By Neil Pierson

Parents interested in tak-ing their children to a fun, safe and educational activity in the outdoors might consider attend-ing two events in August at the Lower Sammamish Commons’ native plant garden.

The city of Sammamish is hosting the free events as a way of bringing children into the outdoors and learning about the wide variety of plants and flowers in their own backyard.

The turnout was sparse for a pair of July outings, but Dawn Sanders, the city’s volunteer coor-dinator, is hoping warm, sunny weather will bring more partici-pants to the park on Aug. 6 and Aug. 20.

The volunteer projects run from 10 a.m. to noon. Adults and children are invited to learn the difference between native and invasive plants, and learn proper weeding techniques.

“It’s a real win for us – we get more people out here working in the garden,” Sanders said.

“I could definitely have more teens, but I’d love to have some families with younger kids. And it’s definitely not a project where a family would feel like they’d have to weed for two hours.”

The city has partnered with the Washington Native Plants

Society to tend the garden at the lower commons. Sanders said the groups have salvaged plants like salal and currants from areas undergoing development, then relocated them to the park.

“It’s a continually ongoing pro-cess,” she explained. “We really need to have a project here once a month at least. … It’s hard in the summer because we’re so busy at the city to do those.”

The garden has provided an opportunity for two Eastlake High School students to complete their senior projects.

Kaitlin Daniels said she has enjoyed learning about invasive and native species, and she’s planning additional volunteer efforts in that regard for the next school year with the Friends of the Cedar River Watershed.

Removing weeds under the hot summer sun last week was tiring, she said, but worthwhile.

“I feel like getting to be with nature is just a good thing to do,” Daniels said.

Hayley Rowe believes her experience in the garden could benefit her future career path. Following graduation next year, she plans to travel to South Africa for an internship and possibly get a full-time job in a national park or nature reserve.

Rowe likes to tend her garden at home, and she also spends

time on the Illahee Trail. Both have proven to be educational.

“It’s interesting to know what

kinds of things you see when you bike around the community,” she said. “There’s a lot of wildflowers

(at the Illahee Trail), and it’s kind

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Photo by Neil PiersonKaitlin Daniels, who will be a senior at Eastlake High School this fall, pulls weeds from the ground on July 16 at the Lower Sammamish Commons.

City looking to foster family-friendly outings in the garden

See GARDEN, Page 7

By Neil Pierson

Plenty of people have been enjoying the Sammamish Landing since first-phase con-struction efforts finished last year, and now the city is plan-ning its first showcase event for the waterfront park.

The park, located at 4607 East Lake Sammamish Parkway N.E., will be the site of a city-spon-sored beach party from 6-8 p.m. July 26. Hot dogs and ice cream will be available for purchase, and the public is also invited to enjoy live music by Dave Calhoun, a Jimmy Buffett tribute act. The official ribbon-cutting for the park’s opening will be at 6:15 p.m.

“This will be a great way to showcase Sammamish Landing,” City Manager Ben Yazici said in a news release. “People are already using it, but this should really get the word out.”

Dawn Sanders, the city’s vol-unteer coordinator, said prizes will be awarded to the people who traveled the farthest by bik-ing, walking or paddling to the

park. The park is the only public-

access point to Lake Sammamish within city limits. Parking is

limited – the closest spots for vehicles are nearly a half-mile away on 187th Avenue N.E. – but people are welcome to use boats

or kayaks to reach the park by water.

Visitors can reach the park via the King County-owned

East Lake Sammamish Trail. Additionally, the city will be offering a shuttle service from the Les Schwab tire center, 6651 East Lake Sammamish Parkway N.E. People needing assistance to get to the park can contact the city’s parks and recreation department at 425-295-0585.

The journey to open the park stretches back more than a decade. In 2001, Sammamish was gifted a parcel of land that included 1,470 feet of shoreline. But a process to plan and build the park didn’t start until 2008.

After nearly two years of plan-ning, which included a public comment process, city council members adopted the park’s mas-ter plan in July 2010.

Construction began in sum-mer 2011 and finished in spring 2012. The first phase, which cost $650,000, includes a trailhead, two picnic shelters, a portable restroom, and two floating docks, which were designed to adapt to seasonal fluctuations in water levels and allow for year-round usage.

Sammamish Landing set for grand-opening party

Photo by Neil PiersonCity officials invite residents to paddle up to the public dock at Sammamish Landing Park.

See PARK, Page 7

By Neil Pierson

Don Bartel wants to cultivate a powerhouse football program at Eastlake High School, and to do that, he’s working with players who won’t don the Wolves’ black-and-red uniforms for several more years.

Judging by the smiling faces of roughly 70 boys at last week’s Eastlake True Champions Camp, the Wolves’ first-year head coach is making a positive impression.

Participation at the four-day camp tripled from last year, and the fields were filled with players entering sec-ond through eighth grades.

“What it says is, everybody knows things are changing at Eastlake, and their kids are going to get a lot out of camp,” Bartel said.

One of the quickest ways to foster enthusiasm among the youngsters, Bartel said, is to have them surrounded by their high-school heroes. All of Eastlake’s captains, along with several other potential leaders, served as camp counselors.

Many of the Eastlake play-ers had attended the camp as

elementary and middle-school students, so it was a chance to give back to the program that has given them a lot of joy.

Dylan Reifeis, a sophomore quarterback, was a regular camp participant growing up, and was actually coached at one point by his brother, Austin, a 2010 Eastlake graduate.

“I always looked up to these guys, and so it’s kind of cool being out here, being one of the kids that they look up to,” Reifeis

said.While the

main purpose of the camp is teaching fundamentals and growing passion for the sport among young children,

Bartel also sees a side benefit for the Eastlake program – churning out leadership.

Bartel was an assistant coach at January’s Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl in Carson, Calif. He recalls taking the players to a youth camp in nearby Long Beach and watching Peyton Pelluer, a star at Skyline High who is now playing for Washington State, jump into the middle of the action to help kids improve their skills.

“It never fails – you can tell

the confidence of a high-school kids by how he deals with 5-, 6-, 7-year-olds,” Bartel said. “A lot of

those other kids would sit on the periphery … and didn’t do much.”

Bartel encouraged his players

to interact with the kids as much

By Neil Pierson

Its 2013 record is a gaudy one, but don’t be fooled: The Lakeside Recovery Senior American Legion baseball team has had to win several close contests this season.

Lakeside Recovery stretched its record to 6-2 in one-run games, defeating Chaffey 2-1 in a non-league outing at Issaquah High School on July 17. But the team’s biggest win of the campaign might have a come a day earlier, when it rallied for a 7-4 triumph in nine innings at Bellingham to capture the Northwest League title.

The July 16 win at Bellingham was important because it kept Lakeside Recovery (31-11 overall, 10-2 league) at home for the first round of the Legion playoffs.

“If we lost, we had to go to Spokane,” Lakeside head coach Rob Reese said. “So it saved us about 10 hours (in travel time).”

Lakeside is looking to repeat its 2012 performance, when it finished third at the American

Legion World Series in Shelby, N.C. The players indicate there aren’t many weaknesses on this year’s roster, and their record in close games bodes well for anoth-er long postseason run.

“Consistency would probably be the biggest thing,” said Nik Sutherland, who pitched the last three innings and got the save against Chaffey. “We all just know our roles and we keep on coming back, trying to get better, and I think as the year has gone on, we’ve reached a really high level of play.”

Lakeside only had five hits against three Chaffey pitchers, but three of them were timely ones that pushed runs across in the third inning.

Nate Gibson led off the third with an infield single, then raced all the way home on Bradley Hoss’ double to the left-field gap.

“I got behind 0-2, and I just tried to find the barrel of the bat and find some way to get the guy in,” said Hoss, who is entering his senior season at Skyline High School.

“Hoss is one of our four out-fielders who play out there, and he’s been hot, real hot the past couple weeks,” Reese added.

Lakeside made it 2-0 when catcher Ryan Darrow drilled a sharp single to left field to score Hoss.

The two runs were enough for a Lakeside pitching staff that showed off its depth. Reese was looking to rest his arms for the start of the postseason, so four hurlers shared the workload against Chaffey.

Jake Rosen started and pitched two scoreless innings. Gibson and Jason Santiago each pitched an inning, and Sutherland, a senior-to-be at Issaquah High, got the

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Photo by Neil PiersonAxel Isackson, 11, knocks the football into the air during a defensive drill on July 17 at the Eastlake True Champions Camp.

Football camp develops next generation of Wolves

Photo by Neil PiersonLakeside Recovery catcher Ryan Darrow snares a pop fly in foul territory during his team’s 2-1 victory over Chaffey in a Senior American Legion baseball game on July 17 at Issaquah High School.

Pitching guides Lakeside Recovery to another win

See RECOVERY, Page 9

See WOLVES, Page 9

“We get to know those kids. And for me, it’s

awesome.”– Don Bartel,

Coach –