Surprise award for top citizens

Centennial duo lured with ‘budget’ cover story

By Allison Espiritu • December 9, 2009 4:18 pm
Jill Massengill and Jan Marie Johnson were surprised when they were presented with the North Bend Citizen of the Year Awards. Both were recognized for their time and work they volunteered to organize the Mount Si Festival and block party.
Jill Massengill and Jan Marie Johnson were surprised when they were presented with the North Bend Citizen of the Year Awards. Both were recognized for their time and work they volunteered to organize the Mount Si Festival and block party.

The North Bend City Council presented its 2009 Citizen of the Year awards to two women who helped make the North Bend Centennial celebration a rolicking success.

Centennial organizers Jill Massengill and Jan Marie Johnson received the award Tuesday night, Dec. 8.

Invited to the council meeting with the ruse that the council would be voting on the budget for next year’s Mount Si festival and block party, the two were in for a surprise.

“It’s already budgeted,” City Administrator Duncan Wilson told the Valley Record before press time.

Massengill is a chiropractor at Straight Chiropractic in North Bend and Johnson leads the Seattle Bites Food Tours, a three hour tour of Pike Place Market in Seattle.