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A parade and other festivities connected to tonight’s Stone Cottage building move have been canceled due to a COVID-19 case that has emerged with the house-moving company. 

However, the Save the Stone Cottage committee has authorized the house-moving company, Nickel Bros, to proceed with the move as planned, given that all company staff who will be onsite will have tested negative for the coronavirus. 

“We are canceling the parade and pre-event ceremony out of an abundance of caution, but we are grateful that the move itself can still proceed,” says Mike Shaughnessy, one of three leaders of the LLC that has partnered with the Southwest Seattle Historical Society to raise funds to save the 90-year-old residence that is adorned with 15,000 beach stones. 

The Stone Cottage -- on a site slated for development at 1123 Harbor Ave. S.W. on the West Seattle coastline that faces downtown Seattle -- will be moved starting at about midnight. The destination for the move is one mile south, a temporary storage site on Port of Seattle property at Southwest Florida Street, where the cottage will remain until a final home is determined. 

Those interested in seeing the move take place can still do so, but the Save the Stone Cottage committee recommends that they stay inside vehicles and distanced from the moving staff. 

Several of the committee’s pre-move auction items provided roles in a parade during the move, and winners of those items will have the opportunity for their contributions to be refunded. 

Nickel Bros contacted the Save the Stone Cottage committee on Monday evening as soon as its COVID case emerged and possible contact exposures within the Nickel Bros crew had been discovered. The company administered rapid tests to its entire crew early this morning. Two Nickel Bros crew members tested positive for COVID and are quarantining. 

The Save the Stone Cottage committee commends Nickel Bros for its quick notifications and attention to event safety.