Gina St Clair harvested a monster 16-pound pumpkin from her garden this year. This sizable pumpkin was started from seed at the end of April before being transplanted to the garden at the end of May. St Clair credits her gardening success to a good, sunny summer and a lower-than-usual slug population. The pumpkin was of the “Jack O’Lantern” variety, measured over 12 inches tall, and was eventually baked into pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie, and made into soup.
Haines residents Jeff Moskowitz, Tim Thomas and Beth Fenhaus attended the International Snow Science Workshop in Bend, Ore. during the second week of October. The workshop, which is the largest meeting of snow and avalanche professionals in the world, featured speakers from 16 countries and included presentations on cutting-edge research, panelist discussions and avalanche-related case studies from around the world. The event also included its first-ever presentation on landslides, specifically mentioning the landslide activity in Juneau and Haines. There were an approximated 1,100 attendees, with 6% being Alaska residents.
Business co-owners Amelia Nash and Andrea Nelson recently made the decision to sell their Main Street art shop Ampersand, a business which they have owned and run since they purchased the shop (then “Skipping Stone Studios”) from Joanie Wagner in 2018. After five years, and the eventual sale, the pair will be starting a new chapter focused on pursuing individual projects. Nash is making plans to dedicate more time to home renovations and Nelson is looking forward to pursuing several artistic opportunities. The store will be open this winter as they seek out a buyer.
Lucy Nieboer won the Pioneer Bar’s costume contest on Saturday. Her costume, “flock of flamingos,” consisted of a gray body suit, two feather boas, a headpiece of pink netting, a pair of sunglasses, two flamingo shaped helium balloons, and a pair of pink flamingo slippers from Talia’s Treasures. Because the costume had been planned since August, Nieboer called it “magical” that Talia’s happened to have the perfect slippers. She won a $60 gift card to the Bamboo Room. Wylie Betz won a ghost story contest on the same night with a yarn about an apparition he witnessed at a field camp.
Haines Senior Village recently welcomed Symaron Naeco Marquardt as its new office manager. Along with her responsibilities, which include managing rents, banking, and coordinating building maintenance, she is looking forward to participating in resident activities such as ice cream socials, paint nights and potlucks. Marquardt has been a Haines resident for 17 years and has over 20 years of experience in elder care. “I love serving the elders,” said Marquardt. “I feel that they are the most important people in our society. I find it very rewarding to serve them as they have served us… I hope the new generation will realize how important it is to take care of our elders.”
Haines High students Willa Stuart, Sydney Salmon and JC Davis recently traveled to Craig to participate in the annual Southeast Alaska Honor Music Festival. After 62 hours of air and ferry travel, the students got to work on three new pieces of music. “It was definitely an experience,” said Salmon. “It was fun to sing with all sorts of different people from different places.” The students, who were selected by audition, received five pieces of music a few weeks before the festival. They then rehearsed for two days before the final concert on Tuesday, Oct. 24. This year’s pool of local talent was smaller than in recent years, according to music teacher and trip chaperone Matt Davis. “I’m hoping to get a bunch more kids next year, because listening to the level of performance, I think we would have had five more musicians who could have made it,” he said. Parent Vanessa Salmon also chaperoned the trip.