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With less than a week left until the 69th Wrangell king salmon derby closes on Sunday, June 30, more than 135 people had bought entry tickets and 18 kings had been weighed in as of Monday. The leader as of Monday was Charlie Webb. The Anchorage resident caught his 43.5-pound king near Point Warde while fishing with Alan Cummings of All In Charters on June 15, the first day of the derby. Webb’s king is the largest caught in the derby since Gary Smart, of Seqium, Washington, won the contest in 2017 with a 64.1 pounder. Smart’s fish was the lar...
They can't do anything about the weather, but organizers of Wrangell's Fourth of July events are preparing for the wettest and hoping for the warmest. They have made room at the covered downtown pavilion for musical groups to perform in the afternoon and evening of the Fourth. The bands need electricity, which doesn't mix very safely with rain, said Tommy Wells, executive director of the chamber of commerce, which organizes the annual holiday celebration in town. The events start with a golf tou...
June 12, 1924 About three months ago, the attention of the town council was called to the fact that transient peddlers and house-to-house canvassers, who pay no taxes nor contribute in any other tangible way to the growth and welfare of the town, are getting away with good Wrangell dollars that ought to remain in Wrangell. The mayor appointed a committee to draft an ordinance that would require itinerant peddlers to pay well for the privilege of calling on the citizens of Wrangell. The ordinance calls for a license fee of $300 a week or...
Wrangell has a lot of positives. It’s a caring community that can pull together a potluck and fill the tables to overflow. Residents support each other in times of loss without needing to be asked. People truly believe in helping their neighbors, regardless of their neighbors’ politics. Fundraisers are a way of life in Wrangell — and a necessity. School sports teams, youth groups, student activities, nonprofit organizations and others are always in need of money, frequently asking businesses to donate goods, services or cash to worthy causes. A...
In addition to focusing on big-dollar issues, assembly members at last week’s budget work session discussed a collective $50,000 question: Whether the borough should contribute money to KSTK radio, the chamber of commerce and the senior center. The issue of improving playgrounds also came up toward the end of the meeting. Unlike recent years when the borough assembly appropriated cash for the radio station, chamber and senior center, the draft budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 does not include any such direct payments. Borough M...
A Talkeetna high school student who comes to Wrangell for the Fourth of July most every year to visit family is the winner of this year's chamber of commerce competition to design an official logo for the holiday celebration. Kyla McChargue said her winning design, with boats and planes converging on Wrangell, is intended to show everyone coming to town for the Fourth. "I just wanted to show that even if you don't live in Wrangell ... it's home," she said last week. Kyla, 15, who will be a sopho...
The chamber of commerce has moved the dates for this month’s salmon derby to June 15-30 to allow anglers more time to try their luck after popular areas near Wrangell open to sportfishing on June 15. The chamber had initially scheduled the derby for two weekends — June 7-9 and June 14-16 — but decided at a May 28 derby committee meeting to move the days to later in the month. State Department of Fish and Game District 6, west of Etolin and Zarembo islands, and most of District 7, east and south of Wrangell, are closed to kings through June...
Rep. Dan Ortiz, the Ketchikan independent who has represented southern Southeast communities since January 2015, including Wrangell, has decided to withdraw as a candidate for reelection, citing health and family considerations. Ortiz had filed in July as a candidate for reelection to House District 1, representing Ketchikan, Saxman, Metlakatla, Wrangell, Hyder, Coffman Cove and Whale Pass. However, a “more definitive” health concern caused him to reconsider, he told the Ketchikan Daily News on May 28. “It’s been within the last week that I...
When Alisha Armstrong and Kayla Young heard there were no royalty candidates this year, they both decided they had to step up for the community. The chamber of commerce now has two candidates running for Fourth of July royalty this summer: Armstrong and Young. Armstrong graduated high school earlier this month, and Young will be a senior next year. Raffle ticket and food booth sales will kick off Friday, May 31, at 6 p.m. at the downtown pavilion. The duo volunteered after concerns over zero...
The same day that she graduated from high school, Alisha Armstrong and her family decided to step up and help the community. Armstrong is the lone candidate for this year’s Fourth of July royalty contest, and will sell raffle tickets to help raise money for the holiday celebration. The ticket sales kickoff is planned for May 31 and will continue through July 3, with the prize drawings on July 4. The chamber of commerce sponsors the Fourth festivities and depends on royalty candidates to sell tens of thousands of raffle tickets. The c...
The dates for this year’s king salmon derby have been set for two weekends: June 7-9 and June 14-16. The chamber of commerce is still deciding other details like the prizes for the largest fish and cost of tickets, said Tommy Wells, executive director of the chamber, which sponsors the annual event — now in its 69th year. King salmon runs have been weak in recent years — only 15 fish were turned in for weighing during last year’s derby. District 8 in front of Wrangell and the Stikine River is closed again this year to king salmon sportfi...
Next year’s Fourth of July celebration, Wrangell’s most popular holiday, may be in jeopardy – the May 1 deadline to turn in paperwork yielded zero royalty candidates. It takes a village to put on the fireworks and countless other festivities for the Fourth every year. To offset costs, high school students or recent graduates run as royalty contestants – selling tens of thousands of $1 raffle tickets and running food booths downtown to raise money for the chamber of commerce, which organizes the celebration’s events. Royalty candidate...
The town’s population could double for a day. Holland America Line’s Nieuw Amsterdam, with accommodations for just over 2,100 passengers plus a crew of more than 900, is scheduled to tie up at Wrangell at 8 a.m. Thursday, May 16, staying until 7 p.m. It will be the ship’s only visit to Wrangell this summer. It will be the largest ship to bring travelers to town, just beating out Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth, which is scheduled to visit twice — July 18 and 29 — and can carry up to 2,081 passengers. The Queen Elizabeth is actually a little long...
The 649-foot Seabourn Odyssey dropped anchor just off Klawock on May 6, marking a new era of cruise ship tourism on Prince of Wales Island. About 3,700 people could visit Klawock and Craig this summer by way of three different cruise ships making a total of six stops. The Seabourn Cruise Lines ship was the first to ever visit the Port of Klawock and brought about 300 passengers to Prince of Wales near the end of a 43-day, one-way voyage from Hong Kong to Vancouver, British Columbia, that included stops in Korea and Japan, as well as Alaska...
April 24, 1924 Perhaps no keener disappointment has come to a large group of individuals for some time than what came to the Wrangell school and PTA delegations Monday evening when the steamer Alaska left for Juneau without them. Gay with joyous anticipation, 18 contestants for the inter-school meet had left their homes when the boat appeared from the south. An hour or so later they returned to their homes and the community still had a right to be proud of them, for in spite of their disappointment they were showing a brave front and in many...
The chamber of commerce at its annual awards dinner last weekend honored several members of the community for their service, including the fire department and emergency medical services crew, municipal electric line crew and borough employees for their response to the deadly Nov. 20 landslide that hit Wrangell. “Nowhere was the ‘I can help’ spirit more evident than in November of last year when a tragic landslide befell our community. For weeks, volunteers and first responders showed just what an amazing place Wrangell is,” said Carolin...
The chamber of commerce would like to put on the community’s 69th king salmon derby this year but hasn’t figured out the details, as it takes into consideration the state’s efforts to limit fishing in the area to help preserve and rebuild returns to the Stikine River system. “We’d love to have one,” chamber executive director Tommy Wells said of a king derby. The chamber is working on plans and hopes to have details soon, he said. Catch numbers in the past two king derbies confirm the weak runs and sportfishing restrictions. District 8...
The Fourth of July is three months away, and the start of ticket sales for the annual fundraising raffle is still eight weeks away, but the chamber of commerce figures it’s not too early to start asking who wants to volunteer for this year’s royalty competition. The royalty contestants sell tens of thousands of $1 raffle tickets that pay for the community’s Fourth of July fireworks, festivities and events. They get to keep a portion of their sales for all their hard work, using the money for college or anything else. Ticket sales start May 3...
Feb. 28, 1924 Wrangell’s champion basketball team returned Monday afternoon on the Alameda from their two-week trip throughout Western Washington; a trip that demonstrated that basketball in Alaska is on par with that of the states. Even during the heavy playing schedule that was forced on the boys in order that they might return to their studies sooner – with seven games in nine evenings – the boys held up under the strain. Such a schedule is seldom attempted even by colleges, and it is a credit to the condition of the players that such a sti...
It’s certainly welcome news that analysts at the state Department of Labor forecast strong job growth in Alaska this year. They expect to see about 5,400 new jobs, a solid increase of almost 2% over last year. If the numbers come true, it would fully restore the state to its pre-pandemic employment numbers of 2019. Federally funded infrastructure projects, North Slope oil field development and construction will be the big drivers of job growth. But no one really knows where all those new workers will come from. Just like many other states, A...
After decades of helping people remember birthdays and anniversaries, the printed community calendar may be going the way of phone books. There will be no Wrangell Birthday Calendar in 2024. The chamber of commerce decided to drop the project from its work list. The last Wrangell phone book was printed in 2020. The chamber had used the calendar as a fundraiser to provide an annual scholarship to a graduating high school senior. Last year’s scholarship was $1,500. “It was discussed and we’re somewhat short-handed over the last few years...
’Twas the week before Christmas and in the inky black night, Wrangell’s houses all shone with twinkly lights. But whose halls are the best-decked? It’s deadline time to register for the annual home decorating contest sponsored by the chamber of commerce. ’Twas the week before Christmas and it’s deadline time to register for the annual home decorating contest sponsored by the chamber of commerce. Judging is set for Thursday, Dec. 21. The winners will be announced the next day. Residents who want to enter the contest need to call the chamber a...
