Tent City a wrap

Another year's Tent City Days wrapped up over the weekend, culminating in a post-roller derby party out on the town late Saturday.

"It went pretty good," said Kelly Gunderson, who helped organize this year's events. "Especially with the derby girls."

The Garnet Grit Betties

hosted a special bout for the event. Twenty-eight women donned pads and skates and took to a converted track at the high school gym Saturday afternoon. Coming from six

different communities, they formed two "mash-up" rosters that went against each other over the course of four bouts.

The basic premise of the sport is that two teams of

five skaters assemble together at the track's start. One

designated skater from each side wears a star on her helmet, indicating she is the "jammer" for the round. Each jammer tries to skate her way past the other four opponents – the "pack" – and break ahead, with the lead jammer then able to rack up points for every opposing player she passes.

There are other rules

to the game – such as "pivot" players jammers can pass

their stars off to to continue the jam – but the teams continue in increments of two-minute jams throughout until time runs out. The team with the most points wins.

The games were a

friendly bout, with no lasting injuries experienced during the afternoon. Onlookers came and went throughout the day,

following the wrap-up of Wrangell Medical Center's Health Fair. Held at the Nolan Center, WMC outreach

coordinator Kris Reed explained turnout for the fair had been good: 40 booths had been set up with various prizes, health-related information, and community updates, and hundreds of people came through.

The big draw was the release of results for the March blood draws. For most of the month the hospital discounted its various laboratory

tests, and around 480 patients appeared on Saturday to pick up results for 1,616 different tests. Even though the lab had been a little short handed, technicians were still able to keep up with the deluge of test tubes.

Tent City Days ended up being hosted around the fair this year, though in past years it tends to be set for the second weekend of February. Gunderson explained this year's shift was due to scheduling difficulties, and with advance planning she hopes to shoot again for February. She already plans to start getting people mobilized in May.

"I want to get the community back into it," she said.

A planned visit by a Coast Guard cutter ended up getting canceled (see story on page 5), but other entertainments were had over the weekend. On Friday night, local pooches participated in the Annual Wrangell Dog Show. "We had just over what we had last year," explained Kassee Emens, who organized the show.

Pets competed in 10 different events, which ranged from tricks and time trials to just looking the cutest.

"Each category got a prize," Emens explained.

This was the first year she had a hand in organizing the show, due to Tent City's scheduling shuffle. "It will be better once we have more time to plan," she said. It went off without a hitch however, and Emens is looking forward to next year's show. She promised there would be some agility course obstacles added, and some more advance notice.

She and her dog had only first participated last year, and she said it wasn't too difficult to prepare for. For those thinking of entering their own canine companions next time, only a little bit of practice goes a long way.

Over the course of Sunday afternoon, a winner emerged from the Three Bobs' Cribbage Tourney at the Elks. The longstanding cards game is dedicated to three Bobs in particular – Smith, Burrell and Prunella – who had been avid players in the past.

Out of 18 players this year, Clara Haley finished in fourth place during the semifinals, with Kristen Debord in third place. The last game came down between winners of the last two tournaments. Robert Shilts came out ahead of Collin Dando, winning the $80 pot.