Civic Pride

Summer flew by as it always does, too fast. Students begin their second month back in school. The Key Peninsula Farm Tour 2026 will be in the rearview mirror by the time you read this. But there will be scarecrows popping up in Key Center. If you don’t like good-natured fun and playfulness, consider keeping your head down this month because it’s happening all around.

Thinking back to all the people I met and chatted with during the months of warm weather reminds me of the intriguing nature of our community. What seems different about the KP to me is the eagerness to engage with others who live here and cherish it too.

How long people have lived here is a matter of pride and certainly is for me, finally breaking free from my newcomer status just shy of 25 active years. But whether you’re from the old breed, brand new to the area, or somewhere in between, I think we can all agree that we live in a place with an extraordinarily dynamic environment and a generous assortment of people rich in experience and an eagerness to share.

Our longtime postal carrier, Theresa Gano, finally retired Aug. 31. Theresa was the first person to welcome our small family and introduce us to the neighborhood.

She mentioned the Longbranch Improvement Club, where she and her husband were members with a boat moored at the marina. We showed up for the next meeting, joined, participated in volunteering, and the rest is history.

We were quickly swept into the ever-changing flow of energy that distinguishes the broader community. Becoming part of it often means agreeing to show up for drill with a willingness to contribute your talents to help sustain it by saying yes.

The Key Peninsula isn’t a city or a town, nor does it contain any in the traditional sense, beyond names of area post offices. We have no mayors, no city councils. Outside the small collection of business owners and aspiring entrepreneurial spirits who originally developed Key Center as a central hub, we have the KP Community Council, who volunteer to represent our interests to the powers over the Purdy bridge.

Being part of this or any successful unincorporated rural community is a matter of engagement. All it takes to begin is showing up with a willingness to listen and learn.

I was introduced to some recent transplants at a summer party, a couple from California, who told me they met our hosts after reading about the community breakfast last spring celebrating 70 years of the KP Civic Center. Full breakfast plates in hand, they spotted a couple seated at an otherwise empty table and asked to join them. Friendly conversation, which I imagine began with sharing their origin stories of how they discovered and came to live on the KP, resulted in an invitation to an annual summer party. Step by step, becoming involved can yield heartwarming results. Making one friend usually leads to meeting another.

You never know what former stranger may end up deeply enriching your life. One friend met at yoga or exercise class can change your whole world.

Another woman I met last week told me she researched the area quite a bit before making her decision to live here. One of many features she found appealing is that voter turnout is robust here and the results remarkably even, split between the two major political parties, Republicans and Democrats.

She said she had no interest in living in a place where any one particular ideology reigned supreme. “The best functioning communities include a mixture to achieve real results fit to last.”

I feel proud enough to shout from the rooftops that the Key Peninsula consistently maintains the highest voter turnout of any community in Pierce County, a fact the county auditor proudly shared at an in-district meeting of the Pierce County Council last spring.

There is no doubt in my mind that Key Peninsula News plays a big part in helping to maintain our civic health by keeping readers informed of the issues with news that matters to people who live here. Every community deserves its own local newspaper written by the people who live and work there.

The words KP News columnist Janice Bryant wrote beautifully in her July column bear repeating here: “I don’t care how you vote. I care that you take the time to learn before you do. Voting is a job, and it deserves more than a glance or superficial opinion. Voting takes homework. Washington’s mail-in ballots give you time to do that without rushing.”

The September edition of KP News contained interviews with the four candidates for the State House of Representatives. This edition contains three interviews for the county council and State Senate. In November, we plan to interview the remaining candidates for federal and state offices.

Pierce County will mail ballots to voters starting Oct. 13. The county auditor advises voters to return them early and use drop boxes. (You can read about Washington’s mail-in system in our article here: https://keypennews.org/stories/your-vote-counts-pierce-county-is-making-sure-of-it,8403?)

Nationally, more people chose not to vote in the presidential election of 2024 than voted for either of the two major candidates. The KP, as always, was an exception.

In 1903, a Boston lawyer named Louis Brandeis said, “The most important office, and the one which all of us can and should fill, is that of private citizen.” He was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1916.

Election Day is Nov. 3.