KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
The Kodiak Maritime History Museum’s annual fundraising dinner, "Tastes and Tales from the Sea" will be held Saturday. This year’s guest speaker will be Katie Ringsmuth, a historian for the National Park Service. She’ll be giving a presentation based on her book "Buried Dreams, the Rise and Fall of a Clam Cannery on the Katmai Coast."
The doors open at Tastes and Tales from the Sea at 6 p.m. Saturday night. It will be held this year at the new Harbor Convention Center. Chef Joel Chenet will once again provide the seafood meal. Tickets are available from museum board members.
— (Kukak 1 32 sec "One of my very first jobs … jumps right out at you.")
The Kukak cannery was active from the 30s until the 1964 Earthquake destroyed it for good. Ringsmuth said she will center on the people who worked at the cannery:
— (Kukak 2 55 sec "My major focus in my … they created community.")
She says the cannery culture in Alaska has been overshadowed by the romantic notion surrounding the commercial fisherman:
— (Kukak 3 33 sec "The fishermen get a lot … of understanding our past.")
Ringsmuth was a guest on KMXT’s Talk of the Rock this week, along with Maritime Museum director Toby Sullivan. Ringsmuth said there were stories of workers being Shanghaied from Kodiak to work in the cannery. Sullivan said he’s heard similar tales:
— (Kukak 4 29 sec "I’ve heard stories … I know that that went on.")
The doors open at Tastes and Tales from the Sea at 6 p.m. Saturday night. It will be held this year at the new Harbor Convention Center. Chef Joel Chenet will once again provide the seafood meal. Tickets are available from museum board members.
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