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The Petersburg Indian Association is celebrating the second annual Amy Hallingstad Day this week with a full slate of events, anchored by a four-day Tlingit culture class and culminating Sunday in an outdoor gathering to honor Amy Hallingstad. The week opened Tuesday evening with Elder's Night, a community dinner at which PIA welcomed Sitka elder George Bennett Sr. and his wife, Mary. Bennett's "Tlingit 101" class began Wednesday and runs through Saturday at John Hanson Sr. Hall, with Amy Hallin...
With heavy hearts and wonderful memories, we celebrate the life of Louise “Carroll” Nilsen, who left this world on June 20, 2026, at the age of 88. Carroll was born on December 2, 1937, in Kendrick, Idaho. Carroll grew up in a close-knit family consisting of her parents, grandparents, and numerous aunts and uncles, all of whom helped instill in her strong family values at a very young age. Those same values guided her as she raised her own family. Family meant everything to Carroll. One of the things that will always be remembered about Car... Full story
It’s never too late to say Thank You To the Editor: While Memorial Day was last week, I want to share a story of a powerful encounter I had with a veteran that brings tears to my eyes to this day. Years ago, I was at a craft show people-watching. I noticed an elderly couple hobbling down the aisle. They shared a striking resemblance to my own Midwestern parents: The wife had permed gray hair, polyester pants and was clutching her purse. The husband wore a flannel shirt, suspenders and a ball cap. As they (very) slowly made their way closer, I c...
The 68th year of Little Norway Festival opens Thursday, May 14, for four days of parades, smørbrød, live music, competitive herring-tossing and all manner of communal revelry that could only happen in this town. The celebration runs through Sunday, May 17. "I love that everybody comes to town," said Kelli Slaven, who coordinates the festival schedule for the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce. "I love seeing all the people downtown - the kids running, familiar faces and new ones. It just kind of mak...
This year's Little Norway Festival is bursting with music. Local acts take the festival's downtown main stage across Friday and Saturday this year, spanning jazz, classic rock, Appalachian folk and everything between. Evening shows at Kito's Kave and the Harbor Bar keep the live music rocking and the dance floor bumping into the middle of the night. And the weekend closes with a classical music piano concert at the Lutheran Church. "I absolutely love it," said Robyn Cardenas, who curated the...
There are two types of people in the world, those who salivate at the idea of being a lighthouse keeper, and those whose mouths go dry at the idea. What is it about lighthouses? They're a symbol of isolation, but their purpose is to connect with and protect others. They're used as a metaphor for everything from hope to knowledge to love, but name a book, movie, or TV show with a lighthouse that doesn't have someone die in it. Lighthouse keepers are stereotyped as antisocial hermits, but who...
Karen Schramek was born in Portland Oregon April 9th, 1951 to Maxine and Roland Hayzlett. She grew up close to her older brother Steve, looking after her younger sisters and helping around the house. The family made many memories camping, visiting national parks, and on day trips to the Oregon Coast or Oregon mountain streams. Karen especially enjoyed fishing with her Dad. Karen joined Camp Fire Girls, eventually becoming a camp counselor near Mt. Hood for several summers. Her early experiences... Full story
Annette Carol Samuelson was born on October 27, 1944, to Mildred (Israelson) and Gainhart Samuelson in Petersburg, Alaska, where she would live her entire life. The second of six children, Annette was a born mama's helper. She loved her family deeply and her desire to do whatever she could for them informed her entire life. Her father, a fisherman, was rarely home. Even at a young age Annette recognized how hard Mildred worked to keep food on the table and to fill her family's childhood with... Full story
18 – Dear Readers: In last week’s edition of Yesterday’s News we learned that Mr. Sidney Charles, editor of the Petersburg Herald, turned over his interest in the paper to local backers and that there would not be another issue of the paper “until another man capable of taking charge of the back end of the shop is secured.” There are no issues in the archive until May 19, when a new publisher, Harry M. Appleton began a run that lasted for only seven issues. Finally, on August 27, John W. Schoettler and Albert O. Elstad published the premier e...
Peter Schultz was born in Lübeck, Germany, on March 22, 1939, the youngest child of Willi and Else Schultz. His oldest brother Jürgen is still living. His brother Klaus, sisters Erika and Almi, and his parents have died. His father was a master blacksmith on a big farm, maintaining the farm machinery and shoeing the huge Hanover work horses. Peter's boyhood was an apprenticeship in smithing and farm work. He learned mechanical skills and how to fix almost anything – skills he used all his lif... Full story
WRANGELL - With just four weeks left before the deadline, Wrangell borough is pressing ahead to complete its application for a $50 million federal grant to help pay for several projects to boost the town's economic future. "We all know we've been economically depressed" since the timber industry collapsed more than a generation ago, Kate Thomas, the borough's economic development director, told the assembly at a work session on Jan. 27. The federal grant, through the Economic Development...
On Holocaust Remembrance Day To the Editor: Today, Tuesday, January 27, is Holocaust Remembrance Day. My good friend George, a youth in Poland at the time, rode his bicycle across two countries, eating scraps of food, hiding and sleeping in deserted barns – eventually immigrating to the United States. My dad, a descendent of immigrants, helped defend the world as a Marine who also earned a Purple Heart – despite his great prejudice against most minorities. Holocaust Remembrance Day is about “Never Again.” Never Again ignoring the warning...
When clients aboard the charter vessel Dauntless suggested helping chef Alisa Jestel create her long-dreamed-of cookbook two years ago, she didn't imagine it would lead to cameras, a film crew, and a documentary premiering at Petersburg's Wright Auditorium next week. "Tide and Table," a short documentary from Two Doors Down Productions, began as a modest 8-10 minute film concept. But after Emmy-winning director Brian Bill and his crew arrived in Petersburg last May, they realized they'd... Full story
Petersburg's Rainforest Festival is back, after several years with dispersed year-round programming but without the customary fall festival. Taking place mostly on the weekend after Labor Day, September 3-7, the festival will once again offer an immersive celebration of local ecology, art, science, and locally harvested food. "We're really excited to have it back," says Sunny Rice, one of the festival's organizers. "While the dispersed events were lovely, it left us kind of without a Rainforest...
The faces in the black and white photos on display this month in the Clausen Memorial Museum tell the remarkable story of the homesteaders who settled Point Agassiz in the 1920s and 30s. A dozen children giggle on the steps on the little red schoolhouse. A prize bull watches over dairy cattle grazing in a meadow. Families harvest from large gardens. The Model T milk truck drives its route down a snowy road to the point for a milk delivery to Petersburg. "Recollections of Point Agassiz: The Life...
Fredrick (Rick) Earl Thynes, 75, born June 30, 1950 to Erling and Jeanne Thynes in Petersburg, Alaska, died July 4, 2025 at his home in Ketchikan. He grew up, along with three younger brothers - Lloyd, Ken and Russell - in Petersburg and attended Petersburg Elementary and Petersburg High School, graduating in 1968. During high school, he met his future wife, Margie White, and they married July 12, 1969. They had two daughters, Kelly Lynn and Heather Kristen. Their first few months of marriage,... Full story
May 29, 1925 – Some 15 dogs in Petersburg have died during the past month and there is evidence that death was the result of a slow poison, administered in a form yet to be determined. The officers are working on several clues, and if evidence is secured that poison was put out they intend to make an example of the guilty party. Those who have lost dogs are willing to give a substantial reward for any definite information. Besides the fact that it is unlawful to put out poison, and that a person who would do so is of a low order of mentality a...
On Saturday, the Petersburg Community Foundation awarded $37,125 in grants to seven local organizations during its annual awards ceremony and honored one community volunteer with its prestigious Volunteer of the Year recognition. The foundation, which began 17 years ago with support from the Alaska Community Foundation and the Rasmuson Foundation, has seen accelerated growth in recent years. It took the organization around a decade to award $100,000 in local grants, but it has matched that...
Barbara Jean Dunbar was born on January 19, 1934, in Utica, New York, to George and Mary Dunbar. Growing up in the majestic foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, Barb's early years were filled with cheerful family gatherings and time spent with friends exploring the many mountain lakes dotting the forests around Inlet and Old Forge, where the fall colors are like no place else on earth. In high school she waved her pom-poms cheerleading, marched in the Syracuse drum band and volunteered as a... Full story
A group of Gortex-clad visitors step out of the chilly spring rain on Friday afternoon and enter the Clausen Memorial Museum. From the window of the museum a ship is visible in the distance, tied up at Petersburg's drive-down dock. It's the National Geographic Sea Lion, operated by Lindblad Expeditions, and they are the first cruise ship of the year to visit Petersburg. As some passengers browse through downtown shops, others cross the Wrangell Narrows in one of the cruise ship's zodiacs, or...
Happy early April Fools Day! Circa 1935, this strange cage and the sign above it appeared on the side of the Cornelius Building. The sign reads: "Alaska Red Bats. Caught near glacier. Dangerous only when in flight. Roed Flegermause Lasirius Borealis. SLEEPING - LIFT LID." The cage was put up by Bert Cornelius as a joke for the tourists beginning to show up. Inside were not red bats, but red bricks known in the trade as 'bat bricks.' Each brick has a manufactured hole in it that allows bats...
The Alaska Board of Fisheries has approved significant changes to the Wrangell Narrows-Blind Slough Terminal Harvest Area Salmon Management Plan, creating new king salmon sportfishing opportunities for resident anglers while working to protect crucial hatchery broodstock. Last year’s controversial closure of freshwater fishing for king salmon in Blind Slough prompted a community driven effort to change the area’s salmon management plan. Proposal 159, developed by the Petersburg Fish and Game Advisory Committee with input from community mem...
January 2024 A prized Mental Health Trust lot by Blind River Rapids, a popular recreation site for sport fishing, was sold at auction to a USCG family. Toler and Jessie Alexander are eager to return to Petersburg after retiring from the Coast Guard in a few years. The borough listed its top priority capital projects, and the Petersburg Medical Center replacement was first and second on the list – for the main hospital construction and the main hospital interior build out. Petersburg Indian A...
