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WRANGELL - One side pulls while the other side is told to hold tension in the line. Men grunt and struggle as they push against the large pole while men and women pull on the lines, all working together to maintain the balance needed to raise the large Kadashan pole at Totem Park on Saturday. Sandy Churchill believes the scene was the perfect metaphor to encapsulate the gathering of hundreds in Wrangell. "It was about everything being in harmony," she reflected. "If one side was not in harmony...
WRANGELL – For the first time in 38 years, the Wrangell Native community will raise new totem poles in town, with four days of events planned for Thursday through Sunday, July 17-20. Unveiling the five new poles marks a significant revival of a centuries-old Tlingit tradition. The event honors the carvers and apprentices who transformed logs into cultural masterpieces, continuing a legacy nearly lost to time. By the early 1900s, most of the town's 30 to 40 totem poles had decayed or fallen, and...
A bell recovered from a Southeast Alaska shipwreck that claimed 112 lives more than a century ago rang Thursday, May 29, for the first time in 117 years, signaling its future role in a Wrangell maritime tradition. Jeanie Arnold, director of the Nolan Center, struck the bell at the close of a community presentation, marking a significant moment for the artifact. If the bell can be restored in time, it will be used to ring out names at the community's annual blessing of the fleet in 2026. The...
