withmagsy.com. PODCAST SPONSORED BY THE OAK HARBOR CREATIVE ARTS FOUNDATION. Click on link to show your support for the Oak Harbor Performing Arts Center.