Andrea Nelson spent a month in Whitehorse, Y.T. as an artist in residence through the Jenni House Artist Residency program. The program provided a work space in a historic Shipyards Park cabin for Nelson to work on a project related to Yukon heritage and traditions. Through textile taxidermy, Nelson is examining the proto-historic fur trade, an era when quillwork was being replaced by beading and manufactured wool started to eclipse fur clothing. An exhibit, to be shown along historic trade route from Haines to Fort Selkirk, will be ready in about a year, Nelson said. See photos at the Jenni House Facebook page.
Tiaya Ruggirello is back from a winter of adventures including three months mountain-biking and adventuring in Peru, visiting mom Jackie in Pahoa, Hawaii and seeing friends and family in Greenville, S.C. and historic Snow Hill, Md. Tiaya and Zach Breen spent two months in Peru’s Sacred Valley, the heart of the Inca Empire in the Andes Mountains, meeting up with Tiaya’s sister Kiana Donat and Patrick Cunningham, Elija Donat, J.J. Goryn and Lee Hart. They biked on old Inca trails and down 10,000-foot peaks, climbed the stairs to Machu Picchu and enjoyed Peruvian cuisine including chicha de jora, a corn beer. The trip included a month in Lima where colonial architecture, surfing, sailing and clubbing were among highlights.
Tracy Wirak-Cassidy of Takshanuk Watershed Council and librarian Leigh Horner led fifth-graders through a gardening lesson at Haines School library on Tuesday. The class is doing an experiment on germination using green beans and paper towels. Students also made broccoli starts to grow at Main Street’s Marvin Garden. The garden, sown and harvested by students through sixth grade, provides fresh vegetables for school lunches.
Three teams from Haines middle school and elementary school played in the MJM Hoop Time Basketball Tournament in Juneau during spring break. Teams included ones from Sitka, Juneau, Hoonah, Haines and Wrangell. The Haines girls’ middle school team took second place in the tournament. All-tournament players included Kyran Sweet, Robin Oaks, and Talis and Brylea Swaner. Thirty-two students participated in the three-month program, which included two winter tournaments in Haines. Volunteer coaches included Larry Sweet, Jordan Baumgartner and Lisa Shove.
Haines School teacher Jordan Baumgartner is launching an elementary school running and bicycling program for grades 3-5. If you’re interested, contact him at [email protected].
Kaliyah Cambree Littlefield was born to Kayleigh Fisher and Kristian Littlefield-Milton on March 2 at Providence-Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage. Kaliyah was born two months early and is gaining weight while she and Kayleigh and Kristian stay on the hospital campus. They expect to return to Haines in a few weeks.
Michael Marks wore his 10-gallon hat and Sammy Jackson donned his beaded eagle tunic for Show and Tell Day at the Senior Center this week. Sammy’s elaborate tunic was made by his mom, Lillian Hammond and Sammy has worn it during dances by Gei-Sun Dancers and other events. The big hat is tribute to Marks’s childhood hero, TV cowboy Hopalong Cassidy, played by actor William Boyd. Marks met Boyd’s fifth wife, Grace Boyd, when she was 94. Marks’s hometown of Newhall, Calif. inducted Cassidy to its Walk of Western Stars.
About 45 people turned out Saturday evening at Mosquito Lake Community Center for an education event and dinner fundraiser for the Haines Avalanche Center. Center director Erik Stevens said beacon and crevasse rescue practice and training sessions were conducted, including methods using ropes and snow anchors to lift victims from crevasses. Chef Travis Kukull made homemade brisket, buns, cheesy rice and beans. Avalanche forecaster Beth Fenhaus organized the event.
A delegation of 10 members of the Haines Presbyterian Church delivered 904 hot hamburger lunches at low-income neighborhoods and at a landfill at Mazatlan, Mexico during a vacation and mission trip during spring break. The poorest of the resort city’s residents sort through the landfill for sustenance. The local church donated $1,000 to support the effort. Participants paid their own airfare, food and lodging. They included Leslie Evenden, Shannon and Lydia Green, Ed and Roselina Coffland, and Holly, Matt, Luke, J.C. and Meg Davis.