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In June of 1947, after graduating from Stillwater High School in Minnesota, Roxane Lillian Swenson boarded a westbound train in Saint Paul with the ultimate destination of Petersburg, Alaska. Her aunt, Lillian L. Swanson had surprised Roxy with a graduation present of two suitcases and a ticket to Alaska. She arrived in Petersburg on the SS Alaska and that was the start of a glorious lifelong adventure. Roxy worked summers in her aunt's store, The Lillian Shop, and studied in the winters at the... Full story
December 12, 1924 – Oscar Sather, of the Shields-Sather Lumber & Box Company, is figuring on plans for six cottages for rent or sale, which, if the plans materialize, will somewhat relieve the present famine in lack of houses. At the present time in Petersburg it is impossible to get either houses or apartments or any business location. The new business block being built by Andrew Wikan and John Hammer has the roof on and is nearing completion, and the entire space on both floors could have been rented a dozen times over, owing to demand. In fa...
Alaska Airlines has received a federal subsidy since 1976 to provide Wrangell and Petersburg with twice-daily jet service, and community leaders in each community are rounding up support to urge the government to issue a new contract after the current agreement expires in 2025. “I want to ensure it stays around,” Wrangell Mayor Patty Gilbert said of her petition drive to show community support for Alaska Airlines under the U.S. Department of Transportation Essential Air Service program. Sixty-five communities in Alaska —including 10 more in So...
November 7, 1924 – And still they come! Truly Captain Fryer began to wrinkle his brows in consternation when he saw the girls lined up to board the “Lillian” on Saturday morning. But the wrinkles seemed to prove resourceful, for soon there were additional life savers on board; and by 9:45 all was set and the ship headed toward Wrangell. Many had been the warnings of solicitous friends as to the “alligators and whales in the shape of bad weather,” which the weather man would likely station between here and Wrangell. Perhaps the weatherma...
October 24, 1924 – Pep, and lots of it, marked the meeting of the Commercial Club held Wednesday night with every member playing strong in the role of “Pepper.” As one member remarked, “It was the peppiest meeting we ever had!” Mrs A. Thomas reported as a delegate to the Alaska Week celebration. She reported a royal good time. J.B. Warrack has said to certain residents of Petersburg that he would subscribe $20,000* toward the building and equipping of a modern community hotel, provided a like amount could be raised among the townspeop...
Voters in Alaska's capital city have rejected a resident-written ballot proposition that would have banned large cruise ships on Saturdays and the Fourth of July.Tuesday was municipal election day for most of Alaska's cities and boroughs, and in preliminary results in Juneau, about 60% of participating voters sided against the "ship-free Saturdays" initiative. Some ballots have yet to be counted but are not expected to change the result. Elsewhere across the state, municipal elections saw... Full story
The Petersburg Pilot and KFSK teamed up to present a two hour long candidates forum on Thursday, September 12. All five candidates for Petersburg Borough Assembly were given one minute each to answer questions on topics ranging from EMS volunteer recruitment, to bears in the garbage, the future of tourism in Petersburg, and a whole lot more. Thomas Fine-Walsh Candidate Opening Statements: My name is Thomas Fine-Walsh. I was born and raised here in Petersburg, and I've had the honor of serving...
Applications for a federal energy efficiency grant for small businesses are open through the end of September, and Rural Alaska Community Action Program, an Anchorage-based non-profit, can help applicants, RurAL CAP Energy Development Specialist Shae Bowman told listeners at Wednesday’s virtual Sitka Chamber of Commerce meeting. The grant in question is the Rural Energy for America Program, REAP, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and aimed at rural communities. The grant offers assistance for the installation of renewable e...
July 4, 1924 – The Herald fully agrees with Pat O’Cotter in an article in the Alaska Weekly in which he says, among other things: “Captain Lathrop and George Edward Lewis made a real Alaskan picture, ‘The Chechacoes.’ It was financed and also filmed in Alaska, and nine-tenths of the cast were real Alaskans. It was the first picture ever made in Alaska and when the big producers in the East saw it, they grabbed it and they are giving it the biggest kick-off that a picture ever got in America, and it’s all because it’s a genuine Alaska picture. I...
Skol! This year's Little Norway Festival kicks off today with over fifty festivities to choose from including new events, entertainment, and around 70 street vendors. Petersburg -nicknamed "Alaska's Little Norway"- traces its Norwegian foundation back to the late 1800s. Petersburg's Little Norway Festival, first held back in 1958, coincides with May 17, Norway's Constitution Day. Although the festival has changed with the times, visitors can taste traditional Norwegian foods, watch traditional d... Full story
Feel like dancing during this week's festivities? Then you're in luck! High energy, multi-genre Seattle-based band the Staxx Brothers are set to perform two fun, riveting and especially groovy shows in Petersburg for the Little Norway Festival. Founded by band lead Davin Michael Stedman in 2002, the Staxx Brothers are a high energy American band from Seattle who play a mixed genre of music, but like to define themselves as "Hard Ass Soul." "The energy you get from the Staxx Brothers show is...
May 9, 1924 – When asked about the shortage of bait at Petersburg for halibut fishermen, Earl N. Ohmer said, “The shortage of bait is due to the fact that there is at present no plant here in which to freeze the bait, or to keep it frozen. What is needed is a cold storage plant.” Mr. Ohmer knows whereof he speaks. He is a member of the firm Alaska Glacier Seafood Company, which packs and ships shrimp meat. He is a buyer and shipper of salmon and halibut and other varieties of fish, a member of the City Council, Chamber of Commerce, and knows...
Irene June Nichols was born in Port Alexander, Alaska, to Anna and Arne Iversen on August 7, 1928. Her parents immigrated from Norway to fish out of Port Alexander and moved to Ketchikan when she was five. After graduating from Ketchikan High School Irene attended Pacific Lutheran College in Seattle, Washington, for a year before returning home to marry her high school sweetheart, Carl Anthony Manzoni, a bush pilot. They enjoyed ten happy years before Carl was tragically killed in a plane crash... Full story
March 28, 1924 – The Glacier Sea Food Company bought from the Olympic Fisheries a floating cannery on March 15. A scow which is at present located near Johnny Sales’ chicken ranch. The scow is now being painted and repaired. Earl Ohmer says they expect to float it on next month’s high tides. The scow will be used as a floating cannery to pack shrimp. The location for the packing of shrimp is yet undecided. Next door to Glacier Seafood Company Paul Owens of Scow Bay is building a plant for making poultry feed out of shrimp shells. Mr Owens...
Just before the winter storm rolled into Petersburg Saturday night, business owners and members of the community gathered upstairs at Elks Lodge for the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet. During the banquet, the chamber named Rocky's Marine as Petersburg's 2024 Business of the Year. Rocky's Marine is a family owned boat dealership specializing in Yamaha Outboards, serving Southeast since first opening in Petersburg in 1980. Announcing the award from the stage, chamber president Jim...
February 1, 1924 – To drop dead immediately after saying he felt “fine” was the case of a man aged 50, who is known locally as N. Martin. Martin went to the Arthur Yates Memorial Hospital in Ketchikan on Saturday afternoon with a friend to see acquaintances there. He had been in the hospital from January 6 through the 15 with pneumonia and a bad heart and on leaving he was warned to be careful. When he arrived at the hospital Saturday he was asked how he felt, to which question he answered “fine.” Then he turned around and dropped. When pick...
January 11, 1924 – The Petersburg Chamber of Commerce this week passed its first birthday as an active organization. Treasurer Ed Locken rendered his report for the year showing that $726.95 was collected and expended during the last year to carry on the work of the organization. Secretary M.S. Perkins reported in detail on the work which has been accomplished by the Club during the year. The Club since its inception has become one of the most active of the Alaskan organizations, holding regular meetings twice each month and considering p...
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...
September 21, 1923 – Earl N. Ohmer this week received a sea sled which was designed and built for him by S.V.B. Miller of Seattle and Gregory Hildebrand of the Fair Island fox ranch. The boat is twenty feet long, equipped with a 60-horsepower Scripps engine and at present makes about twenty miles an hour. Ohmer has been tuning up the engine during the past few days and says he expects to get considerably better speed out of the boat. September 24, 1948 – Heavy winds were given as the reason for damage caused to the boat Wave last Sunday at Gri...
The state of Alaska, a coalition of business groups and a pair of electric-power organizations have opened a new round in the generation-long fight over environmental protections in Southeast Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. On Sept. 8, the state and two other groups of plaintiffs filed three separate federal lawsuits to challenge a Biden administration rule restricting new roads in parts of the forest, which is home to some of America’s last stands of old-growth trees. Each lawsuit asks U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason to ove...
July 20, 1923 – The big Evinrude race for the silver trophy awarded by the Evinrude Company was pulled off last Sunday and was won in decisive fashion by Sam Gauffin. The course was from town, around the black buoy, and then to Scow Bay where the channel beacon was rounded, and return. Gauffin had the race well in hand all the time. Neil MacGregor was second, Paul Lund third and Ed Locken so far behind that he did not finish the race. July 16, 1948 – In a report to the Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, president Earl Ohmer informed the members th...
4th OF JULY COMPETITION WINNERS: 50 yard dash 6 & under Girls 1st - Emma Aikins 2nd - Stella Walker 3rd - Amara Westhoff Boys 1st - Owen Martin 2nd - Odin Burrell 3rd - Reilly Gacchina 50 yard dash 7-9 Girls 1st - Ivy Worhatch 2nd - Lucy Peterson 3rd - Emery Ledge Boys 1st - Jackson Zweifel 2nd - Caleb Westry & Luke Day 3rd - Grady Walker 50-yard dash 10-12 Girls 1st - Lucia Worhatch 2nd - Daisy Marrow 3rd - Jane Day Boys 1st - Devin Westry 2nd - Jamari Tate 3rd - Ryder Diehl Training Wheel...
Millions of people across the United States spend the Fourth of July visiting family and friends, but few who make a holiday homecoming can say they landed at an airport named after them. Jim Johnson, an Alaskan aviation legend who grew up in Petersburg, returned home on Alaska Airlines Flight 64 on Monday. He was greeted at the gate by his family along with a banner from Alaska Airlines. "We came over for the Fourth of July parade and to see all our friends and we're looking forward to it,"...
Petersburg is ramping up preparations for this year's star-spangled celebration as Independence Day draws near. On Monday, it was announced that "Let Freedom Ring" would be the theme for floats participating in the Fourth of July parade, beating out other contenders "Tour America," "Create Hope in the World," and "Celebrate U.S." The Petersburg Chamber of Commerce is organizing the parade and Administrator Mindy Lopez is encouraging any and all local organizations, nonprofits, churches,...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously passed an ordinance that will raise the amount that sewer utility rates will increase by in FY24 during its June 5 meeting. In May 2022, the assembly voted to increase sewer utility rates by 3% annually from FY23-FY26, but this new ordinance will double the planned rate increase in FY24, raising rates for one year by 6%. According to an annual rate review of the utility, the 6% raise is needed to keep up with increased costs and expenses to the...
