Dreams of a "Winter Wonderland"
Tradition
by M.C. Kauffman
November 24, 2004
Wednesday
Ketchikan, Alaska - A whale of a dream began with the gathering
of approximately a dozen volunteers who came together to decorate
the whale's tail portion of Whale Park with festive white lights
in downtown Ketchikan Saturday. The participants, made up of
City and KPU employees and their family members, volunteered
their time to light up Whale Park and contributed at least one
string each of white lights to the community project. White
lights were also donated by other employees who were unable to
participate in the decorating.
"Winter Wonderland"
Volunteers
Front Row (kneeling): Jaci Johansen, Michelle Johansen,
Rhonda Bolling, Anita Beaudoin, Matthew Hendricks, Amanda Hendricks
Back Row: Karl Amylon, John Brown, Hailee Miller, Marie Miller,
Rebecca Brown, Rhonda Scott, Eva Lindgren, Kim Hendricks, Judith
Anglin
Photo courtesy "Winter Wonderland" Volunteers
The volunteers planned to kick off this year's holiday season
in Whale Park with festive decorations and reported having a
great time decorating in the rain. Participants are hopeful that
the sparkling white lights will encourage other residents and
business owners to follow suit and light up Ketchikan and in
doing so help start a tradition of transforming Ketchikan into
a "Winter Wonderland" during holiday seasons.
According to volunteer Rhonda
Bolling, the group also sees a longer-term goal of lighting up
Ketchikan as a "Winter Wonderland". The dream is to
create an interest among residents of other communities to visit
Ketchikan during the winter months to take in the beauty of Ketchikan's
lights and possibly do their holiday shopping and attend local
events while here.
Night lights of Whale
Park...
Photo courtesy "Winter Wonderland" Volunteers
Community spirit and civic pride are other outcomes these volunteers
hope to see emerge from a combined community effort to light-up
Ketchikan during the holiday season. For anyone interested in
joining in with lighting up Ketchikan as a "Winter Wonderland"
simply decorate your home or business with a similar theme using
white or clear lights.
Whale Park is owned by the
Ketchikan Gateway Borough and permission was obtained from the
Borough for this volunteer group to transform the park into a
"Winter Wonderland". According to the volunteers,
KPU Electric will pay for the electricity which the group anticipates
to be a very minimal amount as only four outlets were used.
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Volunteer Judith Anglin
Photo courtesy
"Winter Wonderland" Volunteers
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Volunteer Judith Anglin and
Volunteer Karl Amylon
Photo courtesy
"Winter Wonderland" Volunteers
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Michelle Johansen is
decorating the tree in Whale Park.
Photo courtesy "Winter Wonderland" Volunteers
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Volunteers at work...
Photo courtesy "Winter Wonderland" Volunteers
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