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First Bank is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a special event for the community from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, July 19, at the Nolan Center. The public is invited. The Southeast Alaska bank’s board of directors and staff will host the event, one of several planned for communities where the financial institution operates. First Bank is headquartered in Ketchikan and is the only commercial bank headquartered in Southeast Alaska. It opened its doors in 1924. The locally owned bank has branches in Juneau, Sitka, Petersburg, Wrangell and Craig. T...
The following list of winners was submitted to the Sentinel by the chamber of commerce and event organizers. Volunteers tried their best to get everyone's name correct. These winners are in addition to the names published in the July 10 Sentinel. Boat races Unlimited (head-to-head, at up to 99 mph on the course) First: Randy Easterly Second: Curtis Kautz Third: Gary Allen Jr. Limited (circular course, at 115-hp and under) First: David Gillen Second: Brett Abrahamson Third: Curtis Kautz Greased p...
The chamber of commerce awarded prizes for last month’s king salmon derby at a ceremony July 11 at the Nolan Center. Charlie Webb, of Anchorage, won the $1,500 cash prize for the largest fish of the derby, at 43.5 pounds. Wrangell’s Diana Nore took second place, and $750, for her 38.1-pound catch. Mike Ramsey, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, won $500 for finishing third with his 37.3-pound salmon. The king derby — in its 69th year — ran June 15-30. Connor Blake won $100 for the largest salmon in the 12-and-younger age division with his 22.6-po...
Three lucky ticket holders came away as winners in the Fourth of July royalty fundraising raffle. Wrangell residents Shannon Smith won the $2,500 first place prize and Marilyn Mork won $1,500 for second place in the drawing. Third place of $1,000 went to former resident Mickel Haug, now living in Seattle. The Sentinel is compiling lists of the other winners of Fourth of July events, supplied by the competition organizers. This week's list includes the winners' names that were submitted to the...
The Fourth of July is about a red, white and blue parade, street games, races of all kinds for all kinds of boats, logging skills competition — and food. With two days of events left in the holiday week, the area around the downtown pavilion, behind Wells Fargo bank and the Elks Lodge and in the direction of the Stikine Inn will be filled with booths, games and a wide variety of food. Organizers have scheduled a little more time between events this year to allow people a chance to try out the menus on Wednesday and Thursday, July 3-4. The f...
Charlie Webb, of Anchorage, took first place in Wrangell's 69th king salmon derby with his 43.5-pound catch on the opening day of the derby June 15. The annual contest closed on Sunday, June 30, and no one passed Webb. Wrangell's Connor Blake won the 12-and-under youth division with his 22.6-pound king, caught near Fools Inlet on June 28. It was the first king that Connor has ever caught and kept, said Tommy Wells, executive director of the chamber of commerce, which organizes the fishing derby....
The Alaska Marine Highway System allowed only one week for public comment on its proposed ferry schedule for the upcoming fall and winter, but the draft is pretty much a non-issue for Wrangell: The level of service would be the same as it’s been the past couple of years. The schedule for October through April shows one ferry a week northbound and one a week southbound, the same as this summer, last winter and the summer before that. The stops would be southbound on Mondays and northbound on Fridays. The state released the draft schedule on J...
With less than a week left until the 69th Wrangell king salmon derby closes on Sunday, June 30, more than 135 people had bought entry tickets and 18 kings had been weighed in as of Monday. The leader as of Monday was Charlie Webb. The Anchorage resident caught his 43.5-pound king near Point Warde while fishing with Alan Cummings of All In Charters on June 15, the first day of the derby. Webb’s king is the largest caught in the derby since Gary Smart, of Seqium, Washington, won the contest in 2017 with a 64.1 pounder. Smart’s fish was the lar...
The community gathered at the Wrangell Mariners' Memorial on Sunday, May 19, for the annual blessing of the fleet and to add 14 names to the waterfront memorial at Heritage Harbor. Added to the memorial this year were Kenneth Olson, Curly Rathbone, Mickey Prescott, Wes Allen, Helen Allen, Cappy Bakke, Randall Churchill Jr., Sam Privett, Dave Hartung, Marion Goodrich, Otto Florschutz III, James Smith, Doyle Sarff and Harold Snoddy. Jenn Miller-Yancey, Jeff Jabusch, Gig Decker, John Yeager and...
The Stikine River is closed to subsistence fishing for king salmon May 15 through June 20 to help preserve weak returns of the highly prized fish. It’s the eighth year in a row for the federal closure. “The preseason forecast for the Stikine River is 12,900 large chinook salmon (greater than 28 inches in total length), which is below the escapement (spawning) goal range of 14,000 to 28,000,” the U.S. Forest Service reported in its closure announcement May 8. The closure was ordered under the authority delegated by the Federal Subsistence Board...
The 649-foot Seabourn Odyssey dropped anchor just off Klawock on May 6, marking a new era of cruise ship tourism on Prince of Wales Island. About 3,700 people could visit Klawock and Craig this summer by way of three different cruise ships making a total of six stops. The Seabourn Cruise Lines ship was the first to ever visit the Port of Klawock and brought about 300 passengers to Prince of Wales near the end of a 43-day, one-way voyage from Hong Kong to Vancouver, British Columbia, that included stops in Korea and Japan, as well as Alaska...
The 2024 Stikine River Birding Festival will take flight Wednesday, April 24. Minor changes have been made to the schedule of events, which no longer includes a golf tournament at Muskeg Meadows on Saturday April 27. However, there are still plenty of family-friendly events over the five days. The festival will kick off at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 24, with a Birding 101 presentation led by Bonnie Demerjian at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church. Demerjian will share tips and hints for bird identification. Other events and activities during on t...
Registration opens May 1 for the library’s summer reading program for kids, with some big numbers from last year to match. More than 90 kids signed up for last year’s program sponsored by the Irene Ingle Public Library, reading almost 2,000 books. It’s open to children who will be going into kindergarten through ninth grade in the next school year that starts in August. The program starts May 28 and will run through Aug. 3, with a party on Aug. 10, said Sarah Scambler, library director. “Each book is worth a certain number of points. For eve...
It’s almost time for more than 100 Little Leaguers to start their session, with the opening ceremony set for 10 a.m. Saturday, April 27, at Volunteer Park. And while the kids are getting ready, league officials still need volunteers for the twice-a-week games. The season will run through the second week of June, and volunteers can sign on for as few or as many games as they want, said Briana Schilling, who is in her eighth year as league president. It takes at least three people each night to run the concession stand, with volunteers also n...
The chamber of commerce at its annual awards dinner last weekend honored several members of the community for their service, including the fire department and emergency medical services crew, municipal electric line crew and borough employees for their response to the deadly Nov. 20 landslide that hit Wrangell. “Nowhere was the ‘I can help’ spirit more evident than in November of last year when a tragic landslide befell our community. For weeks, volunteers and first responders showed just what an amazing place Wrangell is,” said Carolin...
The U.S. Forest Service is calling on Alaskans to create handmade ornaments to decorate the U.S. Capitol Christmas tree and the smaller companion trees that will represent Alaska in Washington, D.C. The trees will come from the Tongass National Forest; it’s only the second time ever that an Alaska tree has been chosen to serve as the U.S. Capitol Christmas tree. The tree will require 3,500 large ornaments made from lightweight, durable materials that should be colorful, reflective, weatherproofed for outdoor display and 12 inches in height a...
The chamber of commerce would like to put on the community’s 69th king salmon derby this year but hasn’t figured out the details, as it takes into consideration the state’s efforts to limit fishing in the area to help preserve and rebuild returns to the Stikine River system. “We’d love to have one,” chamber executive director Tommy Wells said of a king derby. The chamber is working on plans and hopes to have details soon, he said. Catch numbers in the past two king derbies confirm the weak runs and sportfishing restrictions. District 8...
The federal appropriations bill signed into law earlier this month includes a $2.5 million grant for Wrangell's new water treatment plant, which is under construction and scheduled for completion in June 2025. The latest federal grant, added to the budget bill by Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, will reduce the amount of borrowed money the borough will need to repay, Interim Borough Manager Mason Villarma confirmed Friday, March 15. President Joe Biden signed the appropriations bill on March 9, after the measure won approval by wide margins in the...
Trident Seafoods has announced the sale of its Ketchikan processing facilities to Silver Bay Seafoods, and the sale of its Petersburg operation to E.C. Phillips & Son. Trident has not announced buyers for two other Alaska plants it has put on the market in Kodiak, the company’s largest operation in the state, and False Pass, in the Aleutian Islands. Seattle-based Trident is scaling back its Alaska operations amid weak seafood markets, low prices and changing consumer buying habits. The company has called it “a comprehensive, strategic res...
Wrangell will go without state ferry service for the last week of March and first week of April as the ships are scheduled to meet other needs across coastal communities. There will be no northbound service to Wrangell between March 22 and April 10, and no southbound stops in town between March 25 and April 12. The schedule will return to normal later in April, with a weekly northbound sailing on Fridays and a weekly southbound stop on Mondays. That will switch to southbound on Wednesdays and northbound on Sundays with the start of the summer s...
Trident Seafoods reported last week it was “entering the final stages of closing deals for three of its Alaska shoreside plants,” including its operations in Ketchikan and Petersburg. The Seattle-based company — the largest seafood harvesting and processing company in the United States — announced in December it planned to sell four of its Alaska plants as it restructures its operations amid weak markets. In addition to Petersburg and Ketchikan, Trident said it wanted to sell its processing operations in Kodiak and at False Pass in the Aleutia...
Just as soon as its indoor Winter Workout Challenge ended, the Parks and Recreation Department moved outdoors - literally. The Outdoor Challenge, which started March 1, is similar to the indoor event. Participants keep track of their activities, and the runners, walkers, bikers - or whatever their exercise - with the most points win prizes. "We are just encouraging people to get outside and move their bodies," said Devyn Johnson, recreation coordinator for the department. The goal is completing...
As of last week, anyone caught throwing trash into a harbor dumpster, other than household garbage by a boat owner, could face a $150 fine. The borough assembly on Feb. 27 adopted two ordinances: One which specifies in municipal code that the port and harbor dumpsters are for use by vessel owners only, and a second ordinance that imposes the $150 fine. Assembly members voted unanimously to adopt the new rules. No one from the public testified on either ordinance. The port commission had recommended the new provisions in borough code in hopes...
Wrangell Cooperative Association tribal citizens last week reelected two members and voted in two other members for the tribal council. Tribal citizens on Feb. 20 reelected Frank Churchill and Edward Rilatos to two-year terms on the council, said Esther Aaltséen Reese, tribal administrator. They also elected Thomas Gillen Sr. and Richard Oliver, who had previously served on the council, she said. The members were sworn in Feb. 22, and the eight-member council selected Rilatos to serve as president, Jason Clark to serve as vice president and...
The Wrangell Cooperative Association has established an advisory council of clan leaders and representatives, in particular to help the tribe with a totem restoration and replacement project. Feedback from the advisory group will help WCA determine which totems to select for the project, said Esther Aaltséen Reese, tribal administrator. The tribal council received a $20,000 donation last year from the Wrangell Tlingit and Haida Community Council to pay for carving two replacement totem poles while also repairing older poles in town. “It’s look...