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"How long it's been going? Since I was a 3 year old, I think," said Jamie Stough, 38, one of the volunteers running the Art Clark Scrap Fish Derby. "My parents started it. They did it as a tribute to Art Clark, the old carver in town, and since then we've been doing it. My family was finally going to give it away to somebody else this year and I was like, 'Nope! I'm taking it.'" The derby was held off of the City Dock on July 2. Kids ages 6 to 13 were invited to come out, throw a line off the...
The Fourth of July is a fun time for all ages in Wrangell, even for those still learning how to walk. Sunday's festivities included toddler games on the City Hall lawn. Candy was thrown around the lawn for the kids to race to pick up, seeing who could get the most. The results were: Babies not yet crawling: Saydee Bartlett Babies not yet walking: Tylon Grant Girls not yet 2: 1st place, Ember Rae 2nd place, Emilee Stewart 3rd place, Leah Comstock Honorable mentions: Kinsley Garvey and Aeralynn...
Just like so many other events returned to Wrangell’s Fourth of July this year, the Chuck Oliver Logging Show was back after taking a COVID-19 year off. Oliver started the show in 1975, and he and his family members ran the event off and on for many years, featuring logging skills and tools common in the timber industry, a callback to the days when Wrangell was a logging town. Randy Oliver, Chuck’s son, retired in 2019 after the 45th logging show, and Tom Roland and his crew of volunteers too...
Though vandalism of park facilities is all too frequent, it doesn’t mean staff shrugs off the damage. “Part of this is what we expect, although our hope is not to be dealing with vandalism,” said Kate Thomas, director of the borough’s parks and recreation department. “It does get worse in the summer,” consuming staff time and repair efforts. Though 99% of people are respectful, enough are not that it is a frequent challenge for staff, Thomas said last week. Vandalism has included trash cans dumped on the floor at public restrooms; toilet pape...
It’s not like old times of 1.3 million cruise ship visitors to Southeast Alaska, but it’s the start of the best it’s going to be this summer. The first large cruise ship to stop at an Alaska port since 2019 is scheduled to tie up in Ketchikan on Friday, though Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas will not be anywhere close to its 2,476-passenger capacity. It’s a trial voyage, at a roughly 10% passenger load, intended to test out COVID-19 protocols and show federal health regulators that the company can deal with any infections should th...
Wrangell’s king salmon derby, back after a three-year hiatus, closed June 30, ahead of the Fourth of July celebration. The biggest fish of the derby went to Trevor Acker, who caught a 36.9-pound king salmon near Found Island on June 17, netting a $3,000 first place award. While the number of derby participants was not available Tuesday, Stephanie Cook, one of the organizers, said there was a good turnout this year. “There were definitely more people who were excited about it.” Second place went to Randy Churchill, with a 36-pound catch on Ju...
The borough will be using roughly $46,000 from a federal grant for pink salmon disaster relief to build a new net repair float at Shoemaker Harbor. Harbormaster Steve Miller said that when the city accepted the funding, part of the agreement was that it had to be used in a way that would benefit Wrangell fishermen. A new net repair float has been needed for some time, he said. “The one that’s there is probably over 30 years old, so it’s kind of outlived its life,” Miller said. Bids are due today for furnishing a one-piece steel floatin...
Following up on its spring competition, the Wrangell Convention and Visitor Bureau is holding a summer “Best of Wrangell” photo contest. The contests are part of the bureau’s initiative to showcase “all of the activities and adventure to be found on and around Wrangell Island,” according to its website. The visitor bureau will use some of the contest photos and videos in its work to promote Wrangell. The contest opened July 1 and will run until the end of August, and is open to Wrangell locals and visitors. Participants are limited to 10 ent...
Emma Martinsen and Cassady Cowan came close to setting a record for Fourth of July fundraising raffle ticket sales this year, totaling $114,564. They were not much behind the 2016 record of $126,408 and far exceeded the pandemic-crimped sales of 2020, while about doubling the number from 2019. "These girls are, along with the community, what makes this Fourth of July celebration possible," Stephanie Cook, with the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce, said at the coronation ceremony at the Nolan Center...
Among the many popular contests in Wrangell's Fourth of July celebration are the canoe races, with this year's winners from Saturday's competition as follows: Cork Capture, ages 11 to 14 Male: Caiden Scott and Sinon Elekdag Female: Johanna Sanford and Selah Purviance Co-ed: Gracie Richard and Dane Richard Short Sprint, ages 15 to 17 Alisha Armstrong and Ashleigh Loomis, tied with Braidyn and Bella Ritchie Long Sprint, ages 18 and up Male: Duane Ricker and Ryhan Groshong Female: Ashley Powers...
Wrangell’s Fourth of July festivities kicked off last Friday with a 3-on-3 basketball tournament at the court by Evergreen Elementary school. The winners were: Girls’ champions Team Young: Taylor Young, Brynlee Young, Braidyn Young and Alivia Young. Middle school champions Panthers: Michael Cook, Devyn Young and Kyler Young. Men’s champions Team Fathom: Sean Thomas, Ian Gibbons and Curtis Hitchings....
HONOLULU (AP) — For nearly a year, Maui residents had their tropical oasis virtually to themselves. Then the visitors all came flooding back. “Over-tourism” has long been a complaint of locals on the Hawaiian island that is among the world’s most popular getaways: congested roads, crowded beaches, packed restaurants. But as the U.S. begins to emerge from the pandemic, Maui is reeling from some of the same strains seen on the mainland, like a shortage of hospitality workers. And its restaurants, still operating at limited capacity, are struggl...
ANCHORAGE (AP) - A Montana man was reunited with his 14-week-old border collie two days after the dog disappeared following a bear attack on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. Jason Umbriaco was hospitalized after the brown bear with two cubs bit him twice June 27. “It was just a shock. I couldn’t believe it,” Umbriaco said after being reunited with Buckley. “I had kind of given up hope, and I was sort of making preparations inside to just move forward without him, and now it’s like I’m gonna have those times back of just joy, and peace.” The a...
SEATTLE (AP) - Each day, more deaths are being linked to the heat wave that struck the Pacific Northwest last week, with medical staff who treated people overwhelmed by temperatures well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit saying the toll from the extreme weather will keep creeping up. Hundreds of deaths were being investigated as heat related in Oregon, Washington state and British Columbia. The dangerous heat began June 25 and only began to subside in some areas on June 29. The death toll in Oregon alone has reached at least 95, the state medical...
After a rough pandemic-closed year for the tourism industry nationwide, especially in visitor-dependent Alaska, businesses are starting to show signs of recovery. And that means guests filling up overnight accommodations in Wrangell after a dismal 2020 visitor season. “In my estimation, this is my best year ever!” said Leslie Cummings. “My B&B muscles, my breakfast-cooking muscles are way out of shape. I feel like I had a year off, almost. It’s been kind of a challenge,” she said Monday. Leslie and her husband Alan run Grand View Bed & Breakfa...
Wrangell businesses did better than those in Skagway but worse than their counterparts in the larger and more diversified economies of Juneau and Sitka during the economic shutdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an online survey of business owners and managers throughout the region. “On average, reporting businesses in the region lost 42% of their revenue due to COVID-19, while Wrangell businesses were down 48% overall,” the third highest for any community in the area, said the report issued by the Southeast Conference, com...
"Fly-fishing in general, I think, it's really hard to explain but everybody that I talk to about fly-fishing, that has fly-fished, they get it," Jason Rivers said. "It's really hard to explain to people until they've caught their first fish on a fly rod." Rivers, 47, has enjoyed fly-fishing from a young age, only recently pursuing it as a business. His interest dawned in Washington, when he saw somebody catch a steelhead trout while fly-fishing on the Kalama River. He really learned the "how...
The Alaska House avoided a government shutdown when it voted Monday for the state budget to take effect with the start of the new fiscal year today, though the political battles over state spending and the Permanent Fund dividend are far from over. Gov. Mike Dunleavy was expected to announce any budget vetoes on Wednesday, with Wrangell waiting to learn if he will reduce or eliminate two spending items specific to the community: Restoring the state’s commercial fisheries staffer in town, which Dunleavy eliminated a year ago, and restoring an Of...
The borough is selling the unused National Guard armory at 101 Second Ave. The armory was built in 1982 on land leased from the city, and the building was turned over to the borough when the Guard shut down its Wrangell operations in 2017. The 30-by-40-foot, wood-frame metal-sided building on a 0.21-acre lot has been appraised at $110,000. The borough has set a minimum price for the sale at $99,000. The borough had planned to sell the property by outcry auction, but the decision was postponed at...
Try telling the competitors who swim 1.2 miles in open water, bike for 56 miles and run for 15 miles that they are “unofficial.” Nicholas Howell organized the inaugural Tongass ToughMan Triathlon in 2019 as an official event, but the COVID-19 pandemic and health protocols knocked down attendance from more than 30 participants that first year to just three last year: Nicholas, his brother, and one other person. “Last year, with COVID happening, it just kind of became unofficial,” Howell said Monday. Unofficial meaning no permits or insuran...
With the arrival of the biggest cruise ship to call on Wrangell this summer a month away, the borough and the cruise company have settled on operating plans to help lessen any risk of spreading COVID-19 among passengers, crew and residents. Silversea Cruises is planning to dock the Silver Muse in town Aug. 1, 22 and Sept. 12. The ship has capacity to carry 600 passengers and a crew of 400. Basically, the cruise line and borough have agreed to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, Wrangell Economic Development Director...
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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It’s been about 25 years since Wrangell had a U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary detachment — and Liz Buness wants to bring it back. She thought about the need while she was working aboard the state ferries for 16 years, vowing “when I retire, maybe that’ll happen.” Buness, who retired from the Alaska Marine Highway System as a chief purser in 2019, talked with Coast Guard auxiliary officials, took the classes required for auxiliary membership, and now serves as part of the Ketchikan flotilla in Wrangell. She decided this summer is a good time to s...
Wrangell is a dog-friendly town. With easy access to the outdoors and places to explore, exercise and play, the island is a dog’s paradise. However, the Wrangell Police Department wants people to remember there are rules when it comes to their pets. With the warmer weather, Chief Tom Radke said they are seeing more people just letting their dogs wander free, and they have seen an uptick in phone calls complaining about loose dogs. “You just can’t let your dog outside without being with your dog, and the dog’s on a leash,” he said. Municipal...
JUNEAU (AP) - The state of Alaska is trying to dispose of a 58-year-old, unused ferry, and even has offered to give it free to the government of the Philippines. Gov. Mike Dunleavy offered to give away the Malaspina in a letter last month to the Philippines consul general in San Francisco, public radio network CoastAlaska reported. “This vessel is surplus to our fleet, is in need of some repairs, but does have some service life left,” according to Dunleavy’s letter dated May 20 and obtained by the Alaska Public Media network in a routine publi...