Bearfest opens Thursday and will run for four days. There will be workshops and symposiums and demonstrations to learn about bears — and also foods to enjoy.

The first edible event will be the “beary pie” contest at noon Thursday at the Nolan Center, when judges will select the best entries made from local berries. Bakers must get their pies to the Nolan Center by 11:30 a.m. Thursday.

Next up on the schedule for food fans is the Friday dinner and fundraising auction at the Stikine Inn, with Lauren Thompson, head chef at Seattle’s Cafe Lago restaurant. “The dinner will be a classic Tuscan menu, with a touch of the Pacific Northwest,” said Bearfest organizer Sylvia Ettefagh.

Doors open at 5 p.m. and dinner is at 6 p.m. Only four tickets, at $120 each, were available as of last Friday. Call 907-874-3006 for ticket information.

The community market from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Nolan Center will feature baked goods and other homemade foods from Wrangell residents.

Also on Saturday, Chef Thompson will demonstrate and instruct how to make ricotta cavatelli at 11:30 a.m. at the Nolan Center. The session is limited to 10 people, at $50 per person. Call 907-874-3006 to sign up.

A contest to judge Wrangell’s best seafood dishes is planned for 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon, also at the Nolan Center.

The last food event of the four-day weekend will be a pasta feed at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Nolan Center for runners and walkers in Sunday morning’s marathon, half-marathon and 5K races to load up on carbohydrates.

The dinner is free for all runners, walkers and volunteers.

Registration for the runs starts at 7 a.m. Sunday, with runners taking the starting line at 8 a.m. for the marathon and half-marathon, and 8:30 a.m. for the 5K runners, walkers and bikers.

The full schedule of events is online at alaskabearfest.org

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This year’s deer harvest isn’t expected to reach the record highs of the past two seasons but “it’s going to be fair to good,” said the state game biologist for the Wrangell-Petersburg area.

“We had a really good dump of snow this past winter,” said Frank Robbins, the longtime state game biologist in Petersburg. “We lost a good portion of last year’s fawns,” which were unable to forage for enough food in the deep snow.

“We may have lost some older bucks,” he said, though the overall population looks strong.

The general hunting season for Sitka black-tailed opens Saturday, Aug. 1, and runs through Nov. 30. The bag limit is two bucks. No doe harvest is allowed, to help protect the population.

The past few years have been excellent for deer hunters in the Game Management Unit 3, which includes Wrangell and surrounding islands.

“We’ve had record harvests the last two years,” Robbins said.

The take exceeded 1,100 deer in each of the past two years in Unit 3, surpassing the Department of Fish and Game’s harvest objective of 900 bucks.

The harvest totaled more than 900 deer in 2023 before the record years in 2024 and 2025.

“I’m not anticipating a record harvest,” Robbins said for this year, but he still anticipates a good year for hunters.

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Structure, a nearly year-old company that plans to design, assemble and market a new system for utilities and businesses to remotely monitor their operations, is buying Ottesen’s former warehouse on Front Street and could start putting together and delivering its equipment next year.

The company, established by a trio of Juneau friends and their business partners, has hung its signs on the building.

The floor plan is mostly open, with offices on a smaller mezzanine level, which will work well for Structure’s assembly operation to put together its controllers, called “comms vault,” or communications vault, said Jake Haas, one of the founders. 

The company is in the business of designing and building a new SCADA (Skay-dah) system, which stands for supervisory control and data acquisition. Older systems have been used since the 1970s to monitor sewage pumps and water lines, including Wrangell’s own utilities, and multiple other production operations.

Sensors on pipelines, power lines, pumps and other components transmit data back to a controller unit, allowing workers to remotely monitor operations.

Structure sees a strong market for its new system, particularly in rural Alaska communities with critical infrastructure spread out, requiring a dependable monitoring system using radio signals, fiber-optic lines, phone lines or wireless signals.

The Wrangell plant will assemble routers, switches, radio gear and circuit boards into the comms vault, a box the size of a stereo speaker, Haas said. Off-the-shelf components will be shipped into town for installation in the box, along with some custom-made pieces.

Kyle Farley-Robinson, another one of the three founding partners, said a rough estimate would be assembling the first units in the building sometime next year.

The initial number of jobs would depend on the number of orders to build the units, Farley-Robinson said last week, but could range from half a dozen to 20 workers on the assembly and testing crews.

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The Southeast island town of Wrangell is moving forward with plans to build a massive shipyard that could repair state ferries, U.S. Coast Guard ships, research vessels, and military vessels.

Wrangell already has a busy marine service center that hauls out large commercial vessels locally and from nearby communities. This proposed shipyard would service much larger ships, up to 500 feet long, with a lift capacity of about 38,000 tons.

But the price tag is a bit shocking – between $605 and $726 million. The borough has a $50 million grant pending with the federal Economic Development Administration.

“Obviously, $605 on the low end is a staggering figure – we could probably buy Wrangell Island for $605 million,” said Mason Villarma, Wrangell’s borough manager. He admits the cost is enormous, but says developers are approaching it in steps, “phasing the project into digestible chunks.”

Villarma spoke at a recent town hall on July 14 with several project partners, including JAG Marine Group, which would operate the site; the shipyard developers Pearlson&Pearlson; the Southeast Alaska Power Agency, the region’s nonprofit hydropower company; the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority; and others.

Wrangell’s shipyard would be built on an existing 42-acre deep-water port, a former mill site that the borough purchased for $2.5 million in 2022. It’s located six miles south of town. Villarma said there was overwhelming community input on the site’s potential uses.

“We don’t want cruise ships out there,” he said. “We want this to be an industrial complex with blue-collar jobs, trades-based, and that’s really what we focused on.”

The shipyard is estimated to employ up to 500 people at full capacity, which would significantly change the town’s economic landscape, as Wrangell only has a few thousand residents. For decades, many residents worked in the timber industry until the town’s main sawmills started closing in the 1990s. 

The shipyard’s operator, JAG, runs shipyards in Ketchikan and Seward, but is based in Michigan. Charles Minton with the company said the political climate is right for industrial development.

“We want to make sure that the work stays in Alaska, is completed in Alaska,” he said, “and we service the vessels and the assets that are going to be positioned here, not only from a commercial perspective to help maintain commerce, but also from the defensive posture.”

Earlier this year, Wrangell borough leaders visited a shipyard in Florida, which project designer Pearlson & Pearlson worked on. Luke Pitts with the company said they’ll design Wrangell’s shipyard for maintenance and repair, but it would also accommodate building ships.

“We’ve done several of these projects now and have a good kind of baseline of what things cost,” Pitts said. “We’ve also reached out to general contractors that have worked in Alaska in the recent past to kind of back our estimates.”

The partners say the infrastructure needed for the project is there – for power, water and sewer, and fuel. It will take a few years to secure more than a dozen required permits. So, in theory, the project could start construction in two years and take about three more years after that. But first, hundreds of millions of dollars will need to be found.

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Two mothers are leading an effort to bring Special Olympics programming back to Wrangell, launching a search for community volunteers to help establish a permanent, year-round athletic calendar for residents with special needs.

Organizers Christy Good and Holly Hammer succeeded in getting representatives from the Special Olympics Alaska headquarters in Anchorage to come to Wrangell for an informational meeting at 6 p.m. Aug. 20 at the Elks Lodge for anyone interested in participating or volunteering.

Both women have children with special needs who have previously participated in the organization’s events.

Hammer’s son, Carter, competed in 2017 during the last Special Olympics event held in Wrangell.

Good’s 24-year-old daughter, Keely, has participated in various activities across the nation as the family moved over the years.

Good specifically wants to involve the Elks Lodge bowling alley for the bowling season, which runs from August to November, due to the sport’s immense popularity and accessibility.

To participate in Special Olympics, eligible athletes must be at least 8 years old and have a documented intellectual or developmental disability. There is no maximum age limit for adults. Children ages 2 ½ to 7 can participate in early developmental motor-skill training.

“There are plenty of opportunities to be active with the Special Olympics,” Good said. “That’s why volunteers are so important because everything within the program runs on volunteerism.”

“Every child deserves the chance to be seen for their strengths, not defined by their challenges,” Good added. “Kids with disabilities have incredible resilience, determination and joy to share, and it’s our responsibility to create opportunities where they can shine, belong and reach their full potential.”

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Pet owners in Wrangell could see an X-ray machine at Coniff’s Critters veterinary clinic if fundraising efforts meet their goals.

Ashley Allen and Jacci Spry saw a need in the community and want to do something about it — so they are raising money for the machine.

“There are enough animals — and people who love them in town — to make this happen,” said Allen, who has two rescue dogs.

Spry, who also has a collection of rescue dogs and cats, did some research and found a quality trade-in X-ray machine from a hospital in Anchorage.

“The equipment has been completely serviced and is in good operating condition,” she said, adding there’s no difference in how X-ray equipment works for a human patient or a pet.

Having access to X-ray images would be both a diagnostic and financial benefit for pet owners, avoiding costly travel out of town. Early diagnosis could also make a difference in an animal’s health outcomes.

The fundraising goal is at least $16,000.

“We have a GoFundMe account that can be seen on the Wrangell Community Group Facebook page, an account at First Bank for Wrangell Paws and People Alliance, and a 50/50 raffle. We’ll be selling raffle tickets at various pop-up locations like IGA and City Market, or you can contact us,” said Allen. For questions or donations, contact Spry at 970-290-7571 or Allen at 907-305-0981

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The borough assembly has unanimously approved a $3.12 million dollar contract to rehab and repair the water-damaged Public Safety Building.

The contract was awarded to Juneau-based Dawson Construction. The work will cover structural repairs and an optional upgrade to replace all of the building’s sectional overhead doors.

The project focuses on correcting critical deficiencies in the 39-year-old, wood building’s exterior shell. Capital Projects Director Amber Al-Haddad said the project includes converting three tiers of flat roofs into a sloped metal roof system.

The contractor also will replace windows, doors and old siding with more durable metal materials.

“Because the exact extent of water intrusion remains unknown, we anticipate discovering rot within the exterior wall framing and sheathing,” she said.

The work is funded by a federal grant and a bond issue approved by voters in 2024.

Al-Haddad said the contractor plans to start with the siding work this summer, then continue through the winter months.

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Southeast would go a week without mainline ferry service at the end of November as the Alaska Marine Highway System transitions between ships for its winter schedule.

But seven days without the weekly northbound and southbound return voyage between Bellingham, Washington, and Southeast is painless when compared to much longer service gaps in Prince William Sound and Southwest Alaska under the draft fall and winter schedule.

Cordova and Valdez would be left without any ferry service October 1st through March 5th while the Aurora is in the shop for its annual winter maintenance and to replace rusted steel.

Kodiak, Homer and other towns on the Gulf of Alaska would go without service for almost four months — January 15th through May 1st — as the Tustumena heads into the shipyard for winter work.

The state ferry system has always used the winter months, when ridership is lower, to pull ships out of service for annual maintenance, but a lack of crew and fewer ships in operating condition have led to longer gaps in fall, winter and spring service.

The Marine Highway System released its draft fall and winter schedule for public comment last week. The schedule covers sailings from October 1st to April 30th.

Under the draft schedule, the Bellingham-to-Southeast run would stop in Wrangell northbound every Sunday, with a return southbound stop every Wednesday — that’s been the schedule for years.

There would be a week of no service when the Columbia heads to the shipyard at the end of November. It would take a week for the Kennicott to be staffed and readied to pick up the mainline route, according to a spokesman for the Marine Highway System.

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The borough is assuming all costs for a Freedom Rock memorial to honor veterans, relying on an 8-year-old community promotion fund to help cover much of the expense.

The assembly agreed to pull the remaining balance of $19,000 from the Marian Glenz Fund, which was established in 2018 after Glenz bequeathed $50,000 to the borough to promote Wrangell.

Glenz, who died in 2017, helped out at the museum and served for a decade on the town’s visitor bureau. The $50,000 was “to be used to promote Wrangell,” according to her will, as reported in the Sentinel in 2018.

Borough Manager Mason Villarma and assembly members agreed in budget deliberations last month that using the remaining money for the Freedom Rock memorial would be a good use of the funds.

Total expenses will exceed the $19,000 and will include commissioning the painting of the boulder, the artist’s travel, supplies, pouring concrete at City Park and building a protective structure over the rock.

A 6-foot-tall by 5-foot-wide boulder has been selected at the state rock pit by the airport.

The borough plans to host the artist from July 20 to Aug. 3 to paint the rock.

The idea to set up a Freedom Rock in Wrangell came from resident Jenn Miller-Yancey, who discovered the artwork while traveling by RV with her husband, Eric Yancey, in Iowa in 2025. 

The Freedom Rock tradition began in 1999 in Iowa, when artist Ray “Bubba” Sorensen II painted a large boulder as a thank-you message to veterans. He has since painted similar rock murals in 10 other states. 

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The borough expects to pay $110,000 this year in credit card fees when residential and commercial customers use their card to pay utility bills — and the assembly believes it’s time the borough stopped eating the cost.

The assembly has directed staff to come back with proposals for how the borough could tack on a fee for credit card payments or come up with another method to transfer the cost to bill payers.

An estimated 65% to 70% of utility customers pay their monthly bills by credit card, Finance Director Rob Marshall told the assembly at their meeting June 29.

The cost to the borough is unfair to the 30% who don’t pay by credit card, Mayor Patty Gilbert said at the meeting.

Assembly Member David Powell questioned why the borough should take a $110,000 hit to its budget.

“Will you note our concerns and bring back some solutions,” the mayor asked the borough manager and finance director.

Staff is working toward presenting a proposal at the assembly’s July 28 meeting, Borough Manager Mason Villarma said last week.

The borough already charges a fee of 2.25% for payment by credit card on property tax, sales tax and transient tax on overnight accommodations. About one-quarter of those taxpayers use a credit card, Marshall said.

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