Haines Borough fireman Al Badgley received a standing ovation when he accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 31st Annual Southeast Emergency Medical Services Symposium in Juneau last weekend. Badgley received numerous nominations for the award, said conference organizer and former Haines resident Julie Anderson. One of the nomination letters referred to Badgley as “a tireless champion for Haines” who spends practically every waking moment working toward a safer community. Lucy Tate of Haines earned the Instructor of the Year Award. The five-day symposium also featured conferences and pre-symposiums with speakers from all over the world. Haines volunteer firefighters who attended the symposium included Jenn Walsh, Meghan Elliott, Chris Downer, CJ Jones and Chuck Mitman. Dr. Noble Anderson and Dr. Dave McCandless also attended the symposium, as did EMS Company Captain Thom Andriesen. Al’s wife Crystal went to watch the award ceremony. Badgley is retiring this year after more than 26 years of service.
Kyle Gray returned this week from a 14-day trip to Africa with best friend Chris Fielder. Gray flew in through Dubai and met up with Fielder in Johannesburg before heading to Skukuza for a three-day safari. The two were lucky enough to see the rare African animals known as the Big Five: leopard, rhinoceros, lion, Cape buffalo and elephant. In Cape Town, Kyle and Chris went repelling off Table Mountain and cage diving with great white sharks. A great white shark rammed the cage five inches from Kyle’s face, an experience he called “awesome.” A sky-diving event was canceled due to high winds. Chris and Kyle have been friends since high school.
The Haines middle school volleyball team took second place at the Juneau Jamboree competition over Easter weekend. Cassie Miller coached Dante Light, Kiana Donat, Lindy Hill, Arianna David, Alyssa Rogers, Ashley Williamson, Megan Whitermore and Kayliegh Fisher to victory over teams from Sitka, Gustavus and Juneau. Six teams participated in the tourament. The Haines team won four matches, tied two and lost only one in the championship against Floyd Dryden Middle School. Miller called the team’s performance “a giant improvement” over last year.
Local artist Kelly Mitchell recently returned from a month-long trip in the Lower 48. After taking the ferry to Bellingham, Mitchell started the road leg of her trip in a van nicknamed “Pony Bob” and traveled to New Mexico with her brother Mike Mitchell of Anchorage. On the way, the two crossed through Nevada on “The Loneliest Road in America.” Kelly met up with friend Sara Darrah of Gallup, N.M., in Albuquerque, where she enjoyed a few nights in the big city. From there, she headed to Santa Fe for Beadfest, where she took four days of classes in copper etching, forging, cold connections and soldering.
Donna Catotti has been named the Alaskan ambassador for the Portrait Society of America and will attend the organization’s national conference in Atlanta April 30 – May 4. State ambassadors serve as a resource for society members and interested artists, providing information about the Portrait Society, educational workshops and classes, mentors, museum exhibitions and all things related to the discipline of portraiture within their state. There are seven Alaskan members of the society. Catotti is inviting them to participate in a portrait exhibit at the Sheldon Museum this summer.
John Hagen’s black-and-white photographs of the Chilkat River recently shown at the Sheldon Museum are making their way to Homer. Hagen was invited to take part in a group art show called “Shaping Alaska” at the Bunnell Street Art Center. The four-artist show focuses on how different artists are redefining the art of landscape. Besides Hagen, the show features art from Sarah Beaty of Fort Yukon, Jessica Pena of Fairbanks and Nathan Shafer of Anchorage. Hagen’s photographs, taken along a one-mile stretch of the Chilkat River, focus on the smaller elements of the landscape – a blade of grass, an imprint in the sand – instead of mountains and vast stretches of water.
Jeanne Kitayama and Paul Wheeler broke ground on the Haines Brewing Company’s new downtown location last week. Turner Construction dug the building footprint and Stickler Construction started on the foundation this week. Dawson Construction will do the framing and finish work. Kitayama said she hopes to open the new location by Sept. 1. The Dalton City location will remain open until then. In other brewery news, local artist Laura Rogers penned a design for the company’s Captain Cook Spruce Tip Ale. The brewery sent two kegs of the specialty ale to the Anchorage Museum’s exhibit opening of Arctic Ambitions: Captain Cook and the Northwest Passage.
About a half-dozen volunteers turned out at the Southeast Alaska State Fairgrounds Sunday to give the Raven’s Bowl disc golf course a facelift. Organizer Jeremy Reed said the group’s goal is to make it a completely different course, with 18 continuous holes instead of nine holes played twice from different directions. Work involved removing brush to clear a fairway. The group added five new holes on Sunday, and while they are playable, they won’t be part of the “official” course until work is finished and Reed draws up a course map.
Bill Broste’s needlepoint and cross-stitch artwork is on display at First National Bank. Leslee Downer approached Bill about his artwork, which he had never displayed in public. Leslee came to Bill’s house to pick out the best pieces, including a Chilkat blanket design and a Navajo design. Broste has produced the works over the past 35 years.
Fourteen volunteers braved freezing rain Saturday to help out at the Haines Friends of Recycling Spring Cleaning garage sale at the Southeast Alaska State Fairgrounds. HFR chair Melissa Aronson said the event was an experiment toward the idea of a “re-store,” where members rented tables to sell personal belongings they no longer wanted. Ten percent of profits went to HFR. Items for sale included an RV, weed-wacker, office furniture and construction materials.
Karen Garcia won the season-ending individual trivia contest at the Pioneer Bar Saturday. The bar holds a team trivia contest every Saturday in the fall and winter months, but held an individual 30-question contest to mark the end of the season. Trivia organizers Robert Butker and Courtney Hunt selected questions that had been asked throughout the season to see what competitors had remembered.
Tom Heywood and Scott Pearce joined Burl Sheldon on the main stage of Centennial Hall during the recent Alaska Folk Festival. Sheldon, Heywood, Katya Kirsch, and Len Feldman performed as Sweet Sunny North for a Thursday night dance at the former armory building. A reunion show by Lunchmeat and the Piementos at the Red Dog Saloon during the festival included Eric Holle, John Hunt, Kip Kermoian, Gregg Bigsby and Tim June.