Mermaid Festival
Dear Editor: Last month the Sitka Mermaid Festival made a splash in our second year of successful programming. This year’s theme was “Vitamin Sea: Nurturing the Ocean that Nourishes Us.” We kicked off the week with a beach clean-up at Halibut Point Rec, followed by a Mermaid Paint and Sip with Sarah Dart at Rio’s Wine Bar above Ludvig’s Bistro, and a seaweed cosmetics make-and-take event at Evergreen Natural Foods.
Sitka Sound Science Center graciously hosted us for “Inspired by Science” and we finished the week with the Umami Banquet, A Tasting Event Sourced From the Sea, and the Mermaid Market at Harrigan Centennial Hall. We have so many to thank for making this possible, and are elated to be part of such a caring community. We’d like to thank our sponsors: Alaska Airlines for bringing visiting chefs to Sitka for the banquet, Roger and Mary Hames of Sea Mart Quality Foods for their generous support, Rachel Roy and staff at the Greater Chamber of Commerce/Visit Sitka, Beth Cox of Evergreen Natural Foods, Keith Nyitray of the Sitka Local Foods Network, Shauna Thornton and volunteers from Rotary of Sitka, KCAW and KIFW, Jeff Budd of Sitka Checkered Cabs, the Greater Sitka Arts Council, Sitka Sound Seafoods, Aspen Hotel, and Westmark.
We would like to thank Franni Donohoe and Sitka Cirque for their performance at the banquet, and Donna Donohoe for her work on decor. Thank you to Stephanie Patton, Peter Apathy, Gus Cannizzaro and Joe Hauer for the live music, and to Fire Chief Dave Miller.
The cuisine at the Umami Banquet represented visiting chefs as well as the local talent of: Renee Trafton of BEAK Restaurant, and Barbara Palacios and Shaun Hutchinson of the Sitka Hotel. We were pleased to receive seaweed donations from Blue Evolution, Gimbal Botanicals, Sea Silk Botanicals, Barnacle and Alaska Coastal Seaweeds, and sea salt from Alaska Pure Salt Company.
Special thanks to our volunteers who made this possible – you are all fin-tastic and we can’t wait to see you next year!
Amelia Mosher,
Sitka Mermaid Festival
