Lauren McPhun and her husband Josh Grimm welcomed their fourth child Osier West McPhun Grimm, who following a quick labor and birth was born at the Best Western Hotel in Juneau on Sept. 18 The couple had planned for a birth at the Juneau Family Birth Center but Osier had other plans. After a hasty phone call, a midwife arrived and delivered Osier at 7:50 p.m. in their hotel room along with Haines resident Sarah Bishop who was there to provide support. He weighed 8 lbs.,1 oz., and measured 21.5 inches. Osier is doing very well, Lauren Said.
Former KHNS manager Barnaby Dow and wife Linny Simkin visited from Seattle this summer. He stopped in to see Tom Morphet, Leigh Horner, and the station. He stayed at Deborah Marshall’s cabin in the Rainbow Glacier Subdivision.
Haines High School cross-country runners had good weather for their fundraiser 5K Saturday morning. The route took them from the high school west on Haines Highway, then along Second Avenue and Main Street, ending at the brewery. Head coach Katie Russell waited at the finish line with race organizers, while assistant coach Alex Van Wyhe ran with the group. Russell said money raised from the race will go toward to team t-shirts and travel expenses. The fastest runner was student Colin Aldassy, with a time of 21:30, while the fastest woman (and also the second-place finisher overall) was parent Sarah Elliott at 21:45.
The end of the summer is here with the last Haines Farmers Market this weekend — Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the fairgrounds. This past Saturday, Blythe Carter was selling her tomatoes and also some kiwifruit — just coming in at the end of the season. The “arctic kiwi” bears little resemblance to the fuzzy kiwi seen in supermarkets. In size, shape and appearance, it resembles what would happen if someone took a Thompson seedless grape and stretched it to almost twice its normal length.
Overheard at the burger feed Friday evening, at about 5:30 p.m. Two men in line chatted about moose hunting, when one of them said, “Well, this is Alaska. Is it OK to show up for work with blood on your shirt?”
Sabine Churchill of Gomi’s Garden did some sprucing up outside the former Sarah J’s coffee shop on Second Avenue downtown. In preparation for the bulb sale this weekend, she placed an armor maple, a fiesta maple, and a choke cherry on the grounds. The trees will be there until the bulb sale is over, and then they will go back to Gomi’s Garden unless somebody buys them.
Next year is an interesting anniversary for the Haines Chamber of Commerce. The organization dates back to March 26, 1909, with George Vogel as president. It reorganized on May 13, 1913, with R.M. Odell as president and closed down the following year, on Aug, 13. Then, the organization was restarted on May 16, 1973, and the Articles of Incorporation were signed by Thomas E. Haisler, Carl W. Heinmiller, and Richard C. Folta. On Feb. 15, 1974, Emmitt Wilson, the commissioner of Commerce for the state of Alaska, recognized the Haines Chamber as a nonprofit. So depending on how you measure it, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the Haines Chamber of Commerce!
Lillian and McConnell Robinson (16 and 14 years old, respectively) each harvested their first moose near the Wood River east of Healy. Lillian got her moose on Tuesday, Sept. 12, and McConnell got him on Saturday, Sept. 16. Both moose were taken in the evening. Both teens assisted with cleaning dressing and fully processing the animal with the assistance of lots of family (cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandpa).
Former Haines resident Joe Poor returned to the valley this week to show off the area and his friends to his new wife, Shirley. His previous wife, Sue, died last year, he reported. Poor is known for planting a lot of apple trees in town. The story is that in 2015 or so, Costco in Juneau was getting rid of 129 apple trees, which were stressed after all that time on the floor. Costco was planning to get rid of them, but he persuaded the store manager to donate. AML was able to bring most of them up, and Don Turner provided the topsoil. Poor said 99 trees survived the winter, and a notice in the CVN got people excited about the “adoption process.” Jack Smith provided the backhoe, and 49 trees were planted. Speaking Monday, he said he hasn’t yet gone around looking to see how many trees survived.