Fundraising Begins for Alutiiq Ancestral Memorial & Park

Kayla Desroches/KMXT

The Alutiiq Museum is moving forward on a memorial park to honor Alutiiq ancestors and culture.

The museum’s governing council had been waiting for Kodiak City Council’s okay before continuing onto the next steps, like community fundraising.

The park would be downtown on city land.

Last month, the council consented to a memorandum of agreement with the museum’s governing committee on that parcel.

Museum executive director April Laktonen Counceller says they’re drafting a long-term contract that would help meet the park’s different needs over the next decade or so.

“The city will probably contribute the basic maintenance of mowing the lawn and then the Alutiiq museum is prepared to offer volunteer services to help maintain the park to the level that we really want to see it, which is with the perennial plantings and somebody to drop in regularly to pick up trash or whatever else might happen.”

She says they’re working on that agreement draft and hope to have it done this month.

And now that the museum has gotten the go-ahead, it’s ready to start fundraising for the needed amount, which Counceller says is somewhere between $150,000 and $175,000 dollars. Counceller says they’ll apply for grants and involve the community both online and in person.

They’ll kick off the fundraiser at the Alutiiq Culture Fest Friday.

Counceller says people will have the chance to buy a brick that they can have engraved with a name or message. Those bricks will then become the pathway of the ancestor’s memorial in the park.

The Culture Fest begins at 4 p.m. at the Alutiiq Museum. It’ll also include a headdress pageant, the unveiling of a new exhibit painting, and free frybread.