Heidi and George Wilson from Jacksonville, Florida, recently visited Nelle Jurgeleit-Greene in Haines, their first meeting in about 40 years. They worked together at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in the early 1980s. Nelle put her friends to work at the Fishermen’s Community Barbecue. She also took them hiking along the Rock Glacier in Kluane National Park and rafting down the Chilkat. They enjoyed local seafood every night. Nelle’s niece, Angelina Salwak, is here with her friend Landen Racine. They live in Portland and their visit includes days in Juneau and Skagway. Angelina was here 15 years ago, working the summer aboard the fast ferry.
Jeremy Larson and his band The Avery Wolves played last weekend at the 49th annual Forest Fair in Girdwood. Larson, a Haines High School alum, is the band’s lead guitarist. Haines residents Sam and Shannon McPhetres attended the fair and met up with Larson. Sam was Larson’s computer teacher in high school.
Odin Jacobson is back in Haines for the first time since December 2020, visiting brother Phoenix and parents Aimee and Zach Jacobson. Odin graduated from Haines High School in 2020 and joined the U.S. Army. He has been stationed the past year at the Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base in Romania, where he trained with other NATO troops. Odin soon will be stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, for his remaining two years of service.
Holly, Matt, Mark, Luke, JC, and Meg Davis have family visiting this summer. Holly’s brother, John Plucker, and his two kids, Eva and Ben Plucker, are visiting for the first time in three years. John lives in Harstad, Norway, and works full-time as a French horn player in the Norwegian Army Band. Two of John’s friends from Norway also are visiting and are seeing Alaska for the first time. One of John’s friends, Gudrun Fristad, competed in the Harbor to Harbor race on the Fourth of July. Holly’s stepsisters, Virginia Zanger, and Dorothy Heiret, are also visiting from Seattle. They were able to see their dad, Bob Plucker, who is 94 years old.
Chandler Kemp won Juneau’s annual Fourth of July Glenn Frick Memorial Parade Mile with a time of 4 minutes and 31 seconds. Kemp graduated from Haines High School in 2008 and ran track at Cornell University. He came within nine seconds of the Juneau race’s record. Luke Davis, a Haines High senior, placed third, running the mile in 5 minutes and 4 seconds. Kemp was Davis’ cross-country coach in 2021.
Emma Dorhn, Lucia Chapell, Uriel Bravo, and Zac Ritzinger are attending the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, an annual summer camp. Dohrn, Chapell, and Bravo are taking visual and digital art classes, and Ratzinger is taking music classes. The camp began June 26 and wraps up July 10. The camp is an opportunity for students to explore the arts, such as theater, dance, music, creative writing, visual and digital arts, and Alaska Native arts.
Haines’s summer soccer kicked off on Wednesday with Jordan Baumgartner as the head coach. Jennifer Johnson and Michael George are also helping out. Practices and games will be on Mondays and Wednesdays, with grades K-2 from 4 to 5 p.m., third through fifth grades from 5 to 6 p.m., and sixth grade and older from 5 to 6:30 p.m.