The Homer Legislative Information Office at 270 W. Pioneer Ave. is open from 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 1-4:30 pm. Monday-Friday, with special hours to accommodate Legislative hearings and teleconferences outside of normal hours. For more information, call 235-7878.
Burn permits are now required and may be picked up at the Homer Volunteer Fire Department of the Kachemak Emergency Services fire stations or online at http://forestry.alaska.gov/burn.
HoWL’s (Homer Wilderness Leaders) DiRtBaG Clean-up week continues through Friday. Youth ages 8-18 are invited to meet after school in the Duncan House parking lot where they will be assigned teams and dispatched around town to clean up local beaches, streams and roadways. Participants will get free pizza and a chance to win fun raffle prizes at the conclusion of each day.
From 5:30-8 p.m. Friday at Alice’s Champagne Palace is the DiRtBaG Ball. The event includes door prizes, a handful of live auction items, the top secret DiRtBaG awards, great live music fresh from the Devils Club Trio and an all you can eat Sundae Bar. Volunteers also are needed to drive clean-up crews, tally trash, run auction items and serve ice cream. For more information, visit HoWL’s website at http://www.howlalaska.org or call HoWL at 399-HOWL (4695).
The Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA) offers a 10-Hour Fishing Vessel Drill Conductor workshop in Homer from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Kenai Peninsula College, Kachemak Bay Campus. This two-day workshop is taught by and or women. The course is free to commercial fishers. The cost is $175 for all others. Instructor Anna Borland-Ivy will cover cold-water survival skills; EPIRBs, flares, and maydays; man-overboard recovery and firefighting; immersion suits and PFDs, helicopter rescue, life rafts, abandon ship procedures, and emergency drills. There will be and in-the-water practice session, giving participants practical experience with PFDs and immersion suits, employing survival techniques, and righting and boarding an inflatable life raft. AMSEA Drill Conductor workshops meet the training requirements for drill conductors on board documented commercial fishing vessels operating beyond the federal boundary line. Interested mariners may register at www.amsea.org or call 907-747-3287.
The Homer Chamber of Commerce &Visitor Center holds its annual Clean-Up Day in the Chamber parking lot from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. Bags will be available at the chamber and numerous business locations all over town. There will be door prizes and prizes for the most trash collected in the Family, Individual, Group/Non-Profit, and Recyclables categories. The chamber also will be a collection point for the Homer Community Food Pantry, so please consider cleaning out your freezers of surplus fish and meats. The chamber will be collecting glass, aluminum, newspaper, cardboard, plastic (#1, #2 and #5) and mixed paper. New this year, the chamber is collaborating with Cook Inletkeeper to provide electronics recycling. Alaska Waste donates the garbage and recycle Dumpsters, Kachemak Bay Lions Club sponsors and cooks the hot dogs, the Kenai Peninsula Borough provides cleanup bags, and the Kachemak Bay Rotary provides volunteers to help load garbage bags and tally the bag numbers for great prize giveaways. For more information, call the chamber at 235-7740 or stop in at 201 Sterling Highway.
Salmonfest 2017 celebrates Earth Day with the Kachemak Bay Conservation Society and Ground Truth Trekking from 5-8 p.m. Saturday at the Alaska Islands and Oceans. Come view the winning artwork in the Artists Know Climate Change contest organized by KBCS board member Bjorn Olson. Enjoy speakers Libby Roderick, Brentwood “Hig” Higman and Seth Kantner. This is a free event put on by KBCS and includes free food and live music by Madz. Salmonfest is supported by and benefits The Kachemak Bay Conservation Society with support from Cook Inletkeeper. KBCS is a longstanding Homer-based non-profit organization that seeks to educate the public, and both protect and promote Alaska’s fish-filled waters.
There will be a March for Science on Saturday. Participants will meet at 3 p.m. at the Homer High School parking lot and march down Pioneer Avenue to the Homer Council on the Arts for a short outdoor program. The event is a celebration of science, the role that science plays in all of our lives and the need to respect and encourage research that gives us insight into the world. Dress to Express that you’re #HomerHookedOnScience.
A spaghetti dinner fundraiser for the Salvation Army is 4-8 p.m. Saturday at the Salvation Army Church, 1468 Sterling Highway. Dinner includes spaghetti with a choice of mushroom, meat sauce or marinara and a dinner roll for $10. Eat in or take out. “Pizza Nick” Bairamis is cooking. For deliveries in town call 907-756-3155.
There will be a square and contra dance at 7:30 pm. Saturday at West Homer Elementary School. David Stutzer will call to music by the Spit City Slickers. Please bring clean, soft-soled shoes to dance in. Beginners welcome. $7 adults. Kids under 16 get in free.
The Homer Native Plant Society meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies. Priscilla Russell presents “Native Plant Uses in D’enaina Culture.” A longtime Alaskan and author of two books on the ethnobotany of plant use in Native cultures, Russell discusses the uses of native plants for food and medicine amongst the Tanaina Denai’na culture. Free; light refreshments will be served. For more information, call 235-9344 or email jwoodring@alaska.net.
Meet, hear from and chat with the Alaska Democratic Party Executive Director, Jay Parmley, and State Party Chair, Casey Steinau, from 5-7 p.m. Saturday, April 29, at the Kachemak City Community Center. Discuss the directions and priorities of Alaska’s Democratic Party. The event is open to all interested. For more information, contact Taz Tally at 907-435-7906 or taztally@me.com.
The Almost Spring Fling Special Olympics Fundraising Bazaar/Plant Sale/Silent Auction is 10 a.m.-4 p.m. April 29 at the Homer Methodist Church. Included will be a Petting Zoo (by donation), food by Eat Alaska, a Fashion Show at 1:30 p.m. and Alaska Railroad Tickets for two, round trip to Fairbanks.
The Homer Bed and Breakfast Association’s Annual Spring Kickoff is 1-4 p.m. Sunday, April 30, at the Homestead Restaurant. This popular gathering brings together hosts of dozens of local accommodations to learn directly from local businesses and organizations what services and offerings are available to visitors this season. This helps the association make well-informed recommendations and referrals. There will be social networking, a round-table of presentations, snacks and door prizes — no charge. Call or text Marcia (299-1566) to learn more, volunteer to bring a snack, door prize or help with set up or clean up.
Sandhill cranes should begin arriving soon. Report sandhill crane sightings to Kachemak Crane Watch at 235-6262 or reports@cranewatch.org. Provide date, time, location and number of cranes. Leave a name and number in case they need more details.
The Kenai Peninsula Borough Road Service Area has announced the following weight restrictions for all borough-maintained roads within the service area, effective 8 a.m. April 10. Weight restrictions are stated as a percentage of legal allowable weight and shall be applied to the maximum axel loading of 17 AAC 25.013(e). All borough-maintained gravel roads: 50 percent; and all borough-maintained paved roads: 75 percent. Additional restrictions and modifications may be imposed as necessary.
The Cooperative Extension Service and Homer Homemakers FCE are offering free testing of pressure canner dial gauges on Monday, May 15, from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at Ulmer’s Drug and Hardware. Gauges can be tested on or off the canner lid. It is important to have pressure canner dial gauges checked annually to help assure home canned food is safely processed. There will be free food preservation publications available. Pressure canners using weighted gauges do not need to be checked. For more information, call the Cooperative Extension Service Office at 1-800-478-5824.
Anchor Point Senior Citizens
The Anchor Point Senior Center on Milo Fritz Road is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 9 a.m.-noon Friday. The center serves Thursday night dinners starting at 5:30 p.m. Everyone is welcome. Bingo is at 6:30 p.m. with doors opening at 6 p.m. on Friday nights. The Helping Hands Thrift Store is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Exercise sessions are at 10 a.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays. For more information, call the senior center at 235-7786.
Friendship Center
Friendship Center Adult Day Services is open 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday with extended hours for special situations. Programs are offered daily, including story time, crafts and musical performances. Call 235-4556.
Homer Senior Citizens
The Caregiver Support Group meets 2-3:30 p.m. the second and fourth Thursday in the senior center conference room. Call Pam Hooker at 299-7198 or Daniel Weisser at 235-4555. At 2 p.m. April 27, Risa Jackinsky and Dean Sundmark of the Independent Living Center speak on veterans options for independent choice and empowerment and how to access VA benefits. For more information, call Pam Hooker.
Homer Senior Citizens lunch is open to seniors and guests and is served noon-1:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. The lunch menu for this week is: today, roast beef with mashed potatoes and gravy; Friday, fish of the day; Monday, plum glazed cornish game hens; Tuesday, beef stroganoff; Wednesday, Cuban pork; next Thursday, baked ham.
Strong Women classes are 1:30-2:30 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Homer Senior Center. The cost is $3 for members and $6 for nonmembers per class.
Zumba Gold classes with Maria are 11 a.m.-noon Tuesdays and 1:30-2:30 p.m. Thursdays at the Homer Senior Center. The cost per class is $4 for members, $6 for nonmembers.
Duplicate Bridge meets at 1 p.m. Thursdays. Tai chi classes are Thursdays at 3 p.m. The cost per class is $3 for members and $6 for nonmembers. Call Daniel Weisser at 235-4555.
Homer Folk School
Homer Folk School offers these upcoming classes, held at Ageya Wilderness Center above Skyline Drive at the top of East Hill Road. To register or for more information, visit homerfolkschool.org or call 299-9117.
• April 22, 5-7:30 p.m., Fireside Chat about Folk School Facilities and Permaculture, $5 suggested donation. Join an Earth Day discussion and learn about Ageya’s permaculture plan.
• April 23, 9 a.m.- 4 p.m., Carpentry Basics for Women, $40. An overview and introduction to the basics of carpentry, this class is for women who want to learn about tools and completion of household projects with practice in designing and building a small project.
Kachemak Bay Campus
Cooperative Extension Agent Casey Matney presents Tree Planting and Tree Care on May 3. Learn how to properly plant and care for a tree. The course covers soil preparation, tree placement, planting depth, watering and more; $25. Advanced registration is required by May 2 at KBC or online at kbcnoncredit.asapconnected.com.
Registration for the 2017 Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference, June 9-13, is being held. Early bird registration at reduced rates ends May 1. For more information, visit http://writersconference.homer.alaska.edu.
A Student Art Showcase opening featuring work from painting class is 5-6:30 p.m. April 28.
Registration for fall classes has begun for general public and degree-seeking students. See the schedule for most classes at www.kpc.alaska.edu/academics/schedule.
Kachemak Bay Campus Commencement is 7 p.m. May 10 at the Mariner Theatre.
Pratt Museum
The museum gallery is open noon-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and closed Sundays and Mondays. Business offices are open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday.
Artist Argent Kvasnikoff’s exhibit, Qena Sint’isis, is up through May 29. It presents a unique form of cultural expression that describes a new take on the indigenous culture of the southern Kenai Peninsula. In conjunction with his show, he and Érico Vinicius Nascimento present “Seeing Language: Writing in Art and Design” from 2-3 p.m. May 5. They explore the role of language in art and design and how visual language affects everyday life and personal experience.
Pratt Museum seeks a summer High School Intern. Application packets are available at the Pratt’s front desk. The goal of this internship program is to expose local youth to the many facets of natural history, cultural heritage and interpretive work through community-based programming. Interns receive training in public interpretation and assistance pursuing their interests in science, art, and history. This is a paid, part-time position from June to August 2017. Apply by 5 p.m. Friday, April 28. For more informatin, contact Education Director Chessie Sharp at 435-3322 or education@prattmuseum.org.
South Peninsula Hospital
South Peninsula Hospital offers a free training for responding to opioid overdose from 5:30-6:30 p.m. today, April 20, at the SPH training center. Attendees will learn how to recognize and respond to an opioid overdose and receive a free Narcan (naloxone) response kit. Dr. Sarah Spencer, addiction medicine specialist, does the training. Please register in advance at 235-0258.
The annual Safe and Healthy Kids Fair is 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, April 29, at Homer High School. This is a free, fun event for children from tots to teens to focus on safety, health and wellness. The fair offers more than 30 booths and stations with hands on activities and demonstrations. Loads of door prizes are given away throughout the free fair, including the grand prize giveaways at 1:30 p.m. of a tricycle and bicycles.
A bike rodeo will take place in the school parking lot from 10 a.m.-noon. Kids can bring their bikes for a free inspection to get ready for safe, summer fun. Helmets are required, and are available for purchase on site. Free test rides on the drunk-driving simulator ATV cart are offered throughout the day in the parking lot.
Included in the fair is a Teen Room where teens can hang out and enjoy special presentations throughout the day. All teens who visit get entered into a drawing for a mountain bike and tablet.
Stations include safety information, a hand wash station, a teddy bear clinic, hearing tests, face painting, water safety, giveaways and more. Numerous summer programs offer sign up at the fair. Food will be available for purchase, and proceeds benefit the safe and healthy kids coalition, a local group of concerned agencies working towards safe and healthy youth and injury prevention. For more information, contact www.sphosp.org or Red Asselin at Sprout at 235-6044.
