Two Olga history presentations will be hosted in July by the the Olga Strawberry Council, which is charged with maintaining and preserving Olga’s Strawberry Processing Building.

Local historian Tom Welch will present hours of fascinating stories about Olga and surrounds, and invites longtime islanders to join in with their memories of life in Olga.

The public is invited to attend the by-donation presentations on Saturdays July 9 and 23 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at the Olga Energetics building.

“Did you know that the first marine science lab was at Olga until it was confiscated by Friday Harbor?” organizers say. “Or that there was a covered dance pavilion on top of Mt. Constitution, reached by trail from Cascade Lake? Adventurers could travel to the lake, stay overnight at Mrs. Cox’s boarding house and climb the mountain the next day to dance all night. Tom Welch has these and trove of other stories about this area and has an enthusiastic way of sharing those with us.”

Welch commuted from Shaw Island to Orcas Island via mailboat until his high school graduation in 1966, when he embarked for other shores. Returning in 2001, Tom discovered a fascination for island history, time to indulge it, and the desire to write a book. The book “Orcas Island,” written for the benefit of the Orcas Island Historical Museum, was the result. Since then, Tom has spent time as a volunteer on various island nonprofit boards, written a series of newspaper articles on Orcas Island history, and discovered that “it is impossible to escape work when your wife starts a business.” Tom and his wife Jenny live in Olga, near Buck Bay – originally Stockade Bay.