Island Tidbits: Local Cop Snares National Award, Pride Fest Next Weekend, Kitchen Pail Program Progress, Music at The Pavilion

Officer Brent Miller Honored for Deescalating Domestic Situation

Bainbridge Island Police Officer Brent Miller was awarded the honor of Police Officer of the Year by the American Legion Department of Washington. The American Legion presented Officer Miller with this award at the Legion’s annual conference in Kennewick on July 13. He was nominated for this honor by the American Legion Colin Hyde Post on Bainbridge Island.

According to City Manager Blair King, Officer Miller serves in several different roles for the Police Department. He is also a member of the regional Kitsap Interagency Traffic Team, which investigates serious injury and fatal collisions in Kitsap County. Last year, Officer Miller led the department in arrests for driving while impaired.

The citation for Officer Miller’s award referenced a specific incident. In April of 2023, Officer Miller responded to a call involving a distraught woman who returned to her former partner’s residence, breaking out the glass in twelve windows and doors with a cinder block before entering the home. The women said she was armed and threatened to harm herself or others.

Also inside the home were the former partner and teenage daughter. Officers were able to evacuate the partner while the woman was in another part of the house. The daughter, with bare feet, was trapped inside by the broken glass. Officer Miller quickly entered the house and was able to carry her to safety. Officer Miller’s actions in evacuating the home allowed time to deescalate the situation by moving back to a perimeter and developing a plan for safely taking the woman into custody, recalls King.

Officer Miller is a Bainbridge Island native and graduate of Bainbridge High School. He served in the United States Marine Corp and with the Washington State Patrol before joining the Bainbridge Island Police Department in 2022. He will be acknowledged at the August 23 City Council meeting which begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall.

Pride Festival Set for Next Saturday at Waterfront Park 

Rainbow Crew NW presents the “We Are Family” Pride Festival 2024. The event – to be held at Waterfront Park on Saturday July 27 – is being staged in partnership with Bainbridge Queer Elders and Bainbridge Trans Friending, a support group for parents of Trans kids.

Rainbow Crew NW is represented by Lyn Flowers and Eve Paley, who are both Islanders. Paley says the festival, which is open to all residents, is aimed at celebrating “the LGBTQ+ community, our allies, the families we are born into, and the families we choose.

​​In addition, the festival will include a Queer and Straight Prom Dance Party on the Waterfront Park Lawn. Paley says Prom Dresses and Suits or Jeans Tees are appropriate. “Anyway you roll, wear your sneakers,” she explains. The dance will be held from 6pm to 8pm. The event will also feature music, family fun, vendors, community information, and a 21+ beer garden area If you are interested in being a vendor, check out: Vendor and Nonprofit Application Form

​If you are unable to participate but would like to sponsor a nonprofit, please fill out the application and check the appropriate box in the Activities section. Support Pride! Donate Here. Get a Printable Poster

​When: Saturday, July 27, 2024

Where: Bainbridge Island Waterfront Park

Time: 12pm to 8pm

Infromation: RCNW “We Are Family” Pride Festival 2024 | RCNW Website (rainbowcrewnw.org)

Still Time to Participate in City’s Kitchen Pail Pilot Program

A couple of months ago, the City of Bainbridge Island launched a 12-week Kitchen Pail Pilot Program to include 100 residents. The goal of the program is to help islanders reduce the amount of food waste ending up in the landfill and for us to learn how to encourage and make composting food waste even easier for islanders.

“We still have a handful of kitchen food waste pails available as we had some no shows,” say City officials. “There is still time to participate!” You can pick one up at the City Hall front desk on a first come basis.

If you are interested in being a part of the pilot, and you picked up a pail, be sure to sign in with the form HERE

The Pavilion Now Holding Concerts on the Courtyard! 

Music is seemingly everywhere on Bainbridge Island and is happening almost every night during the summer months. There’s bands and music being played in venues in Lynwood Center, the Coppertop Business Park, The Ravine, the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art to name a few.

And this doesn’t include Wednesday concerts at Battle Point Park, First Friday Art Walks, every Friday at the Gazebo on the Green (at Winslow Green), and other places we’re probably overlooking. Adding to the line-up are Summer Courtyard Concerts at The Pavilion on Madison Avenue. The courtyard is located on the south side of the venue and features a stage, with tables and chairs set up for viewing, eating and drinking.

Concerts will be held every Saturday evening from 6 pm. to 8 pm and will feature an array of talented musicians from Brazilian Jazz to cover band to R&B standards to original songs. The Owners of The Pavilion are encouraging islanders and visitors to come early and eat one of the mall’s eight restaurants, some of which will offer takeover entrees so participants can eat outside while listening to music.

If you’re not familiar with The Pavilion’s menu of restaurants they include SuBi (Japanese restaurant), Trattoria Isola Italian, Bainbridge Tapas, The Islander, Casa Rojas, The Green Pot Deli, and Nirvana Indian & Nepal Cuisine.

Source Materials: City of Bainbridge Island and The Island Wanderer’s own reporting. 

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