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July 20, 1922 Tuesday was a red-letter day in the lives of the children of Wrangell. The arrival of the “Kandy Kings” on the Spokane was like a midsummer visit from Santa Claus. The visitors were distributing samples of high-class confectionery products. The youngsters followed the visitors around until their tummies as well as their pockets were full of sweets. The vessel is under charter to 150 members and their families of the Western Candy Association. The voyage is a novel one in that a convention is being held on board the steamer. Bus...
Most every town in Southeast faces a similar summer problem: Boatloads of visitors and not enough public toilets. Some communities have built additional restrooms, and Sitka this summer is paying downtown businesses willing to open their facilities to the public. Under a new grant program, Sitka has succeeded in opening six business restrooms to the public this summer, relieving a strain on the limited public facilities downtown. The incentive program is part of the town’s effort to handle a record-setting cruise ship season. “We were max...
Eric Halstead took the lead in the 67th Wrangell King Salmon derby with a 43.4-pound catch near Blake Island on June 17 and never lost it, bringing him the first-place prize of $3,000 cash. Stanley Johnson took second, with his 41.8-pound king on June 19, near Found Island. He will receive $2,000, plus an additional $500 for the largest catch on Father’s Day. Dave Svendsen caught a 39.9-pound king on the first day of the derby June 15, near Blake Island, good for the third-place prize of $1,000, plus an additional $500 cash for reeling in t...
The fun is returning with four days full of games, music, food, booms, pops, pows and wows. In addition to all the popular events held at last year's Fourth of July celebration, six more have been included in the schedule after being on hiatus for a couple years, and three new events have been added. For a full schedule of events for Friday through Monday, see Pages 8 and 9. Returning favorites include the fireworks show Sunday evening, Monday's parade, Saturday's fish derbies and several waterc...
Richard “Rick” Wiederspohn, 72, of Wrangell, passed away on May 27. Rick moved to Wrangell in 1966. He was a Vietnam veteran with the U.S. Army and a lifetime member of the Elks Lodge. Rick had a brief battle of pneumonia. He was surrounded by loved ones, his family said. No celebration is planned....
Anyone who wants to get a pizza midweek at the Marine Bar or a steak or burger at the Elks Lodge knows that worker shortages have forced employers to reduce their days and cut back on offerings. “This worker shortage is real, and it’s not going away anytime soon,” Dan Robinson, research chief at the Alaska Department of Labor, told legislators last month. “For nine years in a row, more people have left the state than have come here,” he told the Senate Finance Committee. The population has been stable as births have outpaced deaths, but the y...
The community is short of public restrooms near the City Dock and could be short port security staff this summer if people don’t apply for the jobs soon. One is an immediate concern, while the restroom shortage requires a longer-term solution. Tour operators and borough officials met last Wednesday to discuss the upcoming visitor season, which could be a challenge for borough staff and tourism operators, said Port Director Steve Miller. “Finding a driver, finding security. No one is applying for the jobs,” he said. “I haven’t jumped on that y...
The Elks Lodge has presented four nonprofits with $7,500, bringing national grant funds to town. Last Friday, lodge members presented Wrangell Head Start and Little League with $1,000 each, $3,500 to the senior center and $2,000 to The Salvation Army food pantry. Lodge member Dawn Angerman said the grant money came from the Elks National Foundation, which funds the grants using member dues and donations. There are 444 Elks members in Wrangell. Angerman said if lodges meet their required member dues and exceed member donations, they could be...
Jan. 5, 1922 The Civic Improvement Club held its regular monthly meeting at City Hall on Saturday afternoon. The principal activity of the club at the present time is maintenance of the library and reading room which was opened two months ago. The club had bookshelves built. It also pays the salary of the librarian and adds two new books of fiction to the library each month. It is hoped that the library will become self-supporting in time, but at present the club has assumed the responsibility for its maintenance. Jan. 3, 1947 One of the...
Fundraising efforts are a year-round task for most organizations, but during the holidays those efforts are increased. People in Wrangell are willing to give their time, energy and money to support everything from the food pantry and pets to high school athletes. A pressing need "This community, hand over fist, is one of the most generous communities I've ever had the privilege to work in," said Lt. Jon Tollerud, of The Salvation Army. The Christian-based organization coordinates the community...
A tree will light up. Santa will greet children. Hot food and drinks and gathering community members will warm the body and soul. Although it’s dubbed Midnight Madness, Friday’s event will feature something for everyone, in addition to special holiday sales at Wrangell businesses. The holiday bazaar will run from 4 to 9 p.m. at the Nolan Center, with about 25 vendors in attendance, selling various products. Santa Claus will make an appearance from 4 to 5:45 p.m. and then again from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in a giant snow globe. “This year, in order...
Nov. 24, 1921 Mayor Grant this week circulated a petition to the governor setting forth that on account of the great destruction of deer by wolves in Southeast Alaska, more drastic methods of wolf extermination should be employed at once. The petition was eagerly signed by local citizens, and will be forwarded to the governor on the next northbound steamer. An offer was made by the U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey for the free use of the gas boat Regal and services of two trained men to work for wolf extermination, giving two months service for...
It takes a village to raise a tree; Christmas tree, that is. On Dec. 3, the efforts of people throughout Wrangell will culminate in the lighting of the community Christmas tree, a decades-long tradition. A "very full and pretty" pine tree located behind the state highway equipment shop on the Airport Loop Road will be cut down next Monday and taken downtown to be set in a stand between the Elks Lodge and L&M gas station, according to Dominique O'Connor, secretary for Wrangell Municipal Light &...
Event organizer Jill Privett is looking to make a positive change with Tent City Days. In the past, the event celebrated the gold rush era, but Privett wants to focus more on “celebrating all things Wrangell, whether that be your love of the land, people, fishing, berry picking, etc.,” she said. From Oct. 14-17, various in-person and virtual events will be held, such as the Gold Nugget Open Swim, Alaska Day Fun Run, Tent City Steak Night, a food cache contest, Shady Lady Saturday Night, Zoom Story Time, Fisherman’s Crawl and the Wild Woman...
Friday, July 2 3-on-3 Basketball: Start at 10 a.m. At the covered play area behind Evergreen Elementary School. Chairperson: Christie Good Art Clark Scrap Fish Derby: 11 a.m. City Dock Summer Float Two age categories: 6-9 and 10-13 Rules: No parents allowed on floats unless they are one of the volunteers. All children must wear a life jacket at all times. Hand lines only; no rods or reels. One hook per line; one line per person. Contestants must bait their own hook. Any kind of bait can be... 
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A fun tradition for Wrangell’s grown-ups is returning this Saturday, with the 2021 Adult Prom. The party will start at 8 p.m. at Muskeg Meadows Golf Course. The prom is an opportunity for locals to get out, dress up and dance the night away, said Lucy Moline-Robinson, with KSTK, which is sponsoring the event as a fundraiser for the radio station. “I felt there was a need for that, Wrangell doesn’t have a lot of adult-type dances,”she said. The prom was not held last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Robinson said. In 2019, it was held at the...
Plans are underway for a four-day Fourth of July celebration in Wrangell, with just a few gaps still to fill. Chairpersons were needed as of Monday for the July 3 Big Wheels races and July 4 parade, said Stephanie Cook, of the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce, which runs the annual festivities. Food and game vendors still were needed for the ballpark area during the fireworks the evening of July 3, she said. The fireworks will go off about 11 p.m. July 3, with a couple of warning shots shortly before the first one goes up. This year’s parade g...
Wrangell children need an OCS worker stationed here Because it often takes days for the state Office of Children's Services to send an investigator to Wrangell, I was forced to send a frightened kid to a home where she had recently experienced serious domestic violence. I cannot describe my anger and frustration. I cannot describe my anger and frustration at hearing a student say, "Why bother? They never do anything," when I told her I was referring her situation to OCS. I cannot describe the an...
The producers of Magnetic North, a series of historical documentaries on interesting and important Alaskans, is calling on Wrangell for photos or home movies of the community and Ed Rasmuson, who managed the town’s only bank branch 1965 to 1967. Rasmuson may be best known as chairman of the Rasmuson Foundation, the largest philanthropic organization in the state, with almost $700 million in assets as of Dec. 31. Before that, though, he was in the “family business” of banking, said producer Marla Williams. His grandparents took over the then-fai...
The Wrangell Elks Lodge hosted a hamburger dinner last Thursday to award participants in the annual Hoop Shoot contest. Due to the pandemic, the Elks did not hold a regional or national Hoop Shoot this year. Instead, lodges that participated in the contest at the local level had their scores compared, and statewide trophies were given out. Wrangell's state Hoop Shoot winners included (left to right, top row) Aadyn Gillen, Keaton Gadd, Brody Knecht, Paige Hoyt and Haidyn Gadd; and (bottom row)...
The event is a month later than most years and COVID-19 safety rules will make it different too, but the goal is the same: Wrangell youth trying to score in the annual Elks Hoop Shoot on Saturday. The competition is set to start at the community center gym at 10 a.m. for 9-year-old boys and girls, 11:30 a.m. for 10 and 11-year-olds, and 1 p.m. for 12 and 13-year-olds. Event organizers are asking kids to arrive 15 minutes early to register. Every participant will be given his or her own...
Robert H. Grant, Jr., 83, a retired teacher, and longtime resident of Wrangell, died on October 21, 2020 in Wrangell, Alaska. He was born on April 19, 1937 to Robert and Catherine Grant in Dubuque, Iowa. He graduated from Loras College with a teaching degree and immediately, in 1963, moved to Wrangell to pursue his dream of teaching in Alaska. He taught High School History/Social Studies and English and later, at the end of his teaching career, he taught 6th Grade. He also worked for the Alaska...
On Sunday evening, June 7, the first positive case of COVID-19 was announced in the community of Wrangell. A joint press release from the city and SEARHC reports that the patient is an unnamed female. She is a resident of Wrangell, according to the press release, and is asymptomatic. Contact tracing, trying to determine who might have come into contact with the patient and may potentially be at risk, is currently ongoing. "SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) representatives are...
In the May 21 edition of the paper, in the story about the senior awards night, it was reported that the Joel Wing and Allen Benjamin Scholarships were awarded from the Wrangell Emblem Club. These two scholarships actually come from the Elks Lodge....
