Sitka Seafood Festival
Dear Editor: The Sitka Seafood Festival would like to thank Sitka and all of our out-of-town guests that attended the 4th annual SSF! What a great success celebrating wild Alaskan seafood both locally, and by starting to get the word out with some national media attending. This festival could not happen without some very important people that have volunteered countless hours of their time. I would like to extend a huge thank you to our super volunteers.
These people have been involved in all the fundraising throughout the year, planning processes, as well as basically putting their lives and jobs on hold for the week of the festival. If you see any of these 10 people, please extend your thanks as well if you enjoyed the festival. A very big thanks to: Linda Olson, Mary Helem, Christy OʼShaughnessy, Eric Haseltine, Ann Wilkinson, John Ferrick, Sharyn Ferrick, Carrie Johnson, Jessica Gibson and Jim Gibson. The following six people were involved throughout the planning process as well, and were absolutely crucial to the festival itself. Please extend your thanks to: Sabrina Jenkins, Jeren Schmidt, Sabra Jenkins, Bobbi Jordan, Patrice Wilkins and Sonny Cropley.
We would like to thank all the groups that participated and helped take some of the load off the volunteers as well, thanks to: Jasmine Shaw at the Cooperative Extension Service for the Native Plants Tour; Ray and SCS for the Larkspur movie showing; Jeff Budd and Sarah Bell with the Greater Sitka Arts Council and Kettleson Memorial Library for the Poet Sea Contest; Penny Brown and Julie White for heading up the marathon; Taylor White and Sitka Sound Science Center for hosting the hatchery tour; Nic Mink, Old Harbor Books and Sitka Salmon Shares, for hosting the book signing for our guest speaker, Becky Selengut; Sonny Cropley and crew for running the official SSF booth (soooo yummy!); Aids to Navigation Team, National Park Service/Sitka National Historical Park, Cooperative Extension Service, SEARHC, ALFA, and Sitka Conservation Society for providing education-based booths; All the various vendors on Saturday; Retha Winger and the Girl Scouts for running the kids games; Sitka Golf Association and Liza Martin for hosting the golf tourney; the Pub for hosting the After Hours Party; the Channel Club for hosting the Beer Garden and bar for the banquet; Marlie Loomis and Serina Wild for helping with the contests; all the local bands: The Lost Boys, Bellymeat, Los Shotgun Locos, Livingston Research, and our headliner, RumbleHill; Cyndi Cassedy for letting us use her Steampunk Salmon that in the chaos we forgot to put up, but are hoping she will let us use it again next year because it is AMAZING; Todd White, Marty Martin and others for use of their trucks in the parade; Tribal Tours for providing the shuttle service; the Civil Air Patrol for helping with the sumo wrestling; and I am sure we are forgetting a few others, so thank you.
A very big thank you to all the chefs and cooks that provided our delicious food for the banquet Friday evening: Chef Rob Kinneen, Chef Seth Caswell, Chef Mickey Neely, Chef Jeren Schmidt, and our culinary scholarship winner Jackson Stein. We had plenty of other help in the kitchen as well including Petty Officer Cameron, Doug Comstock, Suzie Wilson, Abigail Brady and her friend Angela, Robert Baines, Patrice Wilkins, Dan Wilkins, Kayla Wilkins, Trevor, Chef Randy, Bobbi Jordan, and Sabrina Cimerol. The food was absolutely amazing this year, thank you!
There were many countless volunteer hours and jobs that were filled from serving at the banquet, to putting up and taking down tents, all of which helped to make this such a successful festival. Thank you to: Megan Pasternak, Lyndene Downie, Becky Charlton, Dawn Gluth, Sparky Swainson, Corrine Kempton, Liza Martin, Sabrina Jenkins, Sabra Jenkins, Mariah Shields-Sero, Buffy Kurella, Brandie Olsen, Brendon Didrikson, Football team members, Wes Holloway, Jasmine Shaw, Francis Wegman Lawless, Elena Gustafson, Bettina Trepp, Robert Baines, Allison Allen, Sharon Bryant, Jerry Helem, Lyle Sparrowgrove, Robert Weddle, Safyia Mann, Teresa Moses, Barbara Kendall, Cindy Baldwin-Kitka, Lois Denherder, Emily Reilly, Bayla Laks, Rene Hill, Maureen OʼHanlon, Linda Williams, Lisa Huton, Jenny Blankenship, Harriet and Ron McClain, Denny Pearson, Jenny Blankenship, Brendon Didrikson, Reber Stein, Xaver Clark, Garret Bauer, Colin Wood, Trevor Pruitt, Nick Weatherman, Wayne from K&L Distributors, Jeremy Strong, Jaime Jenks, Ray Backus, Coach Beau Hedrick and CH and the football team, Mike Kernine, Linda Williamson, Marta and Krist Martinsen, and Tamara at SPC.
And of course, thanks to all that put up with us: Old Harbor Books for ticket sales; Centennial Hall staff including Don, Kent, Steve, Dave and Cricket; Paul, Monica, Eric and Dante at SJ Campus; Holly at Raven Radio for interviews and Larry at KIFW for all the wonderful promotions; the Police Department for working with us and the marathon on road closures.
The list could go on and on, but thank you to everyone that was involved! We appreciate everyoneʼs input, but, please, do not wait until the week prior to the festival. If you have suggestions, ideas, comments, etc., please send it our way via e-mail at sitkaseafoodfestival@gmail.com. The SSF board will be meeting next week for a re-cap meeting and we would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions. Thanks, again, Sitka! Mark your calendars now for the 5th annual SSF scheduled for Aug. 1-2, 2014!
Alicia Haseltine SSF Director
Seafood Parade
Dear Editor: Thank you to everyone who participated in the Sitka Seafood Parade. This town is full of so many creative people. You all helped make our fourth parade a success.
A special thanks to TMW, Martin Construction and Marta and Krist Martinsen for the floats and for all the many delightful creations that marched, pedaled, rowed and swam down Lincoln to start the Saturday Sitka Seafood Festival festivities.
We are looking forward to this growing bigger and better each year. Next year, we will have a costume and float contest so start planning now. You might win $100 or be chosen to lead the parade.
Linda Olson for the
Sitka Seafood Festival Parade
