KCAW

Tiedan Oscar Yao and Wesley Chu are the Super Piano Brothers. Long-time friends, the Seattle-based Super Piano Brothers. The two will perform Tuesday evening, July 1, at the Sitka Performing Arts Center. (Tickets available online.) Although Yao and Chu got their start in classical training, neither wanted to be boxed in by one art form. Film, video games, as well as rock and jazz inform their compositions and work. With SFAC’s Lily Perez.

Sitka Sound Science Center education coordinator Kari Paustian (r.) leads a classroom session in one of Sitka’s elementary schools. Sitka’s school board worries that under a broad interpretation of a new regulation proposed by DEED, programs like this could be considered “in-kind services,” and counted against a community’s local contribution to schools. (SSSC photo)

Earlier this month, the state Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) issued a proposed change in regulations that would count local appropriations and in-kind services against the overall amount municipalities are allowed to contribute to their schools. 

Note: The comment period on DEED’s proposed rule change is open through July 23. To make a comment, email [email protected]. The state Board of Education will consider the rule change at its meeting on October 9, 2025. Learn how to participate.

Most cities already contribute a lot of money to schools for instruction: In Sitka, for example, it’s around $8-million, to the state’s $12-million. Sitka has a significant property tax base, and routinely pays as much as it’s allowed for schools. This is called “funding to the cap,” and it’s often heard in the news.

But Sitka also contributes a lot of other money for non-instructional expenses, like transportation and student activities, the swimming pool, and provides other in-kind support like building maintenance and ballfields. Add it all up, and the total lands between $2- and $4 million a year – and it’s never been counted against the cap.

Now, DEED proposes counting all local contributions, including in-kind, against the cap. The intent of the new regulation is to ensure that Alaska remains eligible for over $80 million in federal funding known as “Impact Aid.” To be eligible for this aid, the Department has to pass a so-called “disparity test,” and demonstrate that funding is equitable across the state.

Alaska has failed the disparity test a couple of times in recent years, and DEED believes changing the definition of “local contribution” will help the state pass. Others believe it will devastate school districts. Lon Garrison is the former president of the Sitka School Board, and now the director of the Association of Alaska School Boards in Juneau. As the public comment period on the new regulation is now open, KCAW’s Robert Woolsey asked Garrison to shed light on the issue.

Garrison: “The State of Alaska is now the only state in the union that receives funding from the federal government through the Department of Education to account for federal lands that are non taxable, that would reduce the opportunity for any kind of a local tax base to contribute to education. And so as we know, Alaska has a lot of federal lands. What the federal disparity test does is if a state receives those federal funds and uses it as a portion of what they put forward as funding for all schools, in other words, it’s used within Alaska’s foundation formula to help fund education. Then the state has to go through a disparity test that looks at whether or not there’s a great difference in terms of, you know, those districts that are are receiving the most money per student, and then what is the least amount.”

KCAW: “Does the disparity test factor in the non-instructional contributions that communities like Sitka and Juneau are giving? You know, in Sitka’s case, to support the performing arts center and to support the Blatchley pool, and maintenance — is all that factored into the disparity test?”

Garrison: “This is the exact question at the heart of the issue. I believe that in the past, what had happened was that most of the funds that were considered in this test were centered around funds that directly supported instructional operations and helped schools do their primary goal, which was instruction. And so when you read what the Department wants to go to, which is that any contribution by a local entity to the operations of the school would be considered within that calculation of local contribution.”

KCAW: Is the federal government applying pressure to the state to modify the way they do the disparity test? Or is it all coming from within the Department of Education here in Alaska?

Garrison: “No, our understanding, and the conversations that I’ve had with, for instance, Senator Tobin, Chair of the Senate Education Committee, and Senator Kiehl, and others, is that, no, the pressure is not coming from the US Department of Education. I think what has happened in the past is the state has said, ‘You know, we have some unusual and exceptional things that we want to pull out of that local contribution piece. Because, for instance, you know, many districts don’t have busing. REAA’s (Regional Education Attendance Areas) don’t have busing, even small, single-site school districts often have maybe limited busing, you know, like Galena City School District. So it really didn’t make sense that some of those things were included in that local contribution calculation. So that’s my understanding. There may have been other things that the state had asked for an exemption or a waiver on to the disparity test.”

KCAW: “Rep. Himschoot was at the latest Sitka School Board meeting, and she understands that this is kind of a very byzantine problem. I mean, it’s not easy for the public to understand school funding on a good day, But when it’s under threat like this, it’s even more complicated. And she said she thought this the simplest way for the state to avoid the complications of failing the federal disparity test was just to raise the BSA (Base Student Allocation), to have the tide flood rather than ebb, and bring all the boats up together. I take it that’s your position as well?”

Garrison: “Exactly. I and I think if we go back and look at the performance of the disparity test over the last decade, you will see that when the BSA was a greater proportion of, you know, it was more significant in terms of meeting the needed expenses of a district. You often didn’t see local communities having to contribute more to make certain that they were able to have the educational experience for their students. And I think back when I was on the Sitka School Board, what we could do, and that we weren’t having to ask the City and Borough for every little thing. You know, there seemed to be a relatively good balance. It was a challenge at times, but these are some of the most important things that make communities a place where people want to stay, people want to come to, where you want to raise your kids like you and I did there in Sitka, and the educational opportunity you know that they got because of the quality of education and because it was more adequately funded. So we feel like there is a strong indication that by more adequately funding education across the board, that disparity begins to go away.”

KCAW: “One thing Rep. Himschoot said at the Sitka School Board meeting was that there’s almost certainly nobody who doesn’t want equity in education across the state. This is not a haves versus the have nots. There are communities that, as you say, have a more robust contribution to their schools, but that doesn’t mean that those communities don’t want the best for the smaller, more remote communities in Alaska. So it seems like there’s a solution to this problem that’s a win for everyone. It’s just a matter of, how do you get there.”

Garrison: “I think one of our frustrations is that the issue has been around. We really have not come together as stakeholders in this issue, and the state hasn’t led anything to say, ‘Let’s come together and try to figure this out. What can we do? How can we work with the US, Department of Education? What makes sense?’ And that just doesn’t seem to be the attitude that they’re approaching the solution. And instead, it’s just kind of that top-down administrative approach. This would be one of the times where we should definitely be working together on this, and it doesn’t seem inclusive in that way.”

They’re baaack! Over a decade after an epidemic nearly wiped out populations in the Pacific Northwest, sea stars have rebounded. Darcy Osborne discovered dozens of purple ochre stars at low tide, on her recent visit to Sitka’s Whale Park. (Darcy Osborne photo)

Summer in Sitka for many may sound like a string quartet,  the rumble of buses, or the sizzle of black cod collars on a grill. But nature is really never far away. Darby Osborne, with the Sitka Sound Science Center, recently visited Whale Park, to remind herself just how vibrant summer can sound. She sent this audio postcard.

Two hikers make their way along the seven-mile trail to the summit of the Mt. Edgecumbe crater. While the trail is spectacular, it is typical of resource-intensive terrain encountered by trail builders. “It’s rainy, it’s muddy,” says Trail Works director Ben Hughey, “You have to constantly cut back brush and clear blow down, and almost every linear foot of trail has to be covered in rock or wood, armoring the tread from erosion.” (Lee House photo)

In his letter, US Forest Service Chief Thomas Schultz wrote that “the impact the Sitka Trail Works Team has made in promoting accessibility and stewardship within the outdoor spaces of Sitka is truly inspiring.”
Sitka Trail Works was founded in 1997 to retrain displaced workers following the closure of Sitka’s pulp mill. It now puts up to 130 volunteers to work annually maintaining Sitka’s extensive trail system, as well as planning for future projects.

Sitka Trail Works’s executive director Ben Hughey recently spoke with KCAW’s Robert Woolsey about the challenges of trail building in Southeast Alaska.

KCAW: What about the work you do at trail works? Do you think came to the attention of the Chief of the Forest Service?

Hughey: “I think for this particular award, the local Ranger District nominated us because of the unique partnership and program we’ve been developing over the past few years to engage Alaskans in volunteer stewardship of trails. In particular, there are some unique challenges for small communities in Southeast Alaska when it comes to trail maintenance and development. First, there’s the environment. It’s rainy, it’s muddy. You have to constantly cut back brush and clear blow down, and almost every linear foot of trail has to be covered in rock or wood, armoring the tread from erosion. So it’s very resource intensive to maintain trails in Southeast Alaska’s rainforest, and we have less capacity in small towns, whether that’s funding from local governments, retired volunteers who happen to have a lot of experience and tons of time, or large nonprofit organizations that can shoulder tons of work. So given the resource demands and the capacity constraints, we needed creativity to address the desire of our communities to be able to still get outside and enjoy the trails.

KCAW: Did you participate as a volunteer with Trail Works when you were growing up in Sitka?

Hughey: I was actually on the crew as a high schooler. So in 2006 when I was a junior, I was hired by the Sitka Trail Works crew, and that’s how I got my start on trails.

KCAW: What are some of the projects of note recently where volunteer participation has been instrumental in making it happen?

Hughey: Yeah, I think the Mosquito Cove trail has had hundreds of volunteer hours poured into it in recent years. We just hosted the National Trails Day volunteer event there. Over 30 people came out, and we broke up into six different project teams. One of those was addressing the blasting site, where we had to use explosives to clear hazardous blow down from the trail, and volunteers helped move gravel and build turnpikes and make water crossings around the trail. A lot of folks were returning volunteers who really knew what they were doing and were able to attack more technical projects.

KCAW: What’s a turnpike?

Hughey: A Turnpike is a form of trail construction used in saturated soils, which we have many of here that has side wooden side rails, or sometimes rock side rails to hold in a gravel tread with some depth.

KCAW: I remember when Trail Works was founded, and I think the purpose of the organization at the time, or one of its justifications, was to retrain and re-skill pulp mill workers, or timber workers. Has Trail Works evolved past that original mission, or is that still sort of incorporated into the your purpose?

Hughey: Yeah, I think that the mission there is about addressing critical community needs with creative solutions. And Sitka Trail Works was founded to re-employ displaced mill workers, and now we’re employing locals to fill a need in trail maintenance capacity after the Forest Service terminated their trail crew this spring,

KCAW: You did a big fundraising effort to re-employ the fired Forest Service trail crew. How did that go?

Hughey: It was very surprising and heartening to see how much Sitkans were willing to chip in to ensure that we still had well-maintained trails. And because the Forest Service has such reduced capacity, Sitka Trail Works is now the only crew in town keeping trails open. We were able to fund a full trail crew, and we have four people working on the Mosquito Cove trail right now.

John Leach is Sitka’s municipal administrator. Leach explains that Sitka’s utility rates shift seasonally: They’re lower in the winter, and higher in the summer. He says this year’s extended cold weather overlapped with the seasonal rate increase, resulting in higher-than-usual bills for many Sitkans. Unfortunately, offsetting those unwelcome surprises with increases in summer sales tax revenues is not as easy as residents would like. Utility cost subsidization is available for eligible Sitkans.

Moller Field re-opened in 2012 after a $2.6-million renovation, including artificial turf, which was paid for by the state. Sponsors of the proposed charter amendment believe that in order for Sitka to shoulder the costs of similar upgrades, it will have to bond (i.e. borrow) to cover the expense. They propose asking voters to allow excess revenue in the Sitka Community Hospital Dedicated Fund to pay off the bonds. (KCAW photo)

The Sitka Community Hospital isn’t around anymore. It was sold to the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium in 2019, in a deal that included regular deposits to a dedicated fund to support the retirements of former employees (PERS), and other city obligations involving the old hospital. That fund also takes in money from the city’s tobacco tax (around $800,000 annually). All that revenue is significantly more than needed to cover the obligations. Last year, then-finance director Melissa Haley proposed a charter amendment to allow the excess to flow into the city’s general fund. The assembly voted down the idea, and that’s when assembly member Chris Ystad began to think about upgrading Sitka’s sports fields.

“It kind of occurred to me that this may be a source to be able to pull some of these desires that I’ve heard throughout the community, of doing some revitalizing or (building) new facilities,” said Ystad.

Sitka has one artificial-turf ballfield that was built with state money; paying for a new one, or two, on its own is a considerable expense. Ystad and his co-sponsor, Kevin Mosher, proposed that the city take on bond debt to cover construction costs, and use the excess revenue in the Sitka Community Hospital Dedicated Fund to cover payments on the bonds.

Amending the Sitka Home Rule Charter to lift the restrictions on the hospital fund will require a vote of the people. Assembly member Thor Christianson thought it would be a hard sell, as written. Something similar had been tried a couple of decades ago – unsuccessfully.

“So when I saw this, I got flashbacks,” said Christianson. “PTSD from the last time we tried this. In the late 90s or early 2000s we tried this, and I backed it, and we had a packed room of people wanting us to do it, and it went down in flames. My concern with this is not the proposal. I think it’s a great idea, but I want to make sure that it has a chance.”

Still, there could be a lot of public support for new or upgraded athletic facilities. Several members of the public spoke in favor of the plan. Bridget Hitchcock is a physical therapist, and a former community hospital employee.

“Sitka has been long overdue for a multi use field and facility that can be used for a variety of sports, including track and field,” said Hitchcock. “It can also be used for adult recreation. I often see adults walking on the (artificial) turf field. I often bring my patients to lower Moller Field. A lot of adult leagues play on different facilities in Sitka. And it’s not that we don’t already have facilities, but I think having an enhanced facility, a beautiful facility – the turf is huge in a in a rainforest. It really does make a difference.”

Although the plan’s sponsors definitely have athletic fields and a new, all-weather track in mind, Sitka Trail Works director Ben Hughey thought there would be broader public support if the proposal itself was broadened.

“We’ve got some things to figure out, and so let’s not pigeonhole ourselves into one proposal at this stage, before we go to the ballot,” said Hughey. “Let’s call this recreational facilities. If we strike ‘athletic’ and replace the word with recreational, we just give ourselves a little more leeway for the future.”

Assembly member Christianson offered an amendment to strike the word “athletic” and replace it with “recreational,” but it failed on a split vote.

The problem, it turns out, wasn’t really with a single word. The problem was a lack of specifics. Assembly members are no different than other residents, most of whom don’t like to rush into any idea without a full understanding of the possible outcomes. The plan’s co-sponsor, Kevin Mosher, said he could have more details, if his fellow members would allow the plan to advance to another reading.

“Years down the line, when we’re working on this, there’s going to be some people who are not happy because it wasn’t what they wanted,” said Mosher. “We can’t please everyone. But I think that everyone can agree, or most can agree, that we want to invest heavily in our athletic future.”

The assembly gave Mosher his wish, and voted 7-0 to send the ordinance to second reading, on the understanding that more information was coming, and a third, and possible even fourth reading would be needed before the August 12 deadline, the last date that the assembly can put a proposition to the voters in the October municipal election.

Assembly puts another $715,000 into haulout project, with August completion date

The City of Sitka is going to put up $715,000 of its own money to cover some final expenses to complete the initial phase of a new marine haulout.

The facility was supposed to be functional this spring, but permitting delays created some early setbacks during construction of the pier over the winter.

With the travelift on site and operational, the goal of Phase I is to have a useful working area adjacent to the haulout. The lion’s share of the $715,000 will be spent on an electrically-heated washdown pad, with appropriate pollution controls, and some additional equipment, like a forklift.

Around $50,000 is to be spent installing three electrical pedestals. This is far fewer than envisioned for a future, full-size boatyard. But the hope is that extension cords with gang receptacles – called a “spider boxes” – will serve as a stop gap, until a more extensive electrical service could be installed in the future.

Assembly member Scott Saline nevertheless thought Sitka’s fleet was being shortchanged with only three electrical pedestals, and he had concerns about the electric heat in the pad. Park director Garry White was going over the rationale, when Saline interjected. 

White: “We did an overall estimate of getting electrical to each different yard stall or boat stall, and it was in the millions. So this is just a short-term kind of plug, just to get stuff going, so they can put spider boxes, so we can have electrical to at least to some of the boats that need it right off the bat.”

Saline: “I’m confused. Spider boxes or millions?”

White: “No, no, no. Millions is to get the full electrical outlets to each spot and have the lighting above it and everything else. This is just to bring power pedestals to have electrical go out through spider boxes to multiple spots.

Saline: So three boats?

White:  No, we’ll have three pedestals, but then they’ll have spider boxes that they can go out and hit (more).

Saline: So like 50 amps a boat. How many boats could haul out and fill up the yard if that was the case?

White: That is outside of my purview.

Saline: Gotcha. I’m still hung up on spending that money for the electric pad. My IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) buddies are telling me we shot ourselves in the foot with that design again, and I’m just bummed trying to figure out what you guys got going on out there. Good luck.”

Assembly member Chris Ystad pointed out that the former Halibut Point Marine yard was also equipped with about the same electrical setup, a few pedestals and spider boxes.  The assembly approved the $715,000 supplemental appropriation 6-1, with Saline opposed.

Deputy Administrator, Port Director created in City Hall reorganization

In other business, the assembly approved the creation of a new deputy administrator position in city hall, and a new port director position. The deputy administrator will oversee eight departments, including the Library, Harrigan Centennial Hall, Parks & Rec, Tourism, IT, Public & Government Relations, Police and Fire, and Human Resources. Six departments – the so-called “Executive Management Team” – will remain under the administrator. Those include the Municipal Clerk, Public Works, Electric, Finance, Planning & Community Development, and Port Director. The port director, in turn, will have oversight of the Harbormaster, the airport manager, the marine service center, and the new marine haulout.

Neva Street vacation

The assembly also approved on first reading the sale of an unused city right-of-way. Neva Street is shown on early plat maps connecting Edgecumbe Drive to Davidoff Street, but it’s never been developed. Neighbors have offered to purchase the 15,000-square-foot property for $29,000. Mayor Steve Eisenbeisz thought it was undervalued.

“Well, we are selling the public’s land,” said Eisenbeisz. “I’d like to go back and clarify that, because we have to remember that this is the public’s land. This is our citizens’ land, for about $1.92 a square foot. The average or the assessed value of the lots surrounding it vary from $6.51 a square foot all the way up to $11.69 a square foot.”

Planning director Amy Ainslie explained that the assessor arrived at the price, based on the fact that a utility easement would be created under most of the property. The sale – officially called a “vacation” – passed on first reading, 6-1, with Eisenbeisz opposed.

Fisheries Enhancement Fund distributed

Lastly, the assembly on Tuesday distributed $49,000 from the Fisheries Enhancement Fund among three organizations: The Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, the Sitka Sound Science Center, and the Sitka Tribe of Alaska. The revenue comes from the $10-per-box tax the city applies to fish boxes leaving Sitka’s airport as luggage. In addition to the Fisheries Enhancement Fund, the fish box tax revenue goes into Harbors, the Sitka Permanent Fund, and the General Fund.

Kari Paustian is the TKTKTK at the Sitka Sound Science Center.

Gov. Dunleavy vetoed more than $122 million from Alaska’s annual budget plan before signing it into law on Thursday, June 12. His vetoes fell heaviest on education, eliminating more than $50 million from the state’s per-student education funding formula, and tens of millions intended for major school maintenance projects. (Alaska Beacon photo/James Brooks)

Over the last two years, the Alaska Legislature has tried three times to increase funding for the state’s schools – which haven’t seen a permanent boost in a decade – and Gov. Dunleavy vetoed all three.

In May, both houses of the Legislature, in a surprising show of unity, came together to override his latest veto, and approved sending the state’s cash-strapped schools another $700 per pupil.

There was one final chance for the governor to use his veto pen – the more or less procedural matter of the enactment of the state budget. Many thought it was unlikely that the governor would veto school funding in the middle of the summer, since it would throw school districts into financial chaos.

But he did, and it has.

The Sitka School Board met on June 18 to figure out what to do. They had budgeted assuming a $680 increase, and got a little breathing room when the Legislature opted for $700. The governor’s veto has knocked that down to $500, which – when combined with the automatic reduction in the city’s contribution – amounts to about a $500,000 loss to make up.

The board wrangled over the possibilities for a while, with at least two members reluctant to make up the difference with reserves, since that would leave the district with only about $275,000 to cover any emergencies in the coming school year.

The logjam was broken by the only board member not allowed to vote on the budget, student representative Francis Myers.

“The purpose of a fund balance and savings is to account for unexpected scenarios,” said Myers, “and this is an unexpected scenario we didn’t imagine would happen. And to lay off staff right now is very harmful to them, because it’s too late in the season to get a teaching job elsewhere. It’s too late in the season to go to a different school. Other job positions, they’ve opened and  they’ve closed. And so it’s not just laying off five teachers. We’re like, messing with their entire life for a year.”

That seemed to be what the five adult voting members needed to hear. Member Steve Morse said, “We keep this money for a rainy day, and it’s raining.”

Teacher Susan Brant-Ferguson, speaking from the public, said drawing down reserves was the only logical option.

“You’ve heard it from me before, but I feel like I have to say it again,” said Brant-Ferguson. “We have a fund balance for next year. It is not for the year after that. It is only for next year in my mind. And you have the obligation to give next year’s students the best education you can possibly give them.”

Superintendent Deidre Jenson reassured members that district reserves used to be held for major maintenance emergencies, which were now the responsibility of the city. The board ultimately approved the draw-down of reserves, 4-1, with Amanda Williams opposed. Williams was one of the district teachers who lost their job last year when the education bill was vetoed. She explained that she was uncomfortable taking reserves down to the level needed to cover this latest veto.

Rep. Rebecca Himschoot was in the audience for the meeting. She told the board that the bar for overriding the governor on the budget enactment was higher than for legislation, requiring a three-quarters vote of both houses, rather than two-thirds. “If it were just two-thirds,” said Himschoot, “we could override him tomorrow.”

Steve Lawrie established his reputation as a large-canvas portrait artist. But This Thing We Call the Ocean is an homage to fishing, and to the people who thrive in Sitka’s maritime culture. “Some of those people unload the boats, some of those people catch the fish, some of those people repair the boats,” says Lawrie. “There are paintings of boats at sea with usually gnarly-looking water, you know, because half the time it is.”

Sitka artist Steve Lawrie has been around a long time, and his acclaim has grown along with the size of his portraits: huge canvases that focus almost exclusively on the faces of his subjects. And while these faces are not often glamorous, every line (to quote singer/songwriter Brandi Carlile) tells us the story of who they are.

So naturally, the best place for Lawrie to hang his new exhibit is in a bar.

“Every now and again, we go in there for a beer and some fish and chips, and we have mutual friends that we meet there,” said Lawrie. “And Maite was looking around at the place and pointed out that this would be a good venue for paintings. And the more I thought about it, the more courage I got to do it. So, she kind of kicked me into this, and cracks the whip on the project.”

Maite Lorente is Lawrie’s friend and curator – and sometimes-collaborator. They partnered two years ago for an exhibit of paintings and writings inspired by the lives of Pam and Eric Bealer, who disappeared together from their home near Pelican in 2018.

That exhibit, called The Squirrel and Bear, was mounted in a more conventional space, with people slowly milling through, sipping wine, and eating cheese.

Certainly there will be wine at the opening of This Thing We Call the Ocean, and over the run of the show there will be pool, beer, and all the usual delights served up by Rita and her staff behind the bar. 

Lawrie began his career in Sitka as a commercial troller, and This Thing We Call the Ocean is an homage to fishing, and to maritime culture. The Pioneer Bar is probably ground zero of that culture in Sitka, if not the ideal space for art.

“Fishing has been here a long time,” said Lawrie. “We have these other powerful economic drivers in town, our tourism, our SEARHC hospital, but fishing is always there. It’s like a stainless steel backbone, if you like.”

Cruise tourism and healthcare are both growing in the region, but Lawrie is correct that fishing binds everything together in Southeast Alaska. And Lawrie’s portraits demonstrate that the people who work in fishing bind communities together.

“Some of those people unload the boats, some of those people catch the fish, some of those people repair the boats,” he said. “There are paintings of boats at sea with usually gnarly-looking water, you know, because half the time it is. So I’m trying to revitalize or refocus our Sitka look at fishing.”

The show features 28 portraits in all. Those already familiar with Lawrie’s work won’t be disappointed – but they may also be surprised. Decades into his craft, Lawrie says he’s continuing to evolve. Maybe, he’s even loosened up a bit.

“In this exhibition, there’s two old paintings, by old I mean, like 20 years or 25 years ago), a couple of portraits,” said Lawrie, “and then there’s one more recent portrait. So they are strikingly different to these paintings. These paintings are more tactile, the paints thicker. The artist is clearly having more fun. That would be me. They’re different. They’re heavier with the paint, and more bold.”

Others visiting the bar who’ve never heard of Lawrie may chafe a little. On any typical day, the Pioneer Bar is an unofficial maritime museum, with hundreds of photos of fishing boats representing several eras of fishing in Sitka, from the early 20th Century onward. Those photos aren’t going anywhere; Lawrie is just borrowing the wall space for a while. When his portraits come down, he expects that bar patrons will see the photos with a fresh eye.

“Paintings are different than photos, but yeah, there’s two art shows going on there, essentially,” he said.

This Thing We Call the Ocean, a show of 28 large canvases by Stephen Lawrie, opens at 3 p.m. on June 21 in the Pioneer Bar in Sitka, and runs through July 6.

Festival artists Danielle Talamantes (soprano) and Kerry Wilkerson (baritone-bass), are yet another couple performing in this weekend’s Sitka Music Festival. Henry Dehlinger (pianist) who wrote a piece for Danielle and Zuill Bailey also joins. Talamantes, Wilkerson, and Dehlinger have all been friends for years, and have often performed and recorded together. The Sitka Music Festival runs through June 29.