Daily Sitka Sentinel

April 28, 2017 Community Happenings

Seafood Festival

Changes Hands

Organizers of the Sitka Seafood Festival have announced that the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, a local fishermen’s alliance, is taking over the festival.

The new organizers say they may incorporate some new ideas and events, but plan to stay true to the heart and soul of the festival: celebrating wild Alaskan seafood.

Those with questions or suggestions may call Willow Moore at 747-3400. 

‘Bring Own Bag’

Event Set May 8

Bags for Change invites Sitkans to a social meeting 7 p.m. Monday, May 8, at 131 Shelikof Way.

“Bring your own bag and beverage for a fun evening of art and work related to reducing disposable bags in Sitka,” an organizer said. “Enjoy a glass of wine, the sunset over Mt. Edgecumbe, and environmentally-caring friends as the group works on reviewing art contest entries, distributing kids drawings, writing and reviewing educational PSAs, and determining the next moves.”

For more information call Michelle at 747-2708.

Community

Bike Ride Set

The Sitka Community Bike Ride will start 11 a.m. Saturday, May 6, at Totem Square. The family friendly ride will go down Lincoln Street to Sitka National Historical Park and back.  

The first 20 cyclists to arrive will receive a complimentary bottle of chain lubricant. 

The Sitka Bicycle Friendly Community Coalition, SEARHC and Sitka Community Hospital are organizing this bike ride in honor of the first bicycle to be seen in Sitka 126 years ago.  

For more information and to see a complete list of May’s National Bike Month events go to http://sitkacycling.wordpress.com/.

Kids Story Time 

To Take a Break

The preschool story time program at Sitka Public Library will take a break May 4 and May 11 to get ready for the Summer Reading Program and attend to school visits. Story Time will resume Thursday, May 18, at 10:30 a.m.

Preschoolers are also invited to the Early Literacy Summer Reading Program kickoff party 10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 20, sponsored by Sitka Babies and Books.

 The library’s number is 747-8708.

Library Program

For Tots to Start

Sitka Babies and Books will celebrate the beginning of the Early Literacy Summer Library Program with a kickoff party 10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 20, at Sitka Public Library for babies, toddlers and preschoolers.

“Build a Better World” is the theme. Children are invited to build up a world together with recycled materials. Readings and other activities will also be part of the program.

After the event families may register children ages up to 5 to enjoy the Summer Library Program that runs to Aug. 12. Registered children will get a free board book. The event doesn’t require registration and all are welcome.

The library’s number is 747-8708.

F/V Vessel Drill

Workshop Listed

The Alaska Marine Safety Education Association will offer a fishing vessel drill conductor workshop May 4-5 in Yakutat.

The workshop is free to commercial fishermen, thanks to support from the U.S. Coast Guard, the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community & Economic Development, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health. The cost is $175 for others.

Jerry Dzugan will be the instructor.

Mariners may register at www.amsea.org or call (907) 747-3287.

Sesquicentennial

calendar

Sesquicentennial events for May have been scheduled.

Father Oleksa will speak on The Six Saints of Sitka 7 p.m. May 3 at Centennial Hall. He will weave into the lives, the themes of the initial arrival of the Siberian frontiersmen, the intermarriage and creation of the Creole status and their contributions and reaction to the Treaty; and the continuation of the Aleut schools until 1917.

The Rev. Dr. Michael James Oleksa WS born in Allentown, Pa,, educated at Georgetown University, St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, and earned his doctorate in Czechoslovakia. He was ordained in Napaskiak, Alaska, and has served a dozen Orthodox Christian communities across Alaska and taught on all three main campuses of the University of Alaska system. He has authored five books all related to Alaska Native cultures and history and is currently the acting Dean of St. Michael’s Cathedral in Sitka.

On May 17 from 7 to 8 p.m. at Sitka National Historical Park, Tamie Park Song will speak on “The Necessity of Truth in Reconciliation.” Tamie Parker Song grew up commercial salmon fishing on the northwest side of Kodiak Island and in Jerusalem, Israel; her interest in truth and reconciliation was informed by the conflicts in both places. Her MFA is in creative nonfiction, and her essay “Manhandled” was listed as a notable essay in Best American Essays 2016. She has lived in Sitka since 2014.

“The Necessity of Truth in Reconciliation” will investigate the Truth & Reconciliation Commissions in South Africa and Rwanda as a jumping off point to considering the necessity of deep, broad and personal truth-telling in culture-wide reconciliation and healing. The commissions are known to have engendered connection, forgiveness, and healing between perpetrators and victims of horrific crimes; we will ask how it is that simply showing up to truth can heal deeper harms than we would have thought possible, and what the United States, and Southeast Alaska in particular, might learn from these historical events.

On May 31, 7 p.m. at Harrigan Centennial Hall, Steve Haycox will speak on the “101” of the Sesquicentennial. Steve Haycox is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Alaska Anchorage where he taught full time for 40 years and continues to teach, research, write and publish. His latest book is “Battleground Alaska: Fighting Federal Power in America’s Last Wilderness.” He is a recipient of the University of Alaska Edith Bullock Prize for Excellence, an Alaska’s Governor’s Award in Humanities, and has twice been named Historian of the Year by the Alaska Historical Society. His course in Alaska history is available online from UAA.