Good friends make life easier.
On Saturday, June 4th, the Sunnyshore interns had the privilege to reconnect with a dear lifelong friend of my dad, Harry Baird. Dad and Harry grew up on the South end of Camano Island and went through elementary, middle, and high school together. Their childhood and friendship was filled with sports, adventures roughhousing, and genuine camaraderie.
We met Harry in Scotty’s Dairy Freeze in North Bend. From there I had the opportunity to drive with him to Snoqualmie Pass. I rapturously listened as Harry recanted hilarious story after story of his childhood adventures with my dad.
Our goal was to transport all of the firewood that the Sunnyshore team had cut at our friend’s cabin on Snoqualmie Pass three weeks ago. Once we arrived at Snoqualmie we loaded all of it into Harry’s trailer and truck. It just barely fit!
We then set off for Sunnyshore Studio on Camano Island where we would unload the wood. In our two hour drive to Camano Harry and I conversed topics ranging from old childhood stories, my grandpa’s favorite sayings when he coached Harry’s and my dad’s baseball team, my family’s transition after our move, social issues, my life goals, and politics. While we talked I quickly realized why my father had been so drawn to Harry as a younger kid and why they still have a strong, dear friendship after all these years.
Once we arrived on Camano we unloaded the roughly 10,000 lbs. of wood.
Then took Harry on a tour of Sunnyshore Studio. As a welder and engineer he gruffly marked his approval of the work being done on the construction of the studio.
Once our tour was complete we made our way down the road to my grandparent’s home where we devoured dinner and recanted old tales of Jason and Harry’s rambunctious childhood and friendship.
After dinner, Dad interview Harry on their friendship and an important project that Harry was working on for Sunnyshore Studio – a metal sign of Camano Island hand welded by Harry!
In February my father had asked Harry to use his gifts as a welder to create an art installation that would be used as a sign depicting Camano Island for Sunnyshore studio. Harry describes himself as “not an artsy-fartsy guy”, but after showing us the progress he had made on the sign we were quick to challenge this notion.
It’s not finished, but you can get a feel for how cool the Camano Island sign will be! But way more special in that it is a gift from one of my Dad’s best friends since childhood.
As a Camano Island boy Harry has used his abilities to showcase the beauty of Camano Island to the world through his contributions to our studio. We value Harry for his long lasting friendship to our family, to my dad, and to this Island.
Here’s the video.
by Julian