The clocks went back on Sunday, and the light went with them. The sun sets at 4:46 tonight in Poulsbo and at 4:29 by the 19th. November has a reputation for being the month nothing happens here, and it does not deserve it: the salmon are in the creeks, the holiday markets start this weekend, and Port Angeles spends the end of the month lighting up a forest. We put the whole month on one calendar, up top.

Also: the burger bracket's championship closed last night. More on that below.

The Rundown

The North End Gets Its Own Hazardous Waste Drop-Off

The half-empty paint cans in the garage finally have somewhere close to go. Kitsap County's North Kitsap Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility opened yesterday at 23300 Arness Creek Road NE, Poulsbo. It is free and year-round, open Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday, 10 to noon and 12:30 to 4, and it takes paint, batteries, cleaners, pesticides, solvents, antifreeze and CFL bulbs. It does not take fireworks, ammunition, marine flares, large propane tanks, empty containers or electronics. Until now the North End waited for a one-day collection event or drove 40-plus minutes to the South Kitsap facility.

Someone Will Look After Bill Austin's Work

Friends and family of Bill Austin, who died in September at 91, have formed the Bill Austin Foundation to catalog and maintain his murals, statues, signs and other creations, add new pieces, and train the next generation of makers. Gary McVey, whose idea it was, is president, and Austin's widow Jan Ryan is vice president. It is registered with the state as a nonprofit corporation and has applied for federal 501(c)(3) status. Murals and storefronts only outlast the people who made them if somebody keeps them up, so this is good news.

Port Hadlock's Boat School Is Sending Builders Everywhere

Recent graduates of the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding have gone to work at Haven Boatworks and Brian Toss Yacht Riggers in Port Townsend, at yards in Bremerton, at Brooklin Boat Yard in Maine, at Mystic Seaport Museum and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, and, for one of them, at a superyacht hydraulics company in Spain. The school has also picked up its accreditor's School of Excellence award, which the Leader says goes to about 8% of the schools reviewed. A new class started on October 5, so there are more on the way.

Best Burger of the Peninsula: The Final

Sixteen burgers went in back in September, and the championship came down to Grub Hut in Kingston, the top seed, against A&H Curbside Grill in Port Hadlock, the 14 seed that kept winning. Voting closed at midnight. The count goes up on the bracket page as soon as it is done, and the champion gets the write-up and the 2026 seal for the front window in our next issue. Thank you to everyone who voted, and to everyone who argued about it at a counter.

This Weekend and Next

Forest Storytelling Festival  ·  Field Hall, Port Angeles · Thu Nov 5 to Sat Nov 7 · Ghost Stories tonight at 7 · $30 a session, $70 for the festival

The 27th year. Megan Wells, Gene Tagaban and Andy Offutt Irwin tell, with workshops in the mornings, a Friday evening show and a Saturday finale at 1:45. Field Hall pitches it at "preteens, grandparents and everybody in between." About 1 hour 15 from Poulsbo.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof  ·  Jewel Box Theatre, Poulsbo · Opens Fri Nov 6, to Nov 22 · Fri and Sat 7:30pm, Sun 2pm · $23, $18 seniors, military and under 12

Tennessee Williams's Mississippi pressure cooker, directed by Jeffrey Brown. Parking around Iverson is tight, so the theater asks you to use the Post Office and Bank of America lots, Jensen Way, or the pay lot on Jensen.

North Kitsap Holiday Fest  ·  North Kitsap High School, Poulsbo · Sat Nov 7, 9 to 5, and Sun Nov 8, 11 to 4 · $5, young kids free

A juried arts and crafts show filling the gym, the auxiliary gym and the Commons, and one of the first holiday markets of the season. The door money goes to student activities and the Safe and Sober grad night, which is a better cause than most gift shopping gets.

Port Townsend's first winter Saturday  ·  Port Townsend · Sat Nov 7 · Market 10 to 2, art walk 5 to 8

The Port Townsend Farmers Market starts its winter Saturdays uptown on Tyler Street, through December 19 (no pets; park at the Haines Place Park & Ride). Stay for the First Saturday Art Walk, when Karen Hackenberg is in Northwind Art's Jeanette Best Gallery on Water Street. About 45 minutes from Poulsbo.

Veterans Day  ·  Wed Nov 11

Poulsbo's Veterans Day Parade steps off at 11am on Front Street, free, and it raises money for local veterans' programs. It is also a fee-free day at Olympic National Park, for US citizens and residents. Hurricane Ridge Road was closed for snow at the end of October, and from November 1 every vehicle going above the Heart O' the Hills entrance has to carry chains, so the Hoh or the lowland trails are the easier free day.

Art in the Woods Studio Tour  ·  Studios across North Kitsap · Fri Nov 13 to Sun Nov 15 · 10am to 5pm daily

A self-guided drive through working artists' studios in four color-coded areas, with demos and work for sale. Download the brochure map from the Cultural Arts Foundation Northwest page before you go, because the studios are spread across four areas and you will want a plan.

Hansville Holiday Market  ·  Greater Hansville Community Center at Buck Lake · Sat Nov 14 · 10am to 4pm

The north end's own holiday market, run by Hansville Helping Hands, with a bake sale, a toy drive and raffles. Bring a toy for the drive and leave with something from the bake sale.

Alice Wallace: A Nashville Experience  ·  Port Gamble Theater · Sat Nov 14 · Potluck social hour 6pm, concert 7pm · Pay what you wish, $25 minimum

An Americana and country singer in a small mill-town theater, with a potluck first, which is about as neighborly as a ticketed show gets. Reserved seating, and no outside drinks.

Later in November

The back half of the calendar up top, for planning. Our next issue lands on the 19th, but some of these want tickets or a decision before then.

Thu Nov 19 · Warren Miller's "Days Off" at the Admiral Theatre, Bremerton, 7:30pm, $28. The annual ski film, for anyone already checking the snow report.

Fri Nov 20 to Sun Nov 22 · The 39th Holiday Gift & Food Fair in the Kitsap County Pavilion at the fairgrounds, Bremerton. Fri and Sat 10 to 5, Sun 10 to 4. $7, $6 for seniors, military and teens, under 12 free, and a dollar off if you bring a food donation. More than 150 local makers, handmade and food only.

Sat Nov 21 · Last day of the season for the Bainbridge Island Farmers Market, 10 to 2. The Poulsbo Farmers Market keeps going on Saturdays to December 12.

Tue Nov 24 to Sun Nov 29 · The 36th Festival of Trees at the Vern Burton Community Center, Port Angeles, for the Olympic Medical Center Foundation. The Family Days are the easy way in: Sat Nov 28, 10 to 3, and Sun Nov 29, 10 to 2, $10 at the door, 12 and under free, with Santa photos.

From Fri Nov 27 · Wintertide at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center: lit sculptures in Webster's Woods, free, nightly 4 to 8 through January 3. Opening night has fire tables, live music and the Makers Market. Pair it with the Festival of Trees and Port Angeles is a whole Saturday.

Fri Nov 27 and Sat Nov 28 · The Port Townsend Arts Guild's Holiday Craft Sale at the Port Townsend Community Center, 10 to 5. Juried, part of each sale goes to the food bank, and in the guild's own words, "This is not a Christmas bazaar."

Sat Nov 28 · Bremerton's Winter Fest and Tree Lighting at Quincy Square, 3 to 7, with Santa's Workshop and a holiday market.

Select weekends from Nov 27 · For your Seattle friends: the Poulsbo Express, a new FRS Clipper day cruise from Pier 69 to downtown Poulsbo by way of Agate Pass, sailing Nov 27 to 29, Dec 5 and 6, Dec 12 and 13, and Dec 18 to 20. Standard sailings leave Seattle at 10 and give them about four and a half hours in downtown Poulsbo, and fares start at $99 round trip. Meet them at the dock.

Live Music

FRI Nov 6 · CIGAR, West Coast skate punk, with Mercy Music, Pretty Deadly, Old Cross and Matt Danger  ·  The Charleston, Bremerton · 8pm, doors 7 · All ages · $20 advance, $25 day of

SAT Nov 7 · Steve Hall Band, grunge and rock covers, for the YES Fund  ·  Treehouse Café, Bainbridge · 8pm, doors 7 · $25

SAT Nov 7 · Tarboo Tapes label launch: Bete Grise, Not Lenny, Sheepcamp, Marlo Mudd  ·  Quilcene Lantern, Quilcene · 6:30pm, doors 5 · All ages · $10 advance, $15 to $25 door

SAT Nov 7 · Benjamin Hunter Band, folk and roots  ·  Field Hall, Port Angeles · 7pm · Adults from $29.50, youth $19.50

SAT Nov 7 · Baobab Trio, West African kora with cello and percussion  ·  Rainshadow Recording Studio, Fort Worden, Port Townsend · 7:30pm · All ages · $25 advance, $30 door

SUN Nov 8 · Free Jazz Sunday: L Dowdell Chamber Jazz  ·  Field Hall Sunset Lounge, Port Angeles · Noon to 1:30 · Free

SUN Nov 8 · Chris Smither, blues-rooted singer-songwriter, with John "Greyhound" Maxwell  ·  Palindrome, Port Townsend · 7:30pm · All ages · $40 advance, $50 door

WED Nov 11 · Pearl Django, gypsy jazz  ·  Cellar Cat, Kingston · 6:30 to 8:30pm · 21+ · About $40, plus a $20 per person minimum spend

FRI Nov 13 · Revisiting Creedence, a CCR tribute  ·  Admiral Theatre, Bremerton · 7:30pm, doors 6:30 · $26 to $68 with fees

SAT Nov 14 · Geist & the Sacred Ensemble, doom-tinged folk, with Shadowhouse  ·  Quilcene Lantern, Quilcene · 7pm, doors 6 · All ages · $10 advance, $15 to $25 door

SAT Nov 14 · Battle of the Bands, four local finalists  ·  Field Hall Sunset Lounge, Port Angeles · 7pm · $24.50

TUE Nov 17 · Myers / Watson / Forsyth, instrumental trio  ·  Rainshadow Recording Studio, Port Townsend · 7:30pm · All ages · $25 advance, $30 door

FRI Nov 20 · End of the Line, an Allman Brothers tribute  ·  Admiral Theatre, Bremerton · 7:30pm, doors 6:30 · $21 to $58

SAT Nov 21 · KITSA, Port Orchard stoner metal, vinyl release, with Slow Goat, Sorcia and Tigers on Opium  ·  The Charleston, Bremerton · 8pm · All ages · $15

More on the web edition, including the casino tribute nights and Cellar Cat's full November. If you have a show we missed, tell us.

Spotted

The Seamus Sims Skate Park in Port Townsend has gone from gray concrete to bull kelp, crabs and shoreline, in a new mural by Jesse Joshua Watson that includes the boat Sims fished on in Alaska.

Also in Port Townsend: the painted fence at Memorial Field, the work of more than 100 people, is due to come down this month. Parts of it tested positive for lead, so nobody gets to take a panel home. Go and look while it is still up.

The Friends of Sequim Library shop at Rock Plaza has turned its discount annex into shelving for more than 1,500 DVDs and audiobooks plus a puzzles-and-games corner, which is the correct response to November.

The Tides

The low tides of the next two weeks are night tides again. At Seabeck on Hood Canal every minus tide falls between about 9:45pm and 1:15am, from the 7th to the 14th, and the deepest is about minus 1.8 feet at 11:20pm on Tuesday the 10th. In daylight nothing gets lower than this morning's, about +3.2 feet at Port Gamble at 7:21, just after sunrise, and every daylight low after that is higher.

Predictions from NOAA.

Most of our shoreline is still closed to shellfish. As of October 30, the state's biotoxin bulletin closes all species in Port Gamble Bay; Hood Canal from Tekiu Point and Triton Head south to Sisters Point; Dyes Inlet, Port Washington Narrows, Liberty Bay, Agate Passage, Port Orchard Passage and Sinclair Inlet; Discovery Bay and the Quimper Peninsula from Discovery Bay to Middle Point; Port Ludlow and Mats Mats Bay; Sequim Bay; and the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Cape Flattery east to the Jefferson County line, including Dungeness Bay. Butter clams, geoducks and varnish clams are closed on Hood Canal from Foulweather Bluff south to Tekiu Point, from Tala Shore south to Triton Head, and from Sisters Point east to Twanoh State Park. Butter and varnish clams are closed in Oak Bay, Quilcene Bay and Dabob Bay and on the Kitsap shore from Foulweather Bluff south to Point Jefferson. The ocean beaches are still listed under an extended seasonal closure. As of October 30 WDFW had approved no November razor clam digs, and Long Beach and Twin Harbors stay closed for domoic acid, so check its razor clam page before you plan one.

Closures change, so whenever you do go, check the beach you are actually standing on first: Washington DOH Shellfish Safety Map.

Hidden Gem: Quinault, Open for Winter

For the first time in two winters, there is a public road into the far end of the Quinault valley. A storm washed out the Quinault South Shore Road at milepost 1.3, and for almost two years that meant no public road beyond the washout in winter and no scenic loop around Lake Quinault at all. Jefferson County reopened it on October 8, after a $325,000 repair by Roglin's of Aberdeen. The catch: on October 22 Olympic National Park pulled the temporary bridge that joins the North Shore and South Shore roads for the storm season, so the loop is broken again for the winter and Graves Creek is reachable only from the South Shore side. It is a long drive from Poulsbo, which makes it a weekend, and a rain forest in November is a rain forest doing its job.

Ferry Watch

Mark Tuesday the 10th. Port Townsend/Coupeville's vehicle reservations for the winter season, December 27 to March 20, open at 10am on Tuesday, November 10, two weeks later than planned, through a virtual waiting room. The same route loses evening sailings to the tide from this weekend: the 5:15 and 6:45pm from Port Townsend and the 6:00 and 7:30pm from Coupeville on Friday the 6th and Saturday the 7th; the 6:45 from Port Townsend and the 7:30 from Coupeville on Sunday the 8th; the 6:45 and 8:30 from Port Townsend and the 7:30 and 9:10 from Coupeville on Monday the 9th; and the 8:30 from Port Townsend and the 9:10 from Coupeville on Tuesday the 10th. Southworth keeps its bonus boat through Sunday the 8th, and a new schedule starts on the 9th. Everything else is on the fall schedule to December 26, and Kingston still wants a boarding pass for vehicles on weekends, 8am to 8pm.

On the roads: the two westbound Tacoma Narrows lanes that were closed for joint repairs reopened on October 30, a week ahead of schedule. SR 116 near Port Hadlock is still closed at Chimacum Creek, and WSDOT now says only that it reopens "sometime in November", so keep using Rhody Drive, Irondale Road and Chimacum Road. Out west, the US 101 bridge over the Hoh River stays one lane on signals at 25 mph until a permanent repair, and there are more single-lane signal stretches near Ruby Beach and at the Jefferson and Clallam county line, so the drive to the coast takes longer than the map says.

Full schedules and live alerts: wsdot.com/ferries

More for the fortnight

The email ran out of room before November ran out of things. Here is what got cut, plus two bits of Bainbridge news.

The Island's Butcher Is Getting a Real Shop

The Blind Butcher, Bainbridge's whole-animal butcher, is moving out of the shared commercial kitchen it uses on Three Tree Lane and into a permanent space in Coppertop Loop. Owner Allen Brown, who left Amazon after 13 years to open it in 2025, is hoping to be in by Christmas, though construction could push that into early 2027. The meat comes from small Washington farms that practice regenerative agriculture, and the bigger kitchen means curing, smoking and air-drying. Brown has long dried his own biltong, the air-cured meat that originated in South Africa, at home.

Seattle's Ferry Clock Was Fixed on Bainbridge

The 118-year-old four-dial clock that came off Colman Dock in 2019 went back up in the terminal lobby on October 21. It spent about seven years at WSF's Eagle Harbor maintenance yard on Bainbridge, where the ferry system's woodworkers rebuilt its frame and housing, and Poulsbo clockmaker George Pease restored the gears. So next time you are waiting for the boat home on the Seattle side, the clock you are glaring at is partly ours.

More things to do

Girls' Night Out  ·  Downtown Port Townsend · Thu Nov 5 · Shopping 11am to 7pm, Shop & Sip 3 to 7, wrap party 7 to 9

Port Townsend Main Street's start to holiday shopping, tonight. The $20 suggested-donation shopping bag goes to the Jefferson Healthcare Foundation for cancer screening.

Bremerton First Friday Artwalk  ·  Downtown, Charleston, Lebo and Manette · Fri Nov 6 · 5 to 8pm · Free

Galleries, music and first-Friday specials across four neighborhoods, rain or shine.

High Bluff Ecosystems Rock Walk  ·  Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, Sequim · Sat Nov 7 · 8:30 to 10am · Free, no registration

Scientists from the Coastal Watershed Institute on the high bluffs west of the spit, with the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe and the Dungeness River Nature Center. An early start, but you could be back in Poulsbo for lunch.

Fiddler on the Roof  ·  Bremerton Community Theatre · To Nov 22 · Fri and Sat 7:30pm, Sun 2:30pm · $10 to $27

About two hours 45 with the intermission, recommended for 8 and up.

The Way Out  ·  Field Hall, Port Angeles · Thu Nov 12 · 7pm · $15 advance, $20 door, $10 youth and students

Matchstick Productions' ski film, about an hour, shown by the Hurricane Ridge Winter Sports Education Foundation. The Port Angeles answer to the Warren Miller night in Bremerton a week later.

Red  ·  Bainbridge Performing Arts · Fri Nov 13 to Sun Nov 15, preview Thu Nov 12 · Times and prices on BPA's page

John Logan's Tony-winning two-hander about Mark Rothko, in BPA's small Studio Series.

WestSound Symphony, "American in Paris"  ·  Silverdale Lutheran Church · Sat Nov 14 and Sun Nov 15 · 3pm

The symphony's smaller Around Town series. Adults $25, youth 6 to 18 $10, and 5 and under free.

And the rest of the music

THU Nov 5 · Holly Wolfe and Chris Switzer  ·  Tracyton Public House, Bremerton · 6pm · 21+

FRI Nov 6 · ABBAgraphs, ABBA tribute  ·  Clearwater Casino, Suquamish · 8:30pm, doors 7 · 21+ · $15

SAT Nov 7 · Guitar Worship Service: Sun Crow, Hexecutioner, Across The Narrows, MONED  ·  The Charleston, Bremerton · 7pm · All ages · $15

SUN Nov 8 · Bainbridge Island Youth Orchestra, fall concert  ·  Bainbridge Performing Arts · 3pm

THU Nov 12 · Chris Switzer, solo acoustic  ·  Tracyton Public House, Bremerton · 6pm · 21+

FRI Nov 13 · Iron Chic, Long Island punk, with Me, Grimlock! and Kids on Fire  ·  The Charleston, Bremerton · 8pm · All ages · $20 advance, $25 day of

FRI Nov 13 · Gimme Shelter, Rolling Stones tribute  ·  Clearwater Casino, Suquamish · 8:30pm · 21+ · $15

SAT Nov 14 · Gobblefest, five local bands for Helpline House  ·  Treehouse Café, Bainbridge · Time and price on the venue's page

SAT Nov 14 · Petty Thief, Tom Petty tribute  ·  Clearwater Casino, Suquamish · 8:30pm · 21+ · $15

SUN Nov 15 · Greta Matassa, jazz vocals  ·  Cellar Cat, Kingston · 21+ · $25

FRI Nov 20 · Victims of Love, Eagles tribute  ·  Clearwater Casino, Suquamish · 8:30pm · 21+ · $15

SAT Nov 21 · Evo Floyd, Pink Floyd tribute  ·  Clearwater Casino, Suquamish · 8:30pm · 21+ · $15

SAT Nov 21 · Bread & Gravy  ·  Tracyton Public House, Bremerton · 8 to 11pm · 21+

SAT Nov 21 · Goat & Asa, with Clark Bags  ·  Quilcene Lantern, Quilcene · 7pm, doors 6 · All ages · $10 advance, $15 to $25 door

Cellar Cat's November flyer also lists Jonas Myers (Nov 12), Rafael Tranquillino (Nov 13, $20), Myers, Watson and Forsyth (Nov 14), Ranger and the Re-arrangers (Nov 19) and Tony and Trevor (Nov 21). It gives no start times, so check with the room.

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