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In January The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously voted to award the construction contract for the Blind Slough Hydroelectric refurbishment project to McG/Dawson Joint Venture for an amount not to exceed $5,744,000. The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously approved an ordinance in its first reading that would rezone a lot located at 10 N. 12th Street for commercial use. The rezoning was requested by the Petersburg Indian Association ahead of their prospective purchase of the lot, which h...
Petersburg swimmers Tori and Bella Miller traveled down to the lower 48 earlier this month to compete against some of the best in the country at US Swimming Interval Medley Xtreme (IMX) in Mesa Arizona. Amongst a group of six Alaskan swimmers, the Miller duo competed against kids from Southwest, Pacific Northwest, and Midwest states, coming out of the competition with several impressive performances in various events. IMX is a yearly event that hosts young swimmers and helps them ease into a...
The Viking Swim Club made sure to give the home crowd a show at their annual November Rain meet in Petersburg last weekend. The local swimmers had impressive performances at the event with loads of high placements, strong rates of personal improvement, and successes in new categories. "[The team] was beyond excited and happy. Since this was a home meet, we had a great turnout... we had 48 of our swimmers compete this past weekend, and they did great," said VSC coach Scott Burt. November Rain is...
Derek Gibb, a 1999 PHS graduate, traveled last month back to his alma mater, Auburn University in Alabama, to be recognized along with his team for their NCAA title for swimming in 2003. He hadn't seen most of his teammates in 15 years, but the majority of them were there. There was a reception for the alumni, then a recognition ceremony on October 28th at the Auburn football game in front of 88,000 people. "It was cool to see everyone after so long . . . they're all successful with families."...
Local support makes VSC auction a huge success To the Editor: Viking Swim Club would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to our wonderful community for their overwhelming support of the Viking Swim Club Auction. The success of this event would not have been possible without the incredible generosity and dedication of our friends and neighbors. First and foremost, we want to thank the many donors who contributed items, services, and experiences to our auction. Their willingness to give back to the community is truly inspiring. The local and...
The air in town is crisp, leaves continue to fall and the mornings are turning frosty. Even with the bright sunshine seen in Petersburg this week, the season is certainly shifting. The transition of summer to winter brings more than a change in weather; seasonal industries shift, and the change prompts reflection. How did this summer go? Several of Petersburg's new tourism businesses look back on their 2023 season. VIKING TRAVEL James and Madeleine Valentine are the owners of Viking Travel, a...
The Viking Swim Club (VSC) annual dinner and auction takes place this Saturday, Oct. 28. Doors open at 6:00 pm upstairs at the Elks. The event is the youth swim program’s largest fundraiser, generating around 35% of the program’s budget through the evening’s raffle and auction. The effort helps pay the salaries of the coaches, supports swim meet travel costs, and helps keep membership dues affordable. VSC is not a school district activity. It’s a three season long activity for Petersburg kids. And this year’s auction is also honoring the 50th...
September 28, 1923 – Testifying in her action for divorce in Judge Hall’s court, Mrs. Otto Burkhardt branded her husband, Frederick Otto Burkhardt, the wealthy Alaska salmon packer, as an arsonist and testified that he purposely set the fires which destroyed the cannery at Chilkoot in 1919 and for which $290,000 insurance money was collected [$5,206,870 today]. Her testimony reads as follows: “I followed him down from the house to the cannery. He did not see me or know that I was there. I watched him go in and, from one end of the canne...
The sun is shining, the days are longer, and bands of people wearing identical jackets are wandering around main street. "Petersburg can expect an uptick in tourism for...this 2023 summer season," said James Valentine, the co-owner of Viking Travel and a cruise line agency representative. "Alaska in general just seems to be a really hot spot for cruise ship tourism and tourism in general." According to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, an estimated 2.5 million people...
Athletes earn awards through excellence in competition. Athletes of distinction are feted for that excellence, but it is secondary to the character and compassion they exhibit and nurture as lives off the podium continue. Heralded for such achievements on the track, in the pool and beyond, Petersburg High School 2017 graduate Izabelle Ith was honored Sunday at the 2023 Alaska School Activities Association Alaska High School Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Anchorage's Lakefront Hotel. "It's...
They may be small, but the mighty Viking Swim Club turned up big at the Alaska Swimming State Championships in Anchorage last weekend. VSC only took six swimmers to the meet but managed to finish ninth overall as a team in the 14 and under division. "We may not have taken quite as many swimmers but we sure did compete," Head Coach Scott Burt said. Petersburg went up against 320 swimmers from 19 teams across the state who had to pass through stringent time requirements to attend the competition....
Longtime Petersburg High School Coach Rick Brock has made it his mission not just to develop students as better athletes, but to help them build stronger character. Teaching kids that it is not just about how well they shoot a basketball or how fast they can run, but how they lift others up on and off the court. For those efforts, the Alaska Association of Basketball Coaches named Brock as the recipient of the 2023 Roger Steinbrecher Coaching Integrity Award. The integrity award is given annuall...
April 20, 1923 – The big freight steamer Cordova was in Petersburg on Monday and unloaded coal for the local merchants. The Cordova broke her after boom and wrecked the winch while loading yellow cedar logs at Fanshaw, just before coming here. The Cordova was taking on a shipment of logs and one big one weighing about two and a half tons had just been hoisted up when the boom broke. The log fell to the deck near the winch and crashed through, tearing out the steam pipes to the winch and putting it out of commission. April 16, 1948 – Living up...
The Viking Swim Club rocked the waves at the Southeast Championships in Juneau earlier this month. The Petersburg club took 29 swimmers to the meet, which saw over 200 swimmers from six teams across the region compete, and placed second overall as team, only behind Juneau's Glacier Swim Club. "They did amazingly well," Head Coach Scott Burt said. The VSC girls finished second overall and the VSC boys took fourth. Individually, Petersburg swimmers earned 31 first-place finishes, 15 second-place f...
Petersburg High School students are spending their afternoons running, jumping, and throwing in the build up to their first track and field meet of the season. The team has been in practice for two weeks as students hone their skills in the cold, wet weather of early spring. "With running it's not about just super intensity all the time, it's about building a base and that's what we're doing currently," Head Coach James Valentine said. Over 20 students have joined the team including seniors...
The Viking Swim Club competed at the Age Group Championship meet in Anchorage last month where Petersburg swimmers racked up seven gold medals, three silvers, and seven bronzes. From Feb. 17-19, over 320 swimmers from 21 teams across Alaska traveled to the competition after hitting time standards to earn the chance to race. 16 VSC swimmers attended the meet including Ryder Diehl, Hakon Eddy, Cadence Flint, Devyn Flint, Olivia Hinde, Cyrus Hulebak, Zia Hulebak, Kendyl Lachapelle, Bella Miller,...
The Petersburg High School boys basketball team claimed three victories at home last weekend. The Vikings outscored their opponents in every quarter as they looked to close out their final home games of the season strong. "I thought our kids did a great job of being ready at the beginning of each of the three games to play the way we wanted to play and take away the other team's strengths," Head Coach Rick Brock said. The Vikings started the action Thursday night against Juneau-Douglas' junior...
Community members and guests attended the annual Petersburg Chamber of Commerce Banquet at the Sons of Norway last Saturday night where they heard from speakers and celebrated award presentations under the lights of the historic hall. Much to the delight of the audience, Petersburg's local bookstore, Sing Lee Alley Books and Gifts, was named the 2023 Business of the Year. The bookstore, owned by Nance Zaic, serves as a welcoming place for ship passengers visiting Little Norway and offers a cozy...
February 16, 1923 – Forty Petersburg Elks and friends made a trip to Wrangell last Saturday to attend the opening of the Million Dollar Club by the Elks in that city. The trip over was made in three boats, the Uniloco which took the ladies of the party, the Americ and the Lorriane. The old rink at Wrangell had been converted into a bower of color by the committee handling the affair. The walls were covered with evergreens and the ceiling had been entirely hidden with purple and white streamers leading from a large dome effect in the center m...
Petersburg's Sons of Norway Hall was bustling on Sunday afternoon as members readied the hall and prepared the featured courses for the annual Lutefisk and Lefse Dinner - a tradition so old no one can say for certain when it started. The dinner is both a celebration of lutefisk and homemade lefse and an opportunity for members to pass down ancient recipes and skills. Lutefisk is fish (fisk) preserved in lye (lut). This year, for the first time, Wendell Gilbert of Tonka Seafoods took sole...
After 42 years of leading Viking Travel, Dave and Nancy Berg are ready to hang up their hats while a familiar young couple takes over the helm. The travel business has changed dramatically since 1981 when Dave and Nancy started their business-from spending hours on the phone with Alaska Airlines and building relationships with the cruise ships to navigating the new world of the internet and persevering through the pandemic. The pair met when Dave made a stop in Ellamar, Alaska while sailing up...
