Science and Fun Mix As WhaleFest Returns

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Category: News

Created on Monday, 28 October 2024 15:32

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By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
    Sitka’s annual WhaleFest is lining up a series of presentations on topics from local marine mammals and Alaska’s fisheries to invasive green crabs. And alongside the science will be a fun run, the Maritime Grind, and the arts and crafts market.
    As always, the core of WhaleFest, hosted and coordinated by the Sitka Sound Science Center, is the science symposium that runs Friday to Sunday. Speakers will touch on maritime topics in the overarching theme “Shifting Boundaries, New Horizons,” addressing the impacts of climate change from Sitka Sound to the North Slope.
    “The heart of WhaleFest has always been the science symposium... That is really what WhaleFest was at the beginning – bringing experts here to share knowledge and have that community interaction,” said Lauren Bell, Science Center research director. “We have a really exciting slate of speakers this year representing topics and knowledge from across Alaska all the way to the Canadian Arctic.”
    Speakers will inform audiences on “how animal ranges are moving, how that’s changing the relationships that animals and ecosystems have with people, and all aspects of that, how it’s changing hunting, how it’s changing harvest and pieces like that,” Bell said.
    The symposium begins with a welcome at 12:45 p.m. Friday at Centennial Hall, followed at 1 p.m. by the first presentation, “Navigating Change: From Microscopic Plankton to Majestic North Pacific Right Whales,” by Deana Crouser.
    Presentations will continue through Sunday at Centennial Hall, and a full schedule is posted online at sitkawhalefest.org, and a partial event schedule is below.
     “Nunaaqqit Savaqatigivlugich – Working with Iñupiaq Communities to Understand a Changing Arctic,” by Donna Hauser, Roberta TG-B and Kim Pikok, will be presented at 1 p.m. Saturday, followed at 2 p.m. by  “Mean and Green (or Not!): European Green Crab in Southeast Alaska,” by Sitka’s Kari Lanphier.
    At 3 p.m. Sunday the program will be  “Following the Arc of Humans’ Relationship with Marine Mammals in Southeast Alaska,” hosted by three Sitkans, UAS assistant professor Lauren Wild, NOAA fisheries biologist John Moran, and Mike Miller, chairman of the Indigenous Peoples Council for Marine Mammals.
    That presentation will be more of a panel than a lecture, offering a deep dive into Sitka’s local marine ecology, Bell said.
    “We always bring in experts to get perspectives from outlying areas, but it’s so important to tie things back to what’s happening here locally, and what observations and changes are happening here,” Bell said. “So (with) this panel it’s our hope to bring some of those pieces to bear.”
    A variety of other issues also are on the schedule.
    Lina Kapp, WhaleFest administrator, emphasized the importance of community outreach as an aspect of the festival, stressing the accessibility of the symposium to those without formal scientific training.
    “They’re really doing important work, answering big questions, but the way they’re going to present their research and their knowledge is meant to be very accessible,” Kapp said. “I am not somebody with a formal science background; I am a science enthusiast, but I am not a scientist. It’s something that somebody like me, who is not an academic, who is not a professional scientist, can still really enjoy and learn a whole lot from. It’s meant to be something for a wide range of ages and interests and backgrounds. It’s really important to us to have an event where science really is for everybody.”
    WhaleFest draws participants from outside the community and also involves scores of students.
    “Something else that’s really important to us about this event is that we facilitate many different opportunities for students, for community members, for visitors (who) come just for WhaleFest, to really get the chance to interact closely with the scientists and knowledge holders,” Kapp said.
    Over 100 students, in college as well as high school, are involved with WhaleFest this year, the organizers said.
    They noted the popular WhaleFest marine trivia event has gained so much traction that it requires the larger venue provided by Centennial Hall this year.
    The first WhaleFest event this year is the Tongass to Table dinner, 5-7 p.m. Wednesday at the Sitka Sound Science Center. A showing of student art will take place 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Centennial Hall. The main activity commences on Friday, and includes a handicraft market 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., also at Centennial Hall. The market will be open on the same hours Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.
    The WhaleFest 5k run will be held 9 to 10 a.m. Saturday at Whale Park.
    WhaleFest incorporates another Sitka tradition as well –– the Maritime Grind, with a nautical theme, 7:30 to 9 p.m. Friday at Centennial Hall.
    “I’m looking forward to hearing all these people that are going to perform, watch them and hear them,” said Jeff Budd, who organized the first Grind 30 years ago. “And I like going to the market. I bought a pass for the speakers,” Budd said. Doors open at 7 p.m. Friday, and tickets cost $5 at Old Harbor Books or at the door.
     Performers on stage will include the Sitka Studio of Dance, Hank Moore and Ted Howard, as well as Lina Kapp and Mia Carter, both from the Sitka Sound Science Center. Lilli Garza’s band Los Castaways will likewise be on tap.
    “We’re still finalizing our songs, but we’re probably going to do a little bit of reggae and maybe some Beatles, but we’re really excited for this Grind because it’s the two year anniversary of me and Kevin (Vargas) playing music together. We played at the WhaleFest Grind two years ago, and that was our first time performing. And now our band has grown significantly,” Garza, the band’s singer, told the newspaper today.
    She and Los Castaways have performed at monthly Grinds many times, and Garza said she enjoys the variety of music on show.
    “The Grinds are fun because there’s a ton of different kinds of music and performers playing. I think we have a super different sound. We have six people, that’s a huge band,”
    Sunday an Allen Marine cruise will be held 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., when participants can experience first-hand the wildlife discussed in the science symposiums.
    With so many items on the schedule, Lauren Bell said there’s likely a WhaleFest event for everyone in Sitka.
    “You can dive in for the whole weekend, or you can pick and choose what appeals to you and be a part of this big celebration,” she said.