Bremerton Beat Blast: A building sold, a wedding and a country star

Josh: Hey Bremerton! Josh Farley with the Kitsap
Sun here, i'm joined by Afton
Prater, a Kitsap county up-and-coming
country music star, and Afton what do we
have for people today? Afton: I think we have
five stories for today Josh. Josh: that's right
five stories, stick with us.
Josh: Welcome back to this edition of the bremerton beat
Blast, sponsored by the Admiral theatre,
story number one today is that a very
prominent building in downtown bremerton
recently sold. On Friday the sale closed
for the Bremer-Wyckoff building located
at the corner of Pacific Avenue and
Burwell Street. The Bremer-Wyckoff
building was formerly Bremer's
department store but has been closed and
vacant for some time. The building was
owned by the Bremer trust which goes to
fund Olympic College projects each year
and is the direct descendant money of
William Bremer, the town's founder.
The building was purchased by Ron Sher, a
Puget Sound area developer who also owns
the harbor side parking garage across
the street. Now, Sher has not announced
what he's going to do with the building
just yet but he promises an announcement
soon and says that it will be very
exciting for the community. Story number
two is about a wedding. David Law and
Leah Ritchie exchanged vows this past
weekend in Port Gamble. The couple lives
at Canterbury Manor in East Bremerton
and they are in their eighties but just
because they might be a little older
does not mean their love for each other
is any less.
Story number three: Afton Prater is one
of Kitsap County's foremost country music
stars and on Saturday you'll have a
chance to see her perform at Olympic
College's Bremer student center. I talked
with Afton about how she feels her
musical career has matured all the time
she's been in the business. Afton: I feel like
I'm a much better songwriter now than when I
was at 14. I feel like I've experienced
more in life and I feel like my lyrics
are more honest and open and more people
can relate to that.
As I grow older I tend to write more
kind of Miranda Lambert type songs and
people a lot of times said I was more
like a Taylor Swift songwriter when I was
like 14.
I've been to Nashville I think about five times and I
cannot wait to move there and write with
awesome Nashville writers, I have already
met so many awesome people. I can't wait
to experience more. Josh:Story number four on
the Bremerton Beat Blast is about a cool
new exhibit at the Kitsap County
Historical Society and Museum: it
chronicles the 100-year history of
Bremerton's water utility which is endured
twists and turns all that time, including
the building of a dam in the 1950s, one
that still provides water for Bremerton's
55,000 customers to this day.
Kathleen: We're celebrating the centennial of the city of
Bremerton's ownership of its water systems.
You're basically getting the rain
that falls out of the sky and in Kitsap
County as a whole, all of our drinking
water comes just from rain that
falls in Kitsap County. From the 1950s we
developed the Union River as a water
supply and today that water supply is
about sixty percent of all the water
that the city of Bremerton produces and
the special thing about that is that we
own and protect that watershed: 3,000
acres the city owns and protects that.
We do such a good job that we are
one a few systems in the United States
that does not have to have a water
filtration plant. Josh: And finally story
number five on the Bremerton Beat Blast
this week, I would be seriously remiss if
I did not mention the amazing visit
we've had from a pod of orcas last
Monday. They came in to Sinclair inlet
and then journeyed up the port Washington
narrows, where many people took amazing
photos and videos. It's always wonderful
when these magnificent creatures choose
to come visit our little neck of Puget
Sound.
That's going to do it for this edition
of the bremerton beat blast, I hope you
have a great rest of your week and we'll
see again next Tuesday.

Bremerton Beat Blast: A building sold, a wedding and a country star

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