KTOO

Rhonda McBride

Juneau Afternoon

Alaska Folk Festival: How Centennial Hall became Juneau’s living room for one week every spring.

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On this Wednesday's Juneau Afternoon, we continue our week-long celebration of the Alaska Folk Festival, with a look at the history and traditions of this iconic Juneau event. While the music is what brings everyone together, year after year, the festival is really about much more than what happens on the stage. On this program,…

Part 1: The Alaska Folk Festival: An authentically Alaskan homegrown musical experience

Guests: Bob Banghart, Katie Henry and Mike Truax
The Alaska Folk Festival had its beginnings on a cold winter night in 1975, when a group of musicians decided they would perform at the Alaska State Museum. In the years that followed, it didn't take long for the festival to outgrow its original location. From Merle Travis' selection as the festival's first headliner, to…

Juneau Afternoon

Tuesday, April 5, 2022: Alaska Folk Festival: Erin Heist releases new album. Highlights from Monday’s performances.

The Alaska Folk Festival is many things to many musicians – a chance to see old friends, share some new songs and in some cases, it's often a good time to celebrate the release of a new recording. On this Tuesday's Juneau Afternoon, Erin Heist tells the story behind her new album, “Land of Rusted…

From the Land of Rusted Dreams, a collection of songs Erin Heist wrote to survive the pandemic.

Guests: Erin and Andrew Heist
Erin Heist and her husband, Andrew, who plays the mandolin and sings back-up vocals, perform a few tunes from their new CD, From the Land of Rusted Dreams. Heist says the songs were written during the enforced isolation of the pandemic, which pushed her to try her hand at writing music, as well as focus on…

Juneau Afternoon

Friday, April 1, 2022: Alaska Folk Festival performer Taylor Vidic. “Mug Up” fish cannery exhibit opens at state museum.

  The sounds of fiddles, mandolins and banjos are once again in the air, as musicians from all over Juneau get together to practice for next week’s Alaska Folk Festival. It’s been two years since they’ve been able to perform for a live audience at Centennial Hall, something performers like Taylor Vidic have really missed.…
Taylor Vidic rehearses with Queens, an eight-woman vocal ensemble playing the 2017 Alaska Folk Festival. (Photo by Jack Sanders/KTOO)

Part 1: Taylor Vidic and Ivan Night play a few tunes, as they look ahead to the 2020 Alaska Folk Festival.

Guests: Taylor Vidic, Juneau singer-songwriter. Ivan Night, guitarist for Pamyua.
Taylor Vidic talks about her music and her new job booking groups for the Crystal Saloon, which opened just in time for the Alaska Folk Festival. Taylor's first AFF performance was when she was twelve years old. This is Ivan Night's first time playing at the festival.

Part 2: New at the Alaska State Museum: Mug Up: The Language of Cannery Work.

Guests: Katie Ringsmuth, Alaska State Historian. Addison Field, Chief Curator, Alaska State Museum. Dave Thomas, Sentinel Coffee.
The "Mug Up: The Language of Cannery Work" exhibit was years in the making -- and brings pieces of equipment from one of Alaska's oldest canneries in Bristol Bay to the State Museum. When the Diamond NN Cannery in South Naknek closed, key pieces of machinery were salvaged and selected for display. But even more…

Juneau Afternoon

Thursday, March 31, 2022: Chilkat weaver Lily Hope opens new studio. Weekend weather outlook. Eaglecrest Ski Area Powder Keg Cup fundraiser.

On Thursday’s Juneau Afternoon, weaving threads from the past, present and future with Lily Hope -- as she talks about her new studio in downtown Juneau, a place she hopes people will come to learn and to appreciate the art of Chilkat weaving. Also on this program: Juneau weekend weather outlook. Eaglecrest Ski Area fundraiser…

Part 1: Lily Hope names her new studio, Wooshkindein Da.áat: Many walking upwards together.

Guests: Lily Hope, Chilkat weaver.
Lily Hope has been on a long journey to save Chilkat weaving from extinction, a journey that began as a child under the tutelage of her mother Clarissa Rizal, a renowned Chilkat weaver. Hope, who is Língit, says her new studio in downtown Juneau is one way to carry on her legacy. Hope's dream is…

Part 2: Juneau weekend weather outlook: Wet and warm.

Guests: Kimberly Vaughan, Juneau National Weather Service forecaster.
Two back-to-back fronts will bring rain to Juneau over the weekend and into next week. Kimberly Vaughan, a forecaster in the National Weather Service's Juneau office, says 2022 continues to be a wetter than normal year.      

Part 3: Powder Keg Race at Eaglecrest celebrates the end of the season.

Guests: Charlie Herrington, Eaglecrest volunteer. Matt Callahan, Coastal Alaska Avalanche Center.
In recent years, a growing number of skiers have moved into the back country, making the Coastal Alaska Avalanche Center's work even more important. That's why Eaglecrest Ski Area is donating proceeds from its Powder Keg Race to the center.  

Juneau Afternoon

Wednesday, March 30, 2022: NAMI Juneau offers mental health program to build family support. 2022 edition of Tidal Echoes published. Discover Southeast’s summer programs. 

If you have a loved one who struggles with a mental health condition, it can feel overwhelming. But NAMI Juneau will soon offer a new program called, “Family-to-Family,” in which families help each other. On this Wednesday's Juneau Afternoon, a look at some of the workshops on problem solving, crisis communication strategies, as well as…

Part 1: NAMI Juneau's Family-to-Family classes connects families to mental health support services

Guests: Aaron Surma, Executive Director, NAMI Juneau. Bonnie Chaney, NAMI Juneau volunteer.
Aaron Surma and Bonnie Chaney know from their own personal experiences what it's like to battle a chronic mental health condition -- Surma as a young man, who struggled with depression -- and Chaney, as a mother, who helped her son cope with numerous challenges. Both say the Family-to-Family program offers the kind of help…

Part 2: Tidal Echoes, a literary journal with 18 years of history.

Guests: Shaelene Moler, Tidal Echoes Junior Editor.
Tidal Echoes started out  in 2004, mainly as an outlet for students at the University of Alaska Southeast to publish their work. Since then, it's evolved into a literary and artistic voice for Southeast Alaska.  

Part 3: Discovery Southeast: 30 years of connecting children to nature.

Guests: Shawn Eisele, Executive Director. Kelly Sorensen, Education Coordinator.
Discovery Southeast is gearing up for its summer season, filled with programs that give children hands-on experience with science and nature. Since it began 30 years ago, several generations of Juneau children have taken part in the program.  

Juneau Afternoon

Tuesday, March 29, 2022: 2022 Traditional Games. Juneau Skating Club community performance. CBJ Parks and Recreation Department monthly update. Go Blue Day: Standing against child abuse.

The fifth annual Traditional Games will bring about a dozen teams from across Southeast Alaska to Juneau this weekend, with about 145 athletes taking part in ten different events at Thunder Mountain High School. On this Tuesday’s Juneau Afternoon, Kyle Worl invited the community to turn out in support of the athletes in the Native…

Part 1: Traditional Games teach life skills.

Guests: Kyle Worl, Traditional Games coordinator, Tlingit Haida Central Council.
After being scaled back during the height of the pandemic, the Traditional Games returns this weekend, modified somewhat for safety, but still more like what fans remember, giving them a chance to interact with the athletes and cheer them on. While the games are considered a sport, the nature of the competition is very different.…

Part 2: Juneau Skating Club performs first in-person show since 2019.

Guests: Alexandra Sargent, Juneau Skating Club show director.
For  figure skaters like Alexandra Sargent, performances are an opportunity to show what you can accomplish when you discipline your mind and body -- and throw a lot of heart into the mix.  

Part 3: CBJ Parks and Recreation transitions from winter, gears up for spring.

Guests: George Schaaf, CBJ Public Works Director
April is still a busy month on the ice with speed skating, youth hockey and free skating for all third and fourth graders, while the groundwork is being laid for this summer's community gardens.

Part 4: April: A month to focus on the safety and well being of Southeast Alaska's children.

Guests: Rikki DuBois and Claire Norman, SAFE Child Advocacy Center.
“It shouldn’t hurt to be a child.” That’s one Juneau group’s message to raise awareness about child abuse during National Child Abuse Prevention month in April,  which will launch with "Go Blue Day" on Friday, April 1st.  On that day, the Juneau's SAFE Child Advocacy Center is encouraging everyone to wear blue, the official color…
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