The Salvation Army held a community Thanksgiving dinner in collaboration with the Haines Ministerial Association. The dinner was held on Thanksgiving day, and served 175 meals in the school cafeteria, in addition to 140 take-out meals. Salvation Army pastor, Captain Kevin Woods, said it was a great turn out. Members of the Ministerial Association, a partnership of local churches, provided the food for the main course, and the dessert was donated by members of the community. Woods said there were so many desserts generously donated, they didn’t even have to cut into the pumpkin pies he had brought.
The annual Turkey Shoot, hosted by the Haines Hot Shots on behalf of the Haines Sportsmen’s Association, awarded nine turkeys to nine contest prize winners during the event. Out of 14 contestants, James Stickler, Loyal Tormey and Dawson Holm achieved the highest scores. “They were the hottest hot shots that day,” said event coordinator Pam Long. The community can look forward to another opportunity to compete for turkey prizes during the Christmas season, weather allowing.
Local runner Finn McMahan won first place in the Turkey Trot, a celebratory Thanksgiving-day 5k race sponsored by the Community Wellness department at SEARHC. Chance Jacobson came in second place. There were about 40 participants; some ran, some walked, and several arrived in costume despite the rainy weather and wind. Racegoers enjoyed hot chocolate, hot cider and homemade Norwegian waffles with whipped cream and lingonberries after the event, which started at the school, went along Front Street before looping back to the school on Union Street.
The Haines School is hosting its annual Career Week this week, welcoming alumni and members of the community to share information about their careers with students. Featured presenters included Haines’ Tourism Director Reba Hylton, Arctic Wild owner Michael Wald, commercial fisherman Stuart DeWitt, Haines Borough Clerk Alekka Fullerton, Haines Harbor Master and Assistant Harbor Master Shawn Bell and Max Marty, state forester Greg Palmieri, Cassie Patton from Alaska Marine Lines, Ferry Terminal Manager Ryan Ackerman, and Matt Boron from the Department of Transportation. The event continues into the week, with more community members generously donating their time.
Saturday, Dec. 2 marks the three-year anniversary of the deadly landslide that hit homes on Beach Road in 2020. The slide killed two residents, Jenae Larson and David Simmons. Randy Simmons, the father of David, built an observation platform over the summer on the slide site, which he said he uses to remember his son, who was 30 at the time he died. The elder Simmons said he is inviting community members to visit the platform over the weekend. “I just want people to be able to reach out to David and Jenae in whatever way they want,” Simmons wrote in an email. “I’m not opposed to groups of friends planning on sharing the experience together or organizing a celebration but I’ll leave that up to the individual.” Simmons said the site will be open all weekend and visitors can come by any time.