By ARIADNE WILL
Sentinel Staff Writer
A year after it was marched down Lincoln Street, and a month after it was installed outside Centennial Hall, the Elizabeth Wanamaker Peratrovich bench will be formally dedicated in a celebration at 10 a.m. Monday, the Fourth of July.
Festivities will include cake and ice cream provided by Alaska Native Sisterhood Camp 4, a ribbon cutting and blessing, and a short program and open mic for dignitaries and community members.
The event has been planned to coincide with Peratrovich’s birthday, also July 4.
The celebration in honor of the civil rights leader – known for her work lobbying the territorial legislature to pass the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945 – and the bench’s placement near the place where the statue of Alexander Baranof once stood, has been a long time coming, said Paulette Moreno.
Moreno and Loyd Platson are co-chairs of the Birds and Benches effort that led to the creation of the hand-made wooden bench and its placement at Centennial Hall.
“It took a while for this to happen,” Moreno said.
The Birds and Benches group now has plans to commission additional benches for public places, and Sitkans are invited to suggest the names of people they would like to see future benches dedicated to.
Moreno says ideas she’s heard include Martin Luther King Jr. or an “eagle balance” – someone from the eagle moiety to balance Peratrovich, who was Kiks.ádi (raven).
The cedar Peratrovich bench was built by local artist Zach LaPerriere, who completed it in time for it to be installed last July 4. At that time the sponsors did not yet have the city’s approval of the chosen location, so they instead marched with the bench in the Fourth of July parade.
The site won city approval this spring after members of the public attended Assembly meetings to speak in favor of the plan.
“I feel really happy and pleased that, collectively, we came together, and that as a result of our collective efforts we have something we can all enjoy,” Moreno said.
Platson agreed that winning approval of the placement of the Peratrovich bench “was a process.”
“We really tried to honor and keep it positive all the way through to make sure we were honoring the process and honoring the person and honoring the culture,” he said.
Over 25 organizations and individuals gave money for the bench, with many more lending a hand to ensure the bench made it to its current location, the organizers said.
The bench features a tináa inlay by Mary Goddard and a plaque designed by Lee House bearing information about Peratrovich.
Moreno said the plan is to put a QR code, readible by a smart phone, on the benches to provide additional information. But for now, she said, she is focused on celebrating.
“Celebrating a Native woman in our community is significant and healing and powerful,” she said. “We went through quite a process. We’re ready to invite everybody who wants to celebrate with us to do so. We’re just focusing on moving forward.”
Those interested in donating are invited to email Platson at lplatson@scpsak.org.
