Wild Foods Potluck
Dear Editor: We want to thank everyone who attended our Wild Foods potluck and annual meeting. Year after year, the community of Sitka always impresses us with the many delicious and exciting dishes they make using ingredients they’ve foraged, hunted, fished, and harvested here on the Tongass National Forest!
We want to express our wild gratitude to the many incredible people and organizations who helped make this year’s event a success. Thank you to our guest speaker Heather Dawn Thompson for sharing words on food sovereignty and how harvesting the food we eat cultivates a deeper appreciation for our environment and food sources. Thank you to Maia Carter for her beautiful harp music that helped create such a welcoming atmosphere. Thank you to our board member Adrienne Wilber for her artwork used in our posters and interactive gratitude wall.
Thank you to Judi Lehmann for donating the salmon skins that 4-Hers used for ornaments on the table centerpieces, and to our Alaska Way of Life 4-Hers for creating such wonderful centerpieces highlighting the interconnectedness between salmon and forest. Thank you to Gretchen Stelzenmuller of Enoki Eatery and Marty Emerson for catering the event. Thank you to Sitka Sound Seafoods for their donation of fish, to Roger Hames and Sea Mart for their donation of groceries, and to AC Lakeside for providing us with a generous grocery discount. Thank you to Phoebe Pepper for leading the cleanup as head dishwasher, and to our amazing volunteers, including folks from Outer Coast and Mt. Edgecumbe High School. Thank you to Harrigan Centennial Hall staff for hosting us and assisting us in setup. Thank you to Harry’s Custom Services and Arrowhead Press for printing beautiful banners and posters for our event, to Alaska Designed for making our volunteer shirts, and to the Sitka Sentinel and Raven Radio for their support in publicizing the potluck and meeting.
As the days get darker and shorter leading into winter, celebrating community and all that this place has to offer feels all the more important. We are so grateful to everyone who attended, brought dishes, listened to updates on our work, and shared in the joy of this place we call home. Thank you for joining us this year, and thank you to our members, our supporters, and to all of our hardworking staff and board members who make this event and this work possible. If you would like to support our work, donations can be made at www.sitkawild.org/donate.
See you all next year, Nov. 16, for Wild Foods Potluck 2025! In gratitude,
Sitka Conservation Society
Staff and Board
