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In today’s interconnected world, internet access allows people to connect with loved ones, stay updated on current events, access essential government services and more. But in Alaska, not all communities have access to reliable, affordable internet. Late last month, Alaska Municipal League representative Alicia Hughes-Skandijs met with seven representatives from the library, borough, Wrangell Cooperative Association and others to discuss challenges with the Wrangell community’s internet access. The meeting was an early step in the fiv...
The entire Wrangell family — consisting of parents, kids, siblings, elders, community members and more — is invited to the Family Resilience Fair at the Nolan Center next month. BRAVE, a domestic violence prevention organization whose name stands for Building Respect And Valuing Everyone, is hosting the fifth-annual fair on Nov. 19 from 2 to 4 p.m. The event will feature prizes, family-centric games and informative booths from social service organizations in the area. The upcoming fair is “a way for … agencies to connect with the communi...
When the days get chilly and the nights get longer, nothing says fall like curling up with a good book. Last Friday, for the first time in three years, Wrangell children were able to enjoy story time together at the Irene Ingle Public Library, instead of at home through Zoom rectangles. Sarah Merritt, library services support and designated storybook reader, shared four autumn tales filled with pictures of colorful leaves and plentiful harvests as kids and their parents listened. Near the end...
The Irene Ingle Public Library would like to thank all of the individuals, businesses and organizations who donated prizes for the Summer Reading Program. We appreciate your continued support in assisting us by encouraging children to read during the summer and improve their reading skills. We would also like to thank; First Bank, for the funds to purchase Adidas Sackpacks for all those who completed the program; Alaska Airlines, for the funds to purchase prizes; the city and borough of Wrangell; Jeff Angerman for his ongoing support; and...
What to do with someone's property when they die can be a complicated task involving beneficiaries, a ton of paperwork and the court system. But it doesn't necessarily have to be. Liz Smith, a Juneau-based lawyer specializing in estate planning, gave a presentation last Wednesday to help clear up the often confusing world of wills, asset protection and long-term health care decisions Twelve people of various ages attended the presentation at Irene Ingle Public Library, listening as Smith gave a...
Ever wanted to bend light? Build a wall-climbing gecko robot with air-suction toes? Control a bipedal, ultrasonic droid using your smartphone? These activities may sound like the work of a mad scientist, but thanks to the Irene Ingle Public Library, Wrangell youth don't need a subterranean lair and an army of minions to explore the wonderful world of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, also known as STEM. Starting in early 2020, the library began offering STEM kits for kids and families...
With names like delicious milky, hawks wing, chaga, puffballs and fairy farts, mushrooms found throughout Southeast are diverse in shape, color and edibility. Some can be used as fabric dyes, and some can kill a person if eaten. Over the course of last Friday and Saturday, field mycologist and author Noah Siegel educated resident foragers on which mushrooms are safe and which should be avoided. For about 90 minutes last Friday evening, Siegel, of Royalston, Massachusetts, spoke to a group of...
Downpours sure to quell any blaze didn't stop kids blazing a trail to the Irene Ingle Public Library for the final Reading with a Ranger story time for the summer. About 20 children joined U.S. Forest Service staff and Smokey the Bear last Friday during BearFest, listening to stories about bears. The kids listened to intern Claire Froehlich as she read from three different books, "How Do Bears Sleep?" "I am a Little Bear" and "Smokey the Bear." The first book talked about the hibernation habits...
From Wednesday through Sunday, the schedule for BearFest is loaded with something for all ages, whether games and art workshops or food and educational symposiums. Since the event is focused on bears, there will be bear safety classes, a look at the new Anan Wildlife Observatory for bear viewing, a history of bears in national parks, and bear conservation among other bear-related topics. BearFest organizer Sylvia Ettefagh said in an interview earlier this month that the mission of the five-day...
It's summer break, but some kids are only taking a break from the writin' and 'rithmetic portions of school. There are 158 who are immersed in the readin'. The Irene Ingle Public Library summer reading program, which kicked off in June, has about two weeks left before wrapping up with a pizza and pool party for those who earn 10 points or more. According to Margaret Villarma, head librarian, children grades kindergarten to ninth read accelerated reader books. Before starting the program, kids...
The Friends of the Library recently received a $950 donation from the Juneau Community Foundation toward our ongoing effort to digitize every page of the Wrangell Sentinel, 1902 to present. The plan is to put the easily viewed images online for researchers, family members, students and all the curious people who want to look through the community’s history. The project started several years ago and received a big boost in 2019 when the Wrangell Cooperative Association contributed to the effort as it secured an $8,250 grant for the work from t...
Pickling and fermenting, pressure-canning and freezing were among the topics covered over three days of courses last week as members of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service taught food preservation classes in Wrangell. Wrangell Extension Days were held from May 24 to 26 and offered nine workshops and a Certified Food Protection Manager exam. Attendees at each workshop varied in skill level, with some just beginning their preserving journey to others who have been...
Wondering if that cluster of mushrooms found on the roadside are safe to pick and eat? Odds are they're OK, and so are others. To that end, the Friends of the Library is holding an event Sept. 9 to 11 at the Irene Ingle Public Library to inform foragers what mushrooms can be eaten again and again, and which ones should not be eaten even once. Kitty LaBounty, a Sitka-based professor with the University of Alaska Southeast, is scheduled to share her knowledge on safe versus unsafe mushrooms when...
Summer is more than just playing outdoors for children — it can be about reading books and winning prizes, including a pool and pizza party. The Irene Ingle Public Library’s summer reading program is open to children entering kindergarten through the freshman year of high school in the fall. Almost 100 children completed the reading program last year, Margaret Villarma, library director, said last week. Children need to come into the library or call 907-874-3535 to register in advance; the reading program starts June 1 and runs through Jul...
The annual Stikine River Birding Festival has a busy first weekend planned. It starts up Friday with a 1 p.m. virtual storytime at the Irene Ingle Public Library, then continuing the educational fun agenda with a Birding 101 class at 6 p.m. Friday at the Nolan Center, led by Bonnie Demerjian. The library event will present an Earth Day theme, with activity kits available for pickup at the library. The meeting ID for the Zoom event is 935 4298 0052, passcode 8743535. There are three events on Saturday’s calendar. A community cleanup is p...
The police department is putting together a plan to hire a tow truck company from Petersburg to come over in the spring and haul to the borough's impound yard vehicles that have been abandoned for too long in port and harbor parking lots, and elsewhere throughout town. The vehicles are piled up in parking lots at Heritage Harbor, Shoemaker Bay and in the right of way on Zimovia Highway, making it difficult for snowplows to do their work. Others are leaning against derelict boats next to a bed-an...
It’s taken a while to turn decades of Sentinel pages into digital images, easily accessible for online searches, but the state and Wrangell libraries are about halfway there. Issues of the Wrangell Sentinel from its founding in 1902 through 1956 are now available in free online databases, where users can look through the pages. The websites allow people to search the pages by keywords, such as looking for any news stories about their family members. The Irene Ingle Public Library has Sentinels — and its predecessors The Stikeen River Journal (1...
Patrons of the Irene Ingle Public Library will now have more time to peruse the aisles, take advantage of the free Wi-Fi and checkout their favorite books. Thanks to a grant through the American Rescue Plan Act, last year's federal pandemic aid spending bill, the library is extending its hours to six days a week. The funds have also made it possible to hire a third person to help with the pages of responsibilities. Library Director Margaret Villarma said the $14,040 grant is through the...
Congratulations on the 100th anniversary of the Irene Ingle Public Library. Bringing the joy of reading and love of learning to the people of Wrangell for a century is certainly worthy of celebration. The Wrangell library holds a special place in my heart as it was there that I was first introduced to the magic that a library holds. As a young child, I remember sitting on the floor of the library on rainy days, flipping through picture books. My first library card ever was from the Irene Ingle Public Library and was likely issued by Irene...
For lovers of the written word, one might argue that walking into a library is like a family reunion, of the senses at least. The smell of paper and ink pulls memories of curling up with a book, no phone to check or competition for attention. Last Thursday, it felt like a reunion of the senses and also a library family reunion. November marks 100 years since the library opened its doors on Oct. 31, 1921. And before the cake could be cut and whittled down, former library director Kay Jabusch...
Wrangell’s public library is 100 years old this week and ready to turn the page for its next century. The library’s history includes several chapters, starting with 802 books on the shelves on opening night Oct. 31, 1921, about equal to the 821 residents counted in the 1920 census. It must have been a long wait for popular books back then. Members of the Wrangell Civic Club led the movement to open a library. The town was just 18 years old and ready for a library, which shared the building at the site where the senior center is now loc...
Wrangell’s public library is turning 100 years old. It was established in November 1921. The library is celebrating with an open house from 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28. Coffee, punch and birthday cake will be served. Irene Ingle Public Library director Margaret Villarma, who was hired by Kay Jabusch in 1989 and took over from her as director in 2015, said the story of the library’s progression over the past 100 years will be on display at the open house. The library is an important resource for everyone in the community, Villarma said, “fr...
Though the library is not completely closing the book on pandemic protocols, the numbers are up and “the kids are coming in,” with 153 registered for the summer reading program, said Margaret Villarma, director at the Irene Ingle Public Library. That’s just a small drop from the roughly 170 summer readers of 2019, pre-pandemic. “It feels like we’re pretty much back,” she said. The summer reading program will end July 31, with an in-person pool party planned for Aug. 7. “We’ve always had this pool pizza party,” Villarma said. Always, that is, ex...
After going online last summer, the Irene Ingle Public Library summer reading program for kids is back this year — just like it was for 25 years before the pandemic. “We’re excited to get things a little back to normal this year,” library director Margaret Villarma said. Kids will receive points for each book they read, with more than 100 drawings and a special prize for readers who complete the program. Young readers can register now at the library or call 874-3535 to sign up. The library is open noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturda...
The annual Stikine River Birding Festival starts Friday and includes movies, a morning walk to identify birds, video presentations, virtual storytelling from the library, a session on how to build a bird feeder, a community cleanup and a nature trail scavenger hunt. Activities run through May 8. Organizers are spreading out the events this year, rather than squeezing everything into four days as was the schedule in 2019. The pandemic forced cancellation of last year's activities. "We have been m...
