Southeast Alaska State Fair Director Jessica Edwards sent 27 department champions, division winners, and exceptional best-of-class entries from Haines to the Alaska State Fair in Palmer, where three entries rose to the top. Gina St. Clair took first place in creative arts and crafts (miscellaneous) for her spicy rose soap, made with local rose petals. Christina Baskaya placed first in sewing (teens and women) with her classic-tailored jacket. Helen Mooney’s blue crocheted sweater with a design around the yolk also took first in handwork and needlework (crochet). “My piece was the centerpiece of everything in the crochet section. I was pretty proud,” Mooney said.
Joan Snyder’s son-in-law chef Travis Kukull is featured in the October issue of Seattle Magazine for his restaurant Gastropod, which the magazine named one of the best brewpubs in the city. In the article, Kukull is praised for his “whimsical, adventurous dishes,” which pair well with brewmaster Cody Morris’ uncommon flavors (including shiitake mushroom beer). Kukull worked as a chef at the Halsingland Hotel for several summers, and prepared the meal for the Southeast Alaska State Fair’s gourmet Brewer’s Dinner last May.
Players Frank HolmesHenry WongStan JonesSally Lix and Bob Lix traveled to Juneau Oct. 11-13 for the bridge sectional tournament at the Mountain View Senior Center. Bob and Sally played with Mark Davey and Chris Bookless from Whitehorse, Y.T., and took first place in the double-session team game category. Sally and Bob also won in the single-session pair game. Holmes, Wong and Jones, along with Jones’ Juneau-based sister Evelyn Hazelton, came in second in the double-session team game category. Bob and Sally will travel to the national bridge tournament in Phoenix this November, where more than 8,000 card players will compete.
Carlos Jimenez returned from a weeklong trip to Kennewick, Wash., where he helped grandfather Gordon Tandy pack up his possessions and buy warm clothes for Tandy’s impending move to Haines. Jimenez’s mother Susie Tandy is traveling to Kennewick next week to pick Gordon up and bring him to Haines Assisted Living, just down the street from great-grandsons Hayden and Asher Jimenez. Gordon’s wife, Elizabeth Bradley Tandy, who died in 2011, went to a private girls’ high school in Marin County, Calif., with HAL resident Lucy Harrell. Harrell is looking forward to going through old school pictures and photo albums that Gordon is bringing up.
Fish apparently aren’t cutting it for two brown bears who were seen digging up carrots on Spencer Douthit’s farm patch on Allen Road. Tom and Liz Heywood spotted the hungry bears. “They were just lying down in the dirt, digging and munching on carrots, not causing a fuss,” Tom said.
KHNS won two awards at the Alaska Broadcasters Association’s 2013 Goldie Awards Saturday. Host and producer Debra Schnabel and producer Margaret Friedenauer won “Radio Public Affairs Program Division Two” for “Talk Around Town.” The new program “Sing Out Strong” also took “Radio Service to Children Division Two.” The show is produced by Amelia Nash and scripted by Jeanne KitayamaHolly Davis and John Caleb Davis sing on the show.
James Hart attended the National Conference of American Indians in Tulsa, Okla., as a youth representative. Hart participated in youth sessions from Oct. 14 to Oct. 17 and listened to speakers present on issues facing Native communities all over the country. On the last day, Hart presented to the general assembly to raise awareness of drug and alcohol abuse among Native youth. Dave BerryTed HartEvangeline Willard and Harriet Brouillette also attended the conference.  
Karen Garcia’s younger brother Bryant Garcia bumped into Chandler Kemp on the Stanford University campus Oct. 16. The two briefly chatted about their studies and their connection through Karen. Bryant is pursuing a Ph.D. in theoretical physics at Stanford and is teaching at the university, while Kemp is starting his master’s degree in energy resource engineering. The two also graduated from Cornell University’s physics department together in 2012.
Krista Kielsmeier flew from Whitehorse, Y.T. to Vancouver, B.C. for an Oct. 17-20 Alaska Day weekend getaway. Kielsmeier toured the University of British Columbia campus, where she went to the UBC vs. University of Alberta football game to gain a better understanding of Canadian college culture. About 1,000 people attended the UBC Thunderbirds’ 60-0 victory, but the pep band showed outsized enthusiasm, as did Thunder the mascot. Kielsmeier delivered McDonald’s food across the Canadian border as a gift for friends Tracy Cui, Phyllis Sage and Joanne Waterman

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