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Library & Museum June&u, Alaska Visitors Here For King Crab Festival The banner-bedecked streets, the booth-filled midway site, the store windows decorated in the King Crab motive, straw hats and lapel pins all tell the same story—'today begins the 3-day celebration of the King Crab Festival A benign sun, as if to give ap proval to the proceedings, shines forth in all his glory to usher in what perhaps will be the biggest and best Festival in Kodiak’s his tory. During the three days, Kodiak will be a bustling city, with hun dreds of visitors and dignitaries from State government, Federal agencies, Shriners, private plane owners, the Anchorage Fur Ren dezvous Queen, and many others. The City will be honored by a visit from Alaska’s givemor, Wil liam A. Egan, and Mrs. Egan, who will arrive this afternoon a>t 2:55 aboard PNA. A busy schedule for the governor includes leading the parade tomorrow, speaking at a no host luncheon at the Montmartre Sunday noon, dedicating the new airport, and addressing a group of Kodiak Democrats at a dinner in his honor at the 49 Room Sun day evening at 7. The main events scheduled for today are the arts and crafts ex hibits in the downtown school, and later in the evening the Festival dance at the Elks Club. The Milli kens will perform at the dance which begins at 9 p. m. The Kiddies parade, which be gins at 10 o’clock tomorrow morn ing has the promise of being one of the best staged in Kodiak, ac cording to parade chairman, Gene Sundberg. Children’s entries in the parade will include many novel costumes and stunts. They will be led off by the Navy band, Marine Corps and other marching units. A novel entry, “something that has never been seen before in Kodiak,” according to Ray Martin, Chairman of the Festival, will be a highlight of the parade, with all the Queen contestants participating. With the midway open Saturday morning at 9, a continuous round of events will take place in the small boat harbor, including judging of the parade, skin diving, plane and boat tour bookings, and the Rotary train. This latter is a favorite with the young fry, with the older ones looking wistfully on. A crab shak ing contest is slated for 2 p. m., and judging of the largest and heaviest crab will take place at 3. A Festival smorgasbord will be staged at the Elk’s Club, beginning at 5 p. m. Judging of entries in the crab cooking contest will take place at 6 p. m. The smorgasbord always draws a huge crowd, offer ing as it does, unusual recipes and a large selection. The crowning event, in more ways than one, is the Coronation Ball at the National Guard Armory, which begins at 9:30 p. m. This will get off to a good start with the big stage production, “Mirth Around the Earth,” staged by the Milli kens, a group of local ladies, who have been rehearsing for several months. It is strictly for laughs. Following the show, the Queen will be selected and crowned. The gown she will wear is on display at the Louise Shop. Mrs. Louise Spen cer, owner of the shop, made the gown. The crown was designed and made by Mrs. Anna Mueller. Drawing for the car will be made at 12:30 a. m. Dedication of the airport is the big event for Sunday. A special breakfast open to the public will be served at the Elks Club from 9 a. m. to 12 noon. Visitors are in vited to attend services in the church of their choice. Midway events, including skin diving, boat and plane tours, and the arts and crafts show, bowling tournament, and other events will continue to 5 p. m. The midway will remain open in the evening. An added attraction just an nounced by Ray Martin, PNA agent here, are plane tours over Katmai, which will be flown both Saturday and Sunday. Reservations can be made with the ticket office here for any of the flights. VOL. 21, NO. 66 KODIAK, ALASKA, MAY 5, 1961 PRICE TEN CENTS Airport Dedication Sunday Gov. William A. Egan will dedi cate Kodiak’s new City airport, Sunday- in ceremonies which will be attended by Federal Aviation Agency and Civil Air Patrol offic ials as well as many out-of-town dignitaries and visiting private plane owners. The ceremonies will begin at 2 p. m., and will be held at the airport. A no-host luncheon will be held at 12.30 at the Montmartre Inn pro ceeding the dedication at the air port. Gov. Egan will address the group. ' “Kodiak’s new City airport is the direct result of the wonderful co operation of State and City of ficials and the many people who contributed money and time to see the airport become a reality,” said Chuck Weir, Chairman of the Air port Committee. “We started with a wooded swamp,” Weir stated, describing the airport ground before work was Fur Rendezvous Queen In Parade Teresa Hansen, 1961 Anchorage Fur Rendezvous Queen, will attend the King Crab Festival and will be in the parade tomorrow morning. Miss Hansen will arrive Satur day morning. She will be accomp anied by Mr. Clyde Rowan. begun on the project Csee picture elsewhere). The airport has been open for traffic for several months,” Weir said. Already the economy of this area is being bolstered through the interest in aviation generated by having this airport added to the City’s facilities. We can be justly proud of our new airport.” The new field, located at the north end of the city, is 2,200 feet by 80 feet with a gravel surface. Originally $125,000 was appropri ated for the construction and $6,000 more was provided later. Even this was not enough. To fin ish the job with adequate parking Anchorage Group Here For Festival A plane load of Anchorage busi nessmen will arrive here, Saturday at 3 p. m. aboard a Reeves Airline plane piloted by Bob Reeves. The group will participate in Festival festivities. A part of the group are Shriners. Also coming is E. D. Hulen, in charge of the FAA for Alaska and a party of the Agency’s officials. Coming also is Mr. Art Woodley, president of PNA, .and Mr. and Mrs. Harold Olsen, the latter is also an official in the airlines. facilities, $1,200 was raised by local residents interested in the project. At the conclusion of the dedica tion ceremonies, ten tickets will be drawn entitling the holders of the ones drawn to a dedication day plane rides. Photo By Ameigh Work Resumes On Island Airstrips The Division of Aviation of the Department of Public Works an nounced today that construction has been resumed on the Pioneer Bush Airfields outlying Kodiak Is land. Wendell P. Miller, engineer in charge of the Pioneers Program, stated that the contractor, Alaska (Coasting and Trading, Inc. of Sew ard, has completed the work that was initiated last fall on the Old Harbor landing strip. The landing strip at Old Harbor is 2,100 feet long and about 50 feet wide. In ad dition, some exploratory work was performed at Lazy Bay and Akhiok, but difficult soil conditions and ad verse weather, combined with lim ited funds, has prevented construc tion of a landing strip in that area at this time. (Continued On Page 4) Highway Division To Help Cleanup The Mission Road suburban property owners are to be assisted by the State Division of Highways in cleaning up the right of way in the area, according to Paul Stover, foreman. It will be necessary that all prop erty owners move personal prop erty from the right of way and as sist in loading the remaining trash, he stated. In most cases right of way is 100 feet and the Division of Highways will not be respon sible for any property left thereon, Stover said. Katmai Flights Special flights are planned over the Katmai by PNA, according to Ray Martin, agent for the Airlines here. Flights will be made Satur day and Sunday according to de mand. Land Offered In East Addition A public sale of lots in the East Addition will be conducted in Ko diak, Wednesday, May 17, by a representative of the Bureau of Land Management, according to an announcement received this week. The sale will be held in the Court Room in the Post Office building, beginning at 1 p. m. The lots will be sold by auction to the highest bidder. Minimum bids have been announced. In block 30, lots from 10 to 17 inclusive, the price range is from $1,400 down to $1,100. These are lots facing Mission Road on the upper side beyond the FWS house. They are said to be choice lots, valued even higher by the City. In block 40, lots are priced at $75 for lots 13 to 16; block 47, lots (Continued on Page 9) Along The Waterfront A run down of the King crab catch around Kodiak island and parts of the mainland reveals the fact that many boats have been active in bringing in a record catch. Figures supplied by the Alaska Fish and Game Department show that from July, 1960 through March of this year, the total number of crab caught was 1,831,737. Stated otherwise this is 18,428,047 pounds. In order to give a comparison of the carbs caught in 1959-60 and 1960-61, we quote figures for the period up to February of each year. Last seasons yeild was 1,416, 944 crabs. Expressed in terms of pounds this amounts to 14,348,110. This years figures are as follows: 1,610,141 crabs and 16,203,595 pounds. Thus, it is seen there has been a gain over last season, but on the other hand there are more boats and gear out. Alitak was again the big pro ducer. Total crabs caught in this area (to end of Feb.) was 641,611, or 5,993,259 pounds. Last year the figures were 851,134 and 8,348,925. There were 107,274 crabs pro cessed here from the mainland, representing 1,099,641 pounds. The balance of the crab take came from Marmot Bay, Afognak, Uganik, Uyak, 2-Headed Pt., Chiniak Pt. and Chiniak Bay and elsewhere. A Roy Rickey, ADF & G manager here stated this week that the Jap anese are interested in a large quantity of hair seal hides. He said they would like a couple of samples at present. Anyone wish ing to supply these are asked to contact Rickey at the Department’s office. There has been a lot of activity in the small boat harbor this week, with some of the crab boats re turning to the fishing grounds. Other skippers and crew are paint ing their boats. For more up-to-the-minute news about the waterfront, visit the SBH during the Festival. vfc It’s not too late to enter the crab contest, which is set for 3 p. m. Saturday. Prizes of $50 each for the heav iest and the largest crab are of fered, with $25 and $15 as second and third prizes. Entries are also sought in the crab shaking contest, which also offers some good prizes.