The annual gathering of quilters and sewing enthusiasts met at the Aspen Hotel last weekend. Their theme was “Sew Much Fun,” and they were productive. The group, originally called “The Ripinski Rippers,” were able to complete 48 blocks that were constructed from six pieces each. They were joined by three Juneau visitors as well as a brand new quilter.
Mosquito Lake’s New Hope Fellowship Church hosted a dinner and dessert auction that was emceed by Dave Routh. Sage Thomas reports that Routh’s auctioneering skills impressed the crowd. The money raised goes to its local scholarship fund.
Corey Piper won $1,000 in the Haines Chamber of Commerce’s 50/50 raffle over the weekend. Piper’s ticket was a gift from Community Waste Solutions’ Craig Franke who bought tickets for his employees. This is the second year the Chamber has hosted the raffle.
A blood drive scheduled for March 29-30 in Haines has been canceled. Haines Chamber of Commerce Director Amanda Brandon said the unexpected cancellation was due to a conflict with the ferry schedule and that some of the equipment was too big for transport via Seaplanes. “Then the blood had to get back to their facility in a certain period of time and it didn’t line up with the facility in Juneau.” Brandon said she’s hoping to move forward with a Southeast Alaska blood drive.
Haines High school alumna Megan Schwartz-Whitermore recently graduated from Florida International University. She studied early childhood education, maintained a 3.9 GPA, and graduated summa cum laude.
The Buckwheat Ski Classic, put on by the Log Cabin Ski Society, had 266 registered racers for the annual event in Skagway. It was attended by local skiers Tesse Maciajko, Chip Lende, Liz Gifford, NeNe Wolf, Nathen Cote and Tom Morphet. Henry Leasia also headed over to play music at Skagway Brewing Company. Avery Ellfeldt of KHNS was also in the community reporting on the weekend.
Myla, the dog, and her owner Chuck Mitman have been doing some motorcycle training. She was adopted in August and they have been easing into the training with short rides to Mud Bay and toward the ferry dock in the sidecar of his motorcycle.
Alaska’s “Upbeet Gardener” Marion Owen was the keynote speaker at the Chilkat Valley Gardening Conference. She is visiting Haines from Kodiak, Alaska. While in town, she was hosted by Nathanael and Jen Motes. The event had 65 registered attendees. Some of the highlights of the event included a variety of ways to deal with slugs, from the “electric slug fence” to “just get a few ducks.” Organizer Mardell Gunn said event hosts Suzie McCartney and Burl Sheldon did a great job. Many of the gardeners spoke highly of the catering by Vija Pelakis and Lauren Mcphun. The variety of savory quiches served Sunday afternoon was a real treat.
Speaking of gardening, the Haines Friends of Recycling would like to encourage everyone to bring their unused gardening supplies to the nonprofit’s location on Small Tracts Road.
Due to a series of unfortunate events, Matt Whitman had to rely on his hitchhiking prowess to make his way back to Haines from the pass over the weekend when his vehicle broke down. He was able to catch a ride with some helpful snowmachine enthusiasts. Whitman’s vehicle is up and running again.
People who headed out on March 13 to see the total lunar eclipse and resulting “blood moon,” were rewarded with an aurora appearance as well. The totality – that is when the surface of the moon turned its distinctive reddish color – lasted just over an hour. The phenomenon is caused when the sun, moon, and earth align in such a way that the moon passes into earth’s shadow .