Seaweed foraging: Marvin Xu, a Microsoft employee living in Seattle, asked the Vashon Park District last summer to allow limited recreational seaweed foraging. The district agreed — allowing it at Wingehaven and Lisabuela Park — and 26-year-old Xu, along with some buddies, traveled to Lisabuela over Memorial Day last month to collect seaweed in addition to doing a bit of clam digging.

Foragers must still follow local, county, and state permitting and licensing regulations.

Xu said that, when he was a child, his father would recount stories of growing up poor in China and going into the mountains to find food to survive. It helped spark an interest in Xu to forage for sea urchins, gooseneck barnacles, geoducks and more, while navigating local and state laws to make sure he’s not taking illegally. He said he and his friends often take the food back and cook and eat together.

“I really like to go for exotic ones that are maybe less mainstream,” he said.

Parks Foundation seeks help: The Vashon Parks Foundation, a nonprofit which fundraises for community projects like the replacement of Tramp Harbor Dock, is seeking new board members and volunteers, particularly those with experience fundraising, marketing, grant writing, preparing taxes and performing community outreach. Learn more at vashonparksfoundation.org.

Vashon track stuns at state: Check back with The Beachcomber soon for more on the results from Vashon High School track and field athletes at the state championship last weekend.

Hardware Store partnership: Island eatery The Hardware Store Restaurant announced in May that Nick Green, an experienced boutique hotel and restaurant manger originally from Seattle, has joined the restaurant’s team as an operating partner.

Beachcomber staff awarded: Staff at The Beachcomber earned two awards from the recently-announced results of the 2024 Society of Professional Journalists “Northwest Excellence in Journalism Competition,” which covers journalism and journalists in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho and Montana. Both awards were in the Small Newsroom division.

Reporter Elizabeth Shepherd won first place in the Review category for her review of “Trap,” a play produced at Vashon High School. Editor Alex Bruell won first place in the Photo Essay category for his coverage of the recovery of the bones of the gray whale that washed up on Vashon last year by Vashon Nature Center staff and volunteers.

This is one of two journalism contests The Beachcomber regularly competes in; the other, the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association, has yet to announce its winners this summer.