Oh, say can you see: Fireworks are back

The rockets’ red glare returns this year with a fireworks display that will be shot off Port Chilkoot Dock starting 11 p.m. on July 4.

Last year’s display was canceled due to a problem with getting commercial-grade explosives. The show is back this year, using consumer fireworks that should provide a closer view than previous commercial displays shot from Picture Point.

“It’s going to look a lot fuller. At Picture Point, because of the fire hazard, I can’t do a multi-directional display. (This year’s show) will be like a TV screen that will be filled up,” said pyro-technician Phil Wilde. “It’s going to be multi-directional and multi-layered.”

But don’t expect to see towering shots. Commercial-grade fireworks reach up to 1,000 feet, as opposed to consumer-grade ones that Wilde said he can make reach 250 feet. “You won’t see a high one pop way up there.”

Wilde, who has supervised the local display for 13 years, said the shift to consumer fireworks was caused by difficulties working with the state’s only contractor who provides the bigger shells. Wilde previously bought shells from another contractor who was easier to work with, he said. “It’s crazy hard now to try to get the big shells.”

Using consumer-grade fireworks does not require a licensed pyro-technician and substantially reduces the cost of insurance, Wilde said. “Anybody can put it on.”

Saturday’s show will cost $2,000 and last about 20 minutes, which is standard for a display, Wilde said. “It’s going to be big, exciting and everybody should go.”

The biggest fireworks show in recent memory was a $12,000 display on July 4, 2010, shot for the City of Haines centennial.

Using the dock as detonation site also will reduce fire danger, Wilde said. At Picture Point, nearby vegetation and homes were a concern, he said. This year he’ll have a 2.5-inch fire hose on the dock to quash any possible fires. Also, cardboard will be put down to avoid scorch marks, Wilde said.

“You can’t go wrong, really,” Wilde said.

Wilde, who sells consumer fireworks at Mosquito Lake, said his consumer-grade shows include ones for weddings and divorces. “I haven’t done a funeral but I have one lady who wants her ashes put on fireworks. She wants to be shot up into the sky with her ashes.”

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Feetwarmers anchor music festival

A New Orleans-style jazz band nominated for a Grammy Award in 2015 will anchor the fifth annual Fourth of July Music Festival at the Fort Seward Parade Grounds. The festival runs 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.

The California Feetwarmers, an eight-piece band featuring musicians on horns, guitars and percussion, will perform along with Haines bands The Fishpickers and The God Particles, said festival organizer John Hunt.

“They’re danceable and they’re a hoot,” said Hunt, who plays trombone in swing bands. “It’s going to be fun to listen and get some inspiration. I’m looking forward to them.”

The band is a featured act at the upcoming Atlin Music Festival, and wanted to have other performances in the region, Hunt said. “People planning to go to Atlin can get a preview of what they’re going to hear and for people who aren’t going, they can see a headline act from the festival.”

A review of the band in L.A. Weekly described them as “an astonishingly fine, old-timey New Orleans jazz aggregation… driven by sheer skill and passion” that creates “magnificent harmony in groove that’s as engaging an earful as you’ll encounter anywhere this side of the Ninth Ward.”

The Fishpickers, a rollicking Americana band comprised of Gregg Bigsby, Syd Moffat, Johnny White, Mark Carroll and friends, will open the show and get the crowd moving, Hunt said.

The God Particles feature Andrew Cardella on melodica, accordion and guitar, Tully Devine on bass, Eric Holle on electric banjo and fiddle, and Jacob Brown Beach on drums. They play a range of music including world beat and current and classic American pop, Hunt said.

Tickets are $12 for adults and $5 for youths. Revenues after expenses go to a scholarship for a local music student.

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Kemp to defend Mt. Ripinsky title

Damp weather forecast for the coming days might create ideal conditions for the Mount Ripinsky Run, an Independence Day tradition in Haines for about 50 years.

Returning champion and course record-holder Chandler Kemp, 25, will be in town to defend his crown.

Organizer Paul Swift canceled the race last year during heavy rains that made rocks slick and the cliffside course treacherous. “There was so much water, everything was slippery.”

But dry conditions also can be trouble when layers of spruce needles underfoot become slick, he said.

Following recent dry weather, rain forecast for Thursday could add just enough traction to be ideal, Swift said. “If it’s a little damp, it should be a fast race,” he said.

Also, runners prefer cool weather for the first half of the race, a grueling climb from the American Legion Hall to a turnaround point about 1,200 feet up the mountain.

Two former collegiate runners who were classmates from Haines High School’s class of 2008 – Kemp and J.J. Lende – hold the men’s and women’s records in the run, but two cross-country ski racers from Whitehorse, Y.T. – Marcus and Hannah Deuling – have given close chase in recent years.

Lende logged the fastest women’s time, 32:34, in 2012, just four seconds ahead of Hannah Deuling. When Kemp set the men’s record of 24:02 in 2013, Marcus Deuling was more than a minute behind.

The Deulings are expected back this weekend. For his part, Kemp said he’s not expecting to set any records. He said he’s been spending time working on his master’s thesis instead of working out. “I haven’t been running that much. Winning is my goal. I’d be pretty happy to break 25 (minutes).”

Lende will be in Europe and will miss the race. “She’s hiking around Mount Blanc,” said mom Heather Lende.

The race has seen more than 40 participants in recent years, including veterans like Ralph Borders, 63, who has entered it about 20 times. Borders said Saturday’s Ripinsky Run will be his last. “This is it. I want to do it one last time and call it quits. It hurts too much.”

Swift said the event doesn’t favor the aged. “Your reactions are slower, when they need to be faster to move your feet, see your spot and get your foot in it.”

Swift said he would cut brush along the race trail before the run but he also strongly recommends participants unfamiliar with the trail hike it prior to the race, as it’s vague in some sections. Newcomers sometimes become dispirited by the steep climb and others have stepped off the trail and become lost or delayed.

“(Walking the trail) would be a pretty good thing to do so people know what they’re getting into,” Swift said.

The race begins and ends at the American Legion Hall on Second Avenue. A race fee of $5 goes toward small cash prizes in several age categories.

Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. and the race starts at 8 a.m.

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Mad Raft Race goes on as informal competition

The Mad Raft Race, one of the oldest Independence Day activities in Haines, is holding on.

The unsanctioned event will feature veteran Kevin Shove and whoever else shows up, and will start at 3:30 p.m. sharp, Shove said.

“The water’s cold. If you fall in, you could have problems. So if you’re not ready, don’t come,” Shove said. “We’re trying to keep it going. It’s an unorganized event and everybody’s responsible for themselves.”

The race pits homemade rafts against each other in the rapids between Chilkoot Lake and the Lutak Bridge, about a mile downstream.

Life vests and protective helmets are highly recommended.

Shove said the river’s water level is about average for this time of year. Maneuvering around exposed rocks and portaging around the salmon weir are some of the challenges of the race.

“People will just need to look out for the rocks,” he said.

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Events fade; pie endures

The Fourth of July pie-eating contest and fire hose battles are cancelled this year for lack of participants or organizers. An ANS salmon bake also was in question at press time for lack of fresh salmon.

 But if you just want pie, the Haines Woman’s Club will be selling a variety of them starting 11 a.m. Saturday at Tlingit Park. The group sells as many as 60 pies on Independence Day, said Susan Johnston, the group’s pie booth chairwoman. Proceeds go to the club’s community donations.

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Traveling show arrives July 10

Less than a week after the Fourth of July, Haines will ramp up again for another weekend of parades, workshops and performances by the New Old Time Chautauqua.

The troupe of more than 50 members travels across the country, bringing live entertainment and educational workshops to rural communities. The brigade includes jugglers, magicians, aerialists, humorists and musicians, as well as high-level educators in the arts, history and ecology.

Members of the group will arrive at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, July 10. They will set up camp at Tlingit Park, said Leslie Ross, who has been helping coordinate the event.

The parade will start at 1 p.m. and go from Tlingit Park, down First Avenue, down Main Street to Second Avenue and Old Haines Highway, and up to the Fort Seward Parade Grounds.

From 2 to 5 p.m., the group will hold three sessions of community workshops and lectures on the Parade Grounds. Workshops range from activities like hula-hooping and drumming to more unusual skills like contact juggling and stilt-walking.

Ross said she is looking forward to a workshop on folding, which will teach participants how to fold fitted sheets, pillow cases, pants, T-shirts and “nonconforming undergarments.”

Session One runs from 2 to 2:45 p.m., Session Two from 3 to 3:45 p.m. and Session Three from 4 to 4:45 p.m. For the full workshop schedule, visit http://www.chautauqua.org/workshops/workshophaines.pdf.

Following the workshops, the troupe will put on a vaudeville show at 7 p.m. at the Chilkat Center. Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for children.

Before leaving on Saturday’s ferry, the group will hold a community potluck at Chilkoot Lake. Ross said the time hasn’t yet been set for the potluck, but it will be in the morning or early afternoon.

The New Old Time Chautauqua is also traveling to Sitka, Hoonah, Juneau, Petersburg, Wrangell, Ketchikan and Bellingham, Wash. this summer.

Ross said the group isn’t officially sponsored by any organization in town; she expects the Haines Visitor Center will donate a couple hundred dollars, and is asking the Alaska Arts Confluence to chip in. “I hope to raise about $1,000,” Ross said.

According to the New Old Time Chautauqua’s website, “Chautauqua” was a cultural and social movement that started in upstate New York in the 1870s and continued through the 1920s. During that time, hundreds of touring groups presented lectures, dance, music and drama to people in rural America.

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See the parade twice

If your favorite spot for watching parades is the steps in front of the public library, you’ll want to move on to Main Street or Willard Street for the Fourth of July parade.

Chamber of Commerce executive director Debra Schnabel said the parade route will start on Main Street – and head west, then east – to give spectators a second view of the action.

Floats and marchers will start on Main Street at Sixth Avenue, go west to First Avenue, then loop back around to Main Street via a right turn on Willard Street and another right on Second Avenue. From there, they’ll head east on Main to the parade start.

Moving the parade start from the traditional start at Third Avenue and Old Haines Highway simplifies the route, Schnabel said. “It’s in a straight line and has sidewalks on both sides, so it expands the area for spectators.”

Where the parade turns around, Schnabel said she didn’t expect that the front of the parade turning west at Second and Main might collide with the tail end still heading east.

Schnabel said she hoped to reserve a section along Willard Street for senior citizens, individuals with disabilities, and parade spectators seated in chairs.