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When high school cheerleading tryouts began in the fall semester, only three students initially signed up. Wanting to build interest in the sport, new head coach Tyla Nelson pushed school administrators to allow middle schoolers onto the squad. “We approach this season as a building year,” she said. “We have a great looking team.”New assistant coach Haley Reeves said there are advantages to having more kids on the floor. “You’re just able to do more stunts when you have more people,” she said. “You can do more formations. It just adds a dif...
Alisha Armstrong and Ander Edens played the central roles in the community theater stage production of "Cinderella" at the Nolan Center on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 9-10. A large cast of volunteers turned out for the musical, taking parts on the stage and as stagehands to help with the production. (This photo was taken at a dress rehearsal on Thursday, Dec. 7.)...
A crowd waited and then cheered as they watched the tree lighting downtown on Saturday, Dec. 2. It was a busy afternoon and evening for Christmas activities, with Santa greeting children at the Nolan Center before and after the tree lighting and Front Street businesses offering holiday specials....
Jeanie Arnold, who started work as the new director at the Nolan Center on Nov. 27, said she wants to "provide an overall sense of joy to the community of Wrangell through artistic exposure and historical storytelling." She replaces Cyni Crary, who is moving out of state. Crary had been in the job since July 2018. Arnold said some of her goals include broadening the scope of the center with new exhibits and events targeted at a wide variety of interests. She also hopes to collaborate with the...
Tables and seats were organized for students and guests along the walls of the elementary school gym, with "Happy Friendsgiving 2023" coloring pages scattered on the tables, ready for crayons. The main serving area was in the center, with long tables placed end to end full of ham, meatballs, macaroni and cheese, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, rolls, casseroles and other foods. As the time drew near for the second festive lunch of the day to begin, Angela Allen, who serves on the boards of the...
As the Nolan Center community theater production of “Cinderella” prepares for shows the weekend of Dec. 9 and 10, director Haley Reeves has been delighted with the performance of cast and crew since rehearsals first began. “We’re miles from where we started,” she said, adding that everyone participating in the production has exceeded her expectations. Reeves expressed excitement to revisit this well-known musical this time as director, instead of as a performer. “It’s been 10 to 15 years since I’d been involved with a production of ...
Groups and individuals can bring their decorated holiday trees to the Nolan Center this weekend for the Hospice of Wrangell annual Christmas Tree Lane fundraiser. The only rules are no real trees — only artificial ones to avoid any fire risk at the building — and no wreaths. Creative decorations and unusual themes are encouraged, said Alice Rooney, of Hospice. “One year we had a tree that was upside down,” she said of the donations over the past 20 years of the fundraiser. People have decorated trees with themes ranging from Harry Potter...
Recently retired dentist Dr. Charles Haubrich, known around town as "Dr. H.," explains a wooden spinning top to Kyle Lewis and his kid at the community market Saturday, Nov. 4, at the Nolan Center. The top was among a table full of Haubrich's woodwork. It was his first time at the community market, which generally is held monthly....
The borough collected a record amount of sales tax revenues in the fiscal year that ended June 30, passing the $4 million mark. A growing share of the borough’s tax collections is coming from online sales, just over $401,000, according to Finance Director Mason Villarma. That 10% share of total sales tax receipts in the past fiscal year is substantially higher than the roughly 6% share two years ago. “It’s bittersweet,” Mayor Patty Gilbert said of the increase in online shopping. The increased tax revenue is not entirely the result of residen...
Now that the tourist season has come to a close, the Nolan Center looks back on a successful year as it prepares for a winter of community events and holiday festivities. In 2023, the Nolan Center had a record year for tour visitors and museum pass sales. Museum passes brought in around $13,000 more than what Nolan Center Director Cyni Crary had anticipated, for a total of around $50,000. The center is also on track to meet or exceed its projected $15,000 in event revenues. "We're booked," said...
The newly created Wrangell Athletic Club is ready to start fundraising to cover student travel expenses for state competition. The group will focus on the state swim meet later this month, followed by the volleyball and wrestling championships in December. The group held its third organizing meeting on Oct. 25, looking to start fundraising efforts in time for the competitions. The school board is scheduled to meet Nov. 16 to consider an administration recommendation to draw from reserve funds to cover a $44,000 deficit for state event travel ex...
The board of the Mariners’ Memorial is accepting applications from community members who would like to see their loved ones featured on one of the memorial’s plaques. Each application should include the name of the deceased, a brief tribute that will be featured on the plaque and a story about the life of the mariner, which will be housed on the memorial’s online server. “(The Wrangell Mariners’ Memorial) mission is to help tell each mariner’s story,” the form reads. To maximize the process’s accessibility, memorial board members will be...
The last cruise ship of the season, the 650-foot Seabourn Odyssey, as seen from the Nolan Center, tied up at the City Dock on Sunday, Oct. 8. Wrangell was on the itinerary for more than 130 cruise visits this summer, ranging from 40-passenger Alaska tour boats to several ships with capacity to carry hundreds of guests each, such as the Odyssey with room for 450 passengers. If all of the ships had been full, the traffic would have totaled more than 28,000 visitors, about one-third more than the...
The Sept. 20 article in the Wrangell Sentinel made it clear that the community of Wrangell has been infected with cancer. “Dam” cancer to be exact. That being the Nieuw Amsterdam and the Westerdam, along with accompanying disease names the Queen Elizabeth, the Ruby Princess and Grand Princess. Not too long ago the people of Wrangell rejected the idea of turning the former sawmill site into some type of tourist-related mecca. Who gave this upcoming plague permission to infect Wrangell? Were our community leaders contacted? The mayor? The ass...
Residents who will not be in town on election day Tuesday, Oct. 3, or simply would prefer to vote early can come to City Hall between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays through Monday, Oct. 2, to cast an absentee ballot. Election day voting will run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Oct. 3 at the Nolan Center. People who cannot vote absentee in person by Oct. 2 can contact the borough clerk’s office at 907-874-2381 to request a ballot by mail or fax. Registered voters will cast ballots for two seats on the borough assembly, one seat on the school board and one p...
The borough hopes to partner with the U.S. Forest Service to give the Chugach - a wooden Forest Service boat built in 1925 - an improved permanent home outside the Nolan Center, complete with a viewing deck and interpretive signs. Currently, the boat spends most of the year wrapped in a protective plastic covering, though it is occasionally unveiled for events like the Fourth of July. The 62-foot vessel is the last of the Forest Service's ranger fleet, which was once 11 strong. The boat was...
About 20 years ago, a booster club helped raise money for the community’s youth athletics, but the organization has since shut down. Now, a new fundraising organization is about to step up to support student athletes — the Wrangell Athletic Club (WAC). The club will raise money for elementary, middle and high school sports and activities, independent of the school district, explained high school cross country coach Mason Villarma, who is leading the planning effort. Parents, coaches and community members who want to get involved can attend the...
Community members have a couple of ways to participate in the Alaska Recreation & Parks Association conference that is coming to town Sept. 19-22. One way is to donate artwork and handmade crafts for a fundraising auction. Another is to sign up for a leadership training session for members of nonprofit boards and commissions. “We would love the opportunity to showcase Wrangell’s talented artists and makers through the silent auction,” Wrangell Parks and Recreation staff said in asking for donated items. “All proceeds raised from the auction...
Members of the Tlingit community gathered outside the Wrangell airport last Friday while chests carrying four objects -a mudshark hat, a mudshark tunic, a blanket and a blanket with a killer whale stranded on a rock while hunting - were carefully lowered back into their hands after 91 years of separation. The objects, which belong to the Naanya.aayí clan, were taken by Wrangell police from the home of Mary Kunk, Eva Blake and Betty Carlstrom in the 1930s. In an effort to right past wrongs,...
The Nolan Center team has decided that “Cinderella” will be the perfect fit for its winter musical, and the community theater is preparing to search the realm far and wide for potential princesses, princes, stepsisters, kings and chorus members to join the cast. Auditions will be held Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 6 and 7, between 4 and 7 p.m. at the Nolan Center. “We chose ‘Cinderella’ because we were looking for another show that we thought would connect with people,” said director Haley Reeves, who also helmed the Nolan Center’s pr...
Margaret "Missy" Wright is an elegantly dressed woman with a bright white coiffure and a loud, infectious laugh. The long-term care resident has been a fixture of the Wrangell community since she moved to town in the late 1980s and now, as she prepares to turn 100, is likely the island's oldest inhabitant. She has invited the entire town to celebrate her birthday on Friday, Sept. 1, with a massive party at the Nolan Center at 4 p.m. The party theme is purple - Wright's favorite color - and...
Wrangell certainly has its challenges. Those include a shortage of housing and available workers, weather-damaged and age-worn public buildings that need millions of dollars in repairs, limited state ferry service that makes it hard to send out a vehicle for fixes or to bring in independent summer travelers for vacations. Despite the challenges, the community has a lot going for it — led by its volunteers. It seems there isn’t an event, activity or program in town that happens without them. Monday’s Fix-It Clinic, put together by WCA’s Tl’átk...
The sixth annual Family Resilience Fair will bring games, prizes and educational resources to the community on Oct. 14 at the Nolan Center. BRAVE Wrangell, a domestic violence prevention organization whose name stands for Building Respect and Valuing Everyone, is organizing the event. Since the fair is a little over a month away, BRAVE is seeking community organizations to get involved, specifically those that support families, explained member Kay Larsen. “School groups, faith communities, health-related agencies … anything with a special foc...
The borough has nearly $30 million in capital projects in its budget for the current fiscal year that runs through next June 30. The majority of funding — 58% — comes from grants, with 23% from borough coffers and 19% from loans. The costliest upcoming projects by far are related to the borough’s water infrastructure, particularly the water treatment plant and reservoirs. Preparations are underway to upgrade the water treatment plant, allowing for more consistent water quality and more production. The project went out to bid in mid-July. The b...
Wrangell will host the annual Alaska Recreation & Parks Association conference Sept. 19-22 for the first of two consecutive years. The conference will bring over 40 recreation professionals to town from around Alaska and the United States to swap ideas, build their skillsets and make connections among parks and recreation departments. The conference’s workshops will be geared toward industry insiders, not community members at large, but Economic Development Director Kate Thomas hopes that the conference will give Wrangell “an opportunity to...
