By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
This Labor Day weekend will be filled with a wide variety of activities, centered in the Crescent Harbor - Centennial Hall area.
Events will culminate on Saturday with the Sitka Mermaid Festival, Sitka Seafood Festival and, finally, Rock the Dock for the Tongass in the evening.
Most events are free and open to the public, although items will be for sale. There will also be a beer garden starting at 5 p.m. Saturday at Crescent for patrons 21 or older.
Today, from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. the Umami Banquet sponsored by Alaska Airlines will be held at Centennial Hall. Tickets are still for sale and any remaining tickets will be available at the door. The event is open to anyone 21 or older.
From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, the Mermaid Festival and Market will be open at Centennial Hall, and at 11:30 a.m. a mermaid promenade to the Sitka Sound Science Center will be held.
The Sitka Seafood Festival will take place concurrently with the Mermaid Festival, also at Centennial Hall and Crescent Harbor. On Saturday, the marketplace will be open from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., and again Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Seafood Festival began in 2009 as a celebration of wild Alaskan seafood.
Megan Pasternak rides on a float during the 2015 Seafood Festival parade. (Sentinel file photo)
Festival volunteer Willow Moore, who is executive director of the Alaska Longline Fisherman’s Association, said the weekend events celebrate “the fishing and harvesting culture and heritage that our local economy depends on,” and the event is meant to raise community engagement. “Alaska needs a vibrant and sustainable fishing industry,” Moore said.
Finally, from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., Sitka Conservation Society will host its second “Rock the Dock for the Tongass” event at the Crescent Harbor shelter. There will be live music by visiting groups, Deke Dickerson and Gamble & the High Costa Living, and four local bonds, Full Metal Honeybadger, the Sitka Blues Band, Shelter Dog, and Hank Moore. As with the other events, the concert will be free to all comers.
SCS Tongass Community Organizer Heather Bauscher says Rock the Dock “is all about trying to bring people together and celebrate what makes Sitka Sitka.”
Organizers for all three events emphasized the importance of their sponsors’ support, which allow the various festivals to remain free to attend. Sponsors ranged widely, from the Mean Queen to the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association to SEARHC. Bauscher noted that “none of these things would be possible without all the community support. Sitka is amazing that way.”
The full schedule of all events this weekend is as follows:
Friday
Umami Banquet: A tasting event featuring wild local seafood and seaweed- 6 p.m. - 9:30 p.m, at Centennial Hall.
Saturday
Marketplace open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at Centennial Hall
Sea Creature and Mermaid parade for all ages. Meet at 11 a.m. at the new Lincoln Street Playground (by Sitka Sound Science Center.) Parade starts at 11:30 a.m. and marches down the SeaWalk to Crescent Harbor shelter
Live music, kids games, races and activities, noon - 3 p.m. Over 30 games, prizes.
Vendors for lunch 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. at Crescent.
Rock the Dock 5 p.m. - 11 p.m. Crescent Harbor shelter.
Tote races at 6 p.m. at Crescent Harbor shelter, sign up by 5 p.m.
Food Vendors and beer garden from 5 p.m. to the end of the events.
Sunday
Marketplace 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
