Even in tough times, the Snoqualmie Valley never stagnates.

While the past year has seen the marks of economic struggle—shuttered storefronts, women praying for the survival of businesses—nothing ever stayed still or silent in 2011.

We saw ‘minor’ floods soak the Valley, future homes change hands on Snoqualmie Ridge, and the rise of medical marijuana in places like Preston’s Kind Alternative.

Construction of some long-awaited projects, like the new North Bend Fire Station, the Snoqualmie Community Center, or the Snoqualmie Valley Veteran’s Memorial, marked the year.

So did the advent of ‘adventure’ sports such as DirtFish Rally School driving, which drew big attention when annexation plans revved up this year, or major footraces like the Warrior Dash, which created gridlock and opportunity on North Bend streets.

And we met amazing people, from DuWayne Bailey, who writes more than 60 valentines to all the ladies and kids in his life, to Darby Summers, who risked his own life to save another in the cold waters of the Snoqualmie last June.

Revisit the year that was, as chronicled in the pages of the Record:

January

• Will and Carla Neiss of Snoqualmie were struggling with long-term unemployment. While Carla works three jobs, Will had been unemployed for a year and a half. He was one of about 327,000 Washington residents without work.

• The future of Snoqualmie Ridge was put into new hands when the Pulte Group bought $50 million in lots and land from Snoqualmie Ridge II Development LLC. The sale included much of the future Ridge inventory in Eagle Pointe, Aster Creek and west of Snoqualmie Parkway. Pulte later kicked in funding toward the new Snoqualmie Community Center and Y, soon to open on the Ridge

• First came the storm, then came the sightseers. Rows of cars crowded the Snoqualmie Falls overlook, occupants coming for a glimpse of the swollen cataract on the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday. Other drivers grabbed cameras and gathered near the entrance of Snoqualmie Falls Golf Course in Fall City, snapping photos of the Snoqualmie River where it had burst its banks and overflowed Highway 202 and neighboring properties. By Monday afternoon, Jan. 17, the river was dropping, leaving Lower Valley property owners including Snoqualmie Falls Golf Course head pro Jeff Groshell with a big mess to clean up.

February

• Shocked by the state of the aging North Bend fire station, citizens pushed for and passed a $5.2 million bond measure shared by the City of North Bend and Fire District 38 by a strong margin Feb. 8. Bids are going out this winter and groundbreaking is expected in May.’

• Internationally renowned musician and painter Emanuel Vardi died Saturday, Jan. 29, at his home in North Bend, at the age of 95. He enjoyed a long, varied, and much distinguished career as a musician, winning acclaim with his skills in piano, violin and viola; and as a composer, producer, and painter.

• Snoqualmie Valley School District’s $56 million Prop. 1, to build a new middle school to replace future-freshman-campus Snoqualmie Middle School, failed at the polls—by a single vote. The bond had 5,972 “yes” votes, or 59.99 percent, to 3,983 “no” votes. A re-vote later in the year failed by a wider margin.

• Nearly every square inch of open surface on the mammoth block of fir in downtown Snoqualmie’s Railroad Park is covered with graffiti tags—most in English, many in Spanish, one in Chinese. The log, one of the most visited tourist sites in the city, gets a new tag almost every other day. If groundskeeper Caycee Firulie has his way, these kinds of mementos will be a thing of the past. He’s planning to fence the ancient landmark.

• North Bend could see two new four-story hotels and a restaurant if a land development plan goes through. New Sky, LLC, represented by Paul Pong of the Bellevue-based Pong family

of hotel developers, seeks to build the hotels, attached conference center and stand-alone restaurant at the northeast corner of South Fork Avenue and Bendigo Boulevard.

• February is a busy month for DuWayne Bailey of Snoqualmie, who gives out about 60 valentines every year.  “I’m a little bit of a romantic,” said the 70 year-old Snoqualmie man. Bailey’s annual tradition started almost 20 years ago, when he began sending valentines to his grandchildren, then the kids in the neighborhood, then their moms and other women in the neighborhood.

March

• Hands linked and heads bent, the group of women stood in a circle, unabashed despite the hubbub of morning diners at Twede’s Cafe in North Bend. They don’t really have a name, but this ambitious group of seven ladies has a powerful mission: prayer, for anyone who needs it, but especially for local businesses. “We’re concerned for the Valley,” says group member Terri Mattison. “We live here, and we want to stay here, but we need it to be successful.” With the local business districts continuing to face challenges in the recession, the women are continuing their mission to pray for Valley businesses this year.

• Snoqualmie has the highest under-18 population in King County.U.S. Census results show that 35 percent of Snoqualmie’s population is under 18. That represents a nearly 680 percent increase in the under-18 age group since 2000.

• Local relief efforts for disaster-struck Japan happened in the Valley on physical and spiritual levels. Local churches organized prayer gatherings and benefits, while students collected funds. The Fukushima nuclear disaster, the worst meltdown since Chernobyl in 1986, happened in the days after a March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

April

• The Kind Alternative, a non-profit collective of patients growing their own cannabis for medicinal use, opened its doors in Preston. Collectives have been allowed since 1998 under a Washington state law, RCW 69.51A. It also provides medical marijuana to other patients for medicinal needs, an activity that the law isn’t exactly clear on. The business has expanded in the months since opening, moving to a larger space, opening a lounge and offering ‘bud tastings.’

• Flora Jean Buso groans when she thinks about her teeth. A four-year resident of Mount Si Transitional Health Center, Buso, 70, lost her only set of dentures one year ago. With Medicaid cuts making it nearly impossible for Medicaid recipients like Buso to replace teeth or get other needed services, Mount Si Transitional Center sought passage of a Nursing Home Safety Net Assessment to help nursing homes fill in the gaps. The bill was signed by the governor in May. Meanwhile, locals came together to help Buso get a new set of choppers.

• Silent for years, the cavernous planer shed at the old Weyerhaeuser mill site in Snoqualmie came alive with sound Friday, April 15. Dozens of high-performance sports cars revved their engines, readying for an afternoon heat in the Global Rallycross Twin Peaks race, held last weekend at the transformed mill site now known as the Old Mill Adventure Park and headquarters of DirtFish Rally School. The race was allowed to come to Snoqualmie as part of an agreement between King County and Snoqualmie that the site would soon be annexed into the city. After a series of public hearings, considerable grassroots opposition to the annexation over livability concerns, city and county officials have greenlighted steps toward annexation. A final approval is expected this winter.

• Social media helped turn the Valley into a mecca for floaters during hot weekends in 2010. But the impact of floating’s bad side—sewage, trash and lack of parking—was enough to prompt a group of Lower Valley residents to form the Fall City River Float Task Force, looking for ways to make rafters better visitors. The bends of the Snoqualmie below the Falls have seen explosive growth in the number of rafters in the last two years. A web video was released last summer to help solve the problem.

May

• Leaping, cheering and embracing in midair, Mount Si High School’s boys of 2011 hefted the Washington Interscholastic Athletics Association 3A trophy high overhead, celebrating the school’s first-ever win of a state baseball championship. The win, claimed in a nail-biting bottom-of-the-seventh push against Shorewood on Saturday, May 28, embodied the ‘Cats’ never-give-up attitude. Mount Si coach Elliott Cribby returns with several state-experienced veterans this spring.

• Three eighth grade ASB students at Chief Kanim Middle School worked together on “Spread the word to end the word,” a national campaign launched by the Special Olympics (www.rword.org). The word they hope to eliminate from Chief Kanim, and maybe the other two middle schools in the district, is “retarded.” “The word retarded is disrespectful, and… we need to start using some more respect,” explained student Troy Chriest.

• King County law enforcement officials are still on the trail of a thief with expensive tastes. Coach stores in North Bend, Burlington, and Woodburn, Ore., have been the target of a late-night

burglar a total of four times in recent weeks. The thief, caught on security video in the Oregon store, appears to be a man wearing gloves and a tuque-style knit hat. He is seen smashing in the glass of the front door to get into the store, where he snatches up thousands of dollars in merchandise and leaves through the back door, in less than two minutes.

• Sandy Conway of North Bend and Ballard of Carnation were presented with Blue Star banners honoring their sons’ commitment to military service to the nation. Service Flags are available from Renton- Pickering American Legion Auxiliary Unit #79 in Snoqualmie. Valley residents who have a family member serving in the military can receive the flags. (E-mail Pam Collingwood at pam.collingwood@centurytel.net or Kathy Kerr at kerrsattic@comcast.net to receive a banner.)

June

• Two of the Valley’s finest were honored for their efforts in saving a woman’s life. Snoqualmie Firefighter Darby Summers put his life on the line in the cold waters of the Snoqualmie to save the life of Lindsay Grennan. On May 22, Grennan and her boyfriend, John Sharrar of Bothell, were caught in the Snoqualmie River’s powerful current after going into the water in an attempt to rescue their dogs, who appeared to be struggling in the river. Summers leaped in, barely managing to pull Grennan to safety. Sharrar was swept away, his body found days later. For his action, Summers received the highest award that a city firefighter can receive, the Medal of Valor. Snoqualmie Police Officer Sean Abscher received the Medal of Merit for his timely appearance downstream to rescue Summers and Grennan.

• If the big “no loitering” sign and the speaker pumping classical music didn’t deter trouble from the porch of the North Bend Library, there were always the cameras. Two low-resolution cameras eyed the parking lot and entrance of the library until June, when the King County Library System dismantled its surveillance system, reasoning that the devices weren’t in keeping with its broader philosophy against snooping.

• Meeting the Cancer Survivors Group for the first time, North Bend resident Carl Hart joins the java line at Sawdust Coffee Company on a Saturday morning.

Asked what brings him here, Hart smiles and answers, “Cancer.” He and the other survivors in the group—an informal bunch that meets at 9 a.m. every second Saturday of the month simply to talk about their experiences—take a positive, even lighthearted attitude to the potentially fatal common thread that draws them together.

• “It’s a good thing to be a good starter, but it’s a better thing to be a good finisher,” Brian Major says as he brushes in the final details on a line of river rocks. Majors worked with student artists from the Mount Si High School Art Club on the new vision for the downtown Fall City mural, in the city’s Art Park. The new mural, an earth-toned river scene with dark silhouettes, replaced a more abstract, whimsical scene.

• Tollhouse Power Company announced plans for Black Canyon, a 25-megawatt hydro plant on the North Fork of the Snoqualmie River.  Kayaking group American Whitewater opposes the lab, which would put a 30-foot diversion dam across the river, channeling water into a mile-long tunnel. Tollhouse president Thom Fischer said the plant would be flexible to allow for kayak use.

July

• Long-anticipated construction is adding much-needed program space to the Sno Valley Senior Center, plus second-story restrooms and storage, and improve the overall usability and safety of the 1926 building, but at a cost. Every area of the senior center will have to be vacated during the work, for roughly four to six months. Of course, the center has no intention of shutting down during that time, so programs have been transferred out to new Lower Valley locations.

• Jan Sullivan won’t go any closer to the crumbling edge of the Shake Mill Left Levee, but husband Robert “Sully” Sullivan is bolder., taking a few steps toward the edge to take in the view. The Sullivans watched as the Shake Mill Left Levee disappeared into the North Fork of the Snoqualmie River, which steadily gobbled their land. The Sullivans are in the process of selling their property to the county, as a repair of the much-changed bank is out of the question, county officials say.

• Snoqualmie Police investigated an attempted abduction that took place at a Snoqualmie Ridge store. Police reports say that on the afternoon of July 19, three 12-year-old boys were approached by a gray-haired man who offered to buy them candy if they would leave the Ridge IGA Supermarket with him. One boy told the man that a parent was in the store, after which he left. The man was never identified.

August

• How do needy children feed their hunger when school lunches cease for the summer? With help from Mount Si Food Bank Director Heidi Dukich, it turns out. Dukick and fellow volunteers created the Summer Cupboard to help some of the 860 children who receive hot breakfasts and lunch through Snoqualmie Valley School District’s free and reduced-cost lunch program.

• North Bend got back into the movie business when the crew with the independent thriller “Mine Games” filmed in a rural home on the east side of town. Billed as a “Deliverance meets Donnie Darko”, it’s the first major production in North Bend since 1992’s Twin Peaks movie “Fire Walk with Me.”

• The synergy of Dave and Kathy Battey is apparent, and adorable, within minutes of meeting the Snoqualmie couple, named joint Railroad Days grand marshals for 2011.  Dave loves telling stories, and Kathy reminds him of any details he might have forgotten. Dave is always ready to volunteer, and often ends up in a leadership position, while Kathy chooses a supporting role.

They finish each other’s sentences, add emphasis to each other’s stories, and each has to laud the other’s work in the community, since they won’t do it themselves. In short, they are classic Valley stock. Dave has received the keys to the cities of North Bend and Snoqualmie for his historical work and role.

• American manned spaceflights may have ceased, but don’t count the astronauts out, yet. So says Mike Barratt is an astronaut, one of 60 currently on staff at NASA, when he visited the Valley this summer. The high-flying Barratt has close Valley ties: He is the brother-in-law of Fall City martial arts instructor Johann Sasynuik; his wife Michelle is Johann’s sister. He grew up in Camas, Wash., now lives in Houston, but is a regular Valley visitor.

September

• Russell Holl of Fall City had a helluva week: On Sunday, Aug. 28, he saved a woman from drowning in a rafting accident near Fall City. The next day, he was hospitalized himself for a heart attack—his third—after his heroic exertions.

• Don’t call him a garbage man. Meet Rod Holmes, Allied Waste’s sole yard waste collector in the Valley, who made his rounds this summer amid changing times in a high tech, modern garbage truck. Garbage contracts were up for renewal this year in Snoqualmie and North Bend. While Snoqualmie traded Allied for Waste Management, North Bend awaits the outcome of its negotiations.

Snoqualmie officials wanted to expand options and lower the local ecological footprint.

• Yellow juice drips down Jerry Mader’s beard as he bites into a slice of Yellow Doll watermelon. He takes eating seriously, and his choice of produce, from Carnation’s Jubilee Farm, is a political statement. Jubilee Farm is one of nine Snoqualmie Valley farms documented in Mader’s new book, “Saving the Soil—The New American Farmer.” In it, he uses verbatim oral histories and photographs to show how local farmers are changing the world and getting the message to consumers.

• After his brain tumor was removed, Al Clarke of North Bend lost a few things. His peripheral vision in his left eye was diminished, and the taste for onions and garlic that he shared with his wife and two daughters was just gone. Cancer changed his life, as well as his daughter, Jenn Clarke, who became the spokesperson for this year’s Brain Cancer Walk in Seattle. As the face of cancer survivors, their family raised donations for the cause.

• Cameron Van Winkle shattered the school record for high school football kickers with his golden foot.  Van Winkle booted records for number, distance and single-game records, busting past ‘Cats from 1981, ’86 and 1990. And he’s only a junior.

October

• Movie houses adapt or die, and the historic North Bend Theatre is no exception. With help from local supporters and 4Culture, owners Jim and Cindy Walker renovated their theater, which turned 70 in 2011, last fall. While the staff loves the old school and the real thing, the film industry is being transformed by technology. North Bend Theatre will soon go digital, and also offer premium service with an expansion. “It’s an exhilarating prospect,” projectionist and on Wilson says. “We’re going to be a whole different theater.”

• The shrieks that echoed across Mountain Meadows Farm Saturday, Oct. 29, weren’t screams of terror, but rather high spirits. Four hundred ghastly guests ran in the  first-ever Zombie Challenge run in North Bend. Planned in 2012: A ninja run.

November

• In the fall of 2010, Sara Werner was busy organizing zombie “Thriller” dancers. In 2011, she managed a different group: a 100-person volunteer effort to mobilize voters and keep Si View Park District’s property tax ability from disappearing. Werner’s organizational efforts won through: Voters “saved Si View” by a big margin in the Nov. 8 election, which also brought in a slate of new faces to the local school board and hospital commission.

• On the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour, all eyes were on the new Snoqualmie Valley Veteran’s Memorial, which was unveiled before a huge crowd of the young and old in Snoqualmie. The carved block of stone, the center of a decorative plaza, will forever remember all those Valley residents who made the ultimate sacrifice for their nation.

December

• Former Carnation City Council member Stuart Lisk is entitled to have a little fun these days. As his term ended this month, Lisk flipped as the city’s first-ever traffic light at Tolt Avenue and Entwistle Street was activated on Dec. 15. The long-awaited light is mean to boost safety

• The group known as One VOICE formed in 2011 to streamline charitable efforts in the Valley. With the proportion of needy residents growing locally, the group’s initial Holiday Event was a big success, helping hundreds of families and more than 700 children have a merrier season with the basics of clothes, gifts and food.