There has been a remarkable confluence of stories about Vashon people and phenomena in the media recently. It started off with an article in The New York Times about Kurt Timmermeister, cheese maker and former restaurateur (“A Table-to-Farm Pioneer,” Dec. 24) and the old Vashon property he has been cultivating for years.

Next — in my experience — was a TV video “Vashon mystery: How did the bike become embedded in the tree?” that was originally aired on KOMO 4 on Nov. 14, but I saw it as part of a year-end roundup of Eric Johnson’s favorite stories.

The evening of  Jan. 1 there was a Jean Enersen HealthLink story on Channel 5 news about Kathy Abascal’s “The TQI Diet – the Abascal Way” with scenes shot at Express Cuisine and interviews with various Vashonians.

All of these stories evoke a certain “specialness” about Vashon’s people and the things they do. They made me wonder if it was just chance that brought all these very favorable views of Vashon to a large public at the same time and/or if our local business community has been successful in marketing and publicizing the island’s real charms and strengths.  If so, this is a welcome change from producing and promoting, for example, the very non-special Strawberry Festival.

Considering that we have The Lodges on Vashon in our future (“Water district considers changing share policy for new developments,” Jan. 1), I expect that we will see more publicity designed to attract well-to-do people. The fact that two of the recent stories had to do with food reflects, I think, the concern for healthiness-for-one-and-all that generates much of what is special about Vashon. Small farms, small businesses and regular people are the stars on Vashon.

— Jill Janow