july 22, 2014 Community Happenings

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Category: News

Created on Tuesday, 22 July 2014 14:10

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    Windows Workshop
    Set at Boathouse
    Sitka’s Maritime Heritage Society invites the public to the Japonski Island Boathouse 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, July 26, for a work party and workshop on historic windows restoration.
    Participants will learn the ins and outs of rebuilding old-style windows.
    ‘‘Every hour of donated time counts twice, first in helping accomplish the work, but also because this workshop is part of an on-going effort to match a DNR Historic Preservation Fund grant with volunteer labor,’’ Sitka’s Maritime Heritage Society said.
    For more information call Carole at 206-920-2155 or check out www.sitkamaritime.org.

    Festival Banquet
    Features Auction
     A silent auction will be held during the Sitka Seafood Festival Banquet Friday, Aug. 1, at Centennial Hall.
    Doors and bidding open at 6:30 p.m.
     Items up for bid include artwork, jewelry, tours, seafood, home and boat repair, and clothing.
    Tickets and information are at sitkaseafoodfestival.org. Those with questions may call Linda at 747-6985.


    Yupik Music Group
    Pamyua to Perform
    The Sitka Seafood Festival and the Sitka Fine Arts Camp will host Yupik music group Pamyua 7 p.m. Aug. 2 at the Odess Theater in Allen Hall.
    Pamyua, a self-described tribal funk and world music band, has toured across the United States and performed at world music festivals. Their musical style blends traditional Native chants with modern styles.
    Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at Old Harbor Books. Call 747-3085 for more information.

    Wild Berries
    Topic of Talk
    Roxie Dinstel will deliver the talk ‘‘Antioxidants in Alaska’s Wild Berries’’ in a  video conference presentation 5:30-6:30 p.m. Monday, July 28, at UAS-Sitka Campus, Room 106.
    Contact the UAF Cooperative Extension Service, 747-9440, with questions.

    4-H Cloverbuds
    Garden Class Set
    Sarah Lewis, from UAF Cooperative Extension Service Juneau District, will teach a ‘‘Garden Gourmet/Harvest Chef’’ class for 4-H Cloverbuds, ages 5-8, 1-3 p.m. Friday, July 25.
    Contact the UAF Cooperative Extension Service at 747-9440 for more information or to register.


    Free Dirt Piled Up for
    Help With Local Gardens
    Free dirt is available on a trial basis to residents for their gardening needs.
    The Sitka Local Foods Network forged an agreement with the City and Borough of Sitka, Sitka School District and the Blatchley Community Gardens to provide free dirt to individuals, families and non-commercial entities for developing fruit, vegetable and flower gardens and beds.
    The dirt pile is located at Blatchley Community Gardens, behind Blatchley Middle School, to the right (north) of  the garden. Only dirt between the signs should be removed. People can remove dirt at any time, though avoiding school hours when school is in session is preferred, SLFN said.
    “This is raw dirt, mostly from land development in forest and muskeg lots around Sitka,’’ said Michelle Putz, SLFN vice president. ‘‘It is NOT top soil, but it is a good starting point for gardens when mixed with locally purchased lime and sand, and locally purchased or produced compost, manure, and other organic materials.”
    The SLFN asks that gardeners not remove sand, rocks, live kelp or live creatures from local beaches to build their soil.
    Dirt collectors should take their own shovels and containers. To make sure there is enough for everyone, SLFN asks that people take only as much as they need, and not take it for commercial use or developing a lot.
    Those who are coming for dirt need to respect the gardens, gardeners, compost, equipment and other materials at the site by taking only dirt from the pile and not removing or using anything else at the site, SLFN said.
    “One of the most asked questions SLFN gets is ‘where can I get dirt to start a garden?’ We recognize that dirt is scarce in Sitka, and we wanted to try to do something about it,” Putz said. “Making soil, the starting point of all gardens, more available to people really helps us to meet our mission of increasing the amount of locally produced and harvested food in the diets of Southeast Alaskans. We hope that people will take all the dirt they need to build new and larger vegetable, fruit, and flower beds, planters and gardens.”
    Local contractors, like Troy’s Excavation, are providing the dirt. If this trial goes well, the Sitka Local Foods Network hopes to continue the project. Compost will not be given away or created at this time.
    Those with questions or wishing to help volunteer on this or other SLFN projects should call Putz at 747-2708.

    Indian River
    Trail Hike Set
    Sitka Trail Works board members Roslyn Dailey and Brian Hanson will lead a free guided hike up the Indian River Trail on Saturday, July 26.
    The hike distance is 4.3 miles to the waterfall for a roundtrip 8.6 miles. The trail gains elevation gradually and travels alongside Indian River and then through stands of old-growth Sitka spruce.
    Participants should take their own food and water. Meet at the trailhead parking area on Indian River Road at 9 a.m. Hikers should not park by the gate at the end of Indian River Road. For more information call 747-7244, or visit http://www.sitkatrailworks.org.

TAP Class Set
A Training for Alcohol Professions class will be held 9 a.m. July 26 at Westmark Sitka in the banquet room.
The class fulfills the State of Alaska education requirements for servers and sellers of beverage alcohol. Cost is $45 and ID cards required.
Those who have an expired TAM card less than 6 months expired may simply take the test. Cost is $45 and individuals must arrive by 8:30 a.m.
Call Helen at 738-6738 for more information.

    BHV Seeking
    10 Volunteers
    For Orientation
    Brave Heart Volunteers is looking for 10 new volunteers to be companions to Sitkans of any age facing illness, isolation, end-of-life or grief. Individuals or families interested in being a companion are invited to the next BHV volunteer orientation session 1-5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 5, at the Pioneers Home Manager’s House.
    “Imagine if TV and the radio were your only friends,’’ said Krisanne Rice, BHV volunteer coordinator. ‘‘Now imagine if you could look forward to someone spending just an hour or two each week to share a conversation, to laugh, to make jam, to read the Sentinel with you or even get you outside by taking you for a walk or drive. These are real needs of many of our friends and neighbors in Sitka.
    “In our busy lives, it’s easy to take companionship for granted but human connection is a part of who we are – it’s a basic need,’’ she said.
    “I have made a dear friend over the past three months through our weekly visits,’’ Rice said. ‘‘We’ve gone on many short walks, saw the Fourth of July parade and fireworks together, cooked and shared a Thai meal, and laughed quite a bit.
    “We’re all busy but two hours a week isn’t much, especially now that those two hours are routinely my favorites. And they mean the world to my friend,” she added.
    People interested in volunteering can call BHV at 747-4600, by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or stopping by the office in the Pioneers Home Manager’s House.


    Visiting Fellow
Offer Sitkans
    Tarot Reading

    Richard Aufrichtig is one of the six Sitka Fellows living in Sitka this summer.
    He graduated from the theater program at New York University’s Titsch School of the Arts in 2011, and has since lived in Brooklyn, N.Y. He has released more than a dozen records, performed more than 100 concerts, published a book of poetry, and written a number of plays,
    Over the course of the next six weeks, he intends to write a book of poetry, a record, and a full-length play. The new works will be inspired largely by the original Marseille deck of tarot cards, and will emerge from the same sort of “exploration of character” that guides much of Aufrichtig’s work.
    For Aufrichtig, tarot cards – which date back to the 15th century – are a powerful reflective tool. He says he uses them “as a mirror for the present state. If you don’t know who you are, you can’t move forward, and tarot gives you another perspective on the forces acting on your life.
    The poetry, music and theater works that result from his time in Sitka will “come out of exploration of character” like much of his work, but will incorporate a study of the stories and journeys that accompany the many cards of the Marseille deck.
    “The deck, to me, is a teacher, a system of understanding the universe and who we are within it,’’ Aufrichtig said. ‘‘My exploration is a personal one, a labyrinth, going down these rabbit holes.”
    Aufrichtig invites all interested to join him 1-4 p.m. Wednesday, July 23, at the Back Door., or in the Yaw Chapel between 10 p.m. and midnight, to have their cards read. 
    The Sitka Fellows will be on the Sitka Symposium dinner cruise on Friday. The Allen Marine cruise will leave from Crescent Harbor at 6 p.m., and will return at 9 p.m. A king salmon dinner catered by the Larkspur will be served. Tickets are $50 and are available at Old Harbor Books.
    The Sitka Fellows Program offers seven weeks of room, board, and studio space to six individuals under the age of 30 each summer. Now entering its third year, it is a program of the Island Institute made possible through partnership with the Sitka Fine Arts Camp along with donations from the Hames Corporation and many individual contributors.


Four Sitkans,
Visiting Writer
to Talk About
Community Wed.

    Four Sitkans – Hank Moore, Lori Adams, Jerry Deppa and Kristina Cranston – will talk about the particular sorts of relationships they develop with the community through their work 7-9 p.m. Wednesday, July 23, at the Yaw Chapel on the SJ Campus.
    The local stories will be followed by an improvised participatory musical performance called ‘‘Homesongs,’’ led by Island Institute Symposium faculty member Molly Sturges. Admission is by donation.
    Moore has driven his cabs around Sitka for over two decades, and has learned about visitors and community members alike in the 10-minute intervals between departure and destination.
    Deppa moved to Sitka as a wildlife biologist, but for decades has been the town locksmith. He meets people in those vulnerable, embarrased moments where they’ve locked themselves out of their homes or vehicles, and gets to know people as he helps them break into their property.
    Cranston moved to Sitka from Haines, and is a writer and carver. She meets people in her studio and in workshops, as they search to understand and create artwork and tell stories.
    Adams runs Down To Earth U-Pick Farm in Sitka, and gets to know the community through harvest and food.
    Also on Wednesday will be a 9 a.m. talk in the Yaw Chapel by Alan Weisman, who has written several books and won numerous international awards for his work in journalism and literature, including the critically acclaimed ‘‘The World Without Us,’’ which describes a post-human scenario of the planet. His next book, ‘‘Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth?’’ was released in September 2013 by Little, Brown and Co. Among his other works are ‘‘Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World’’ (1998), winner of the Social Inventions Award from the Global Ideas Bank, ‘‘An Echo In My Blood’’ (1999), ‘‘La Frontera: The United States Border With Mexico, and We, Immortals’’ (1979).
    His reports from around the world have appeared in Harper’s, The New York Times Magazine, the Los Angeles Times magazine, the Atlantic Monthly, Orion, Audubon, Mother Jones, Discover, Condé Nast Traveler, Resurgence, and several anthologies, including The Best American Science Writing 2006. Admission for the talk is $25.
    Major support for the Sitka Symposium has come from the Alaska Humanities Forum, The Skaggs Foundation and Island Institute members. For further information, visit The Island Institute website at www.islandinstitutealaska.org or call 747-3794.


    Library Volunteers
    Those wanting to help with the Kettleson Memorial Library move and reorganization may arrange a time or task with Library Director Sarah Bell at 738-5396.

Services Pending
For Theo Grutter
Services are pending for longtime Sitka resident Theo Grutter, 80, who died Wednesday in Sitka.
A full obituary will be published in the Sentinel. A memorial service will be held Aug. 24 in Sitka.

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