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"Coming here always makes me cry."
Wrangell Island lies in the heart of the Tlingit nation, where the mist-draped cedars and hemlocks of the Tongass National Forest cover the mountainsides and the mighty Stikine River meets the tranquil Northern Pacific Ocean. The archaeological record shows Ken's ancestors have been here for thousands of years. British, Russian, and American flags have flown over this country, and Norwegian, Chinese, German, and Irish immigrants were drawn to its fishing, logging, and fur industries.
"Up there we used to pick gooseberries," Ken points out as the ferry enters the harbor. "And there's the Episcopal Church my grandfather helped build where all my family were married and I was baptized. That totem pole in front of the post office was carved by my uncle Tommy Ukas."
At the dock, Ken strides down the gangplank to kisses and hugs from his father Ken Hoyt, Sr., mother Henrietta "Hankie" Hoyt, and aunts Margie Byrd and Betty Nore.
"In Wrangell, no matter how old you are, you are somebody's child: Here we say 'he belongs to so and so,'" Ken explains. "I belong to Hankie and Ken."
Although many descendants of this island community are scattered throughout the Lower 48, the allure of Wrangell never diminishes. So every year, like migrating birds, flocks of third- and fourth-generation children make their way back for Wrangell's annual celebration of patriotism and kinship--the Fourth of July.
"When you come back here for the Fourth, you become each other's family," says Diana Barnes (nee Bryson) of Saratoga Springs, New York, who graduated from Wrangell High School in 1978. "This is the most comfortable place I've been in 25 years. When people see my son they say 'You're a Bryson!'"
While the Fourth might be the focal point of Wrangell's summer, the get-together actually begins earlier. For several days prior, Shoemaker Bay Park on Zimovia Bay Highway is full of generations of Rooneys, Churchills, Angermans, Bunesses, and Johnsons picnicking on roast moose with horseradish, coleslaw, bratwurst, and smoked salmon. Baked beans and sweet corn steam in the park's fieldstone fireplace while old friends catch up and reminisce. July 3 features the annual scrap-fish derby on the town dock, where life-jacketed children with hand lines pull up bright orange starfish, sole, eels, and silvery mackerel to the applause of proud family members.
Patriotism begins in earnest on the morning of the Fourth with treats beckoning from the food stands along Front Street. The Wrangell nurses can't keep up with the demand for their homemade root beer, and the gathering crowd gobbles up all 80 pies made by the local chapter of Beta Sigma Phi, including several with the American flag displayed in cherries and blueberries. At a booth in front of the Wrangell Sentinel, the newspaper's production manager Kris Reed and her family are selling tie-dyed T-shirts and caps. Everyone seems to contribute to the festivities--car washes, food booths selling hamburgers and halibut bits, raffles for Stikine River trips, and crab dinners at the American Legion Club--and it is this honest enthusiasm that enables Wrangell's 2,113 residents to raise the $40,000 to $60,000 used to fund next year's celebration.
"We stay for the lifestyle," says Reed, a lifelong resident of Wrangell, whose pioneer ancestors were Athabascan, Danish, and Russian. "It's a beautiful part of the world, with clean air and water. We don't lock our doors. Kids are free to ride to the library or beach on their bikes. And on an island you know everybody. It's kind of cool to be part of the frontier. By and large, people are open and friendly here and are willing to help one another, because in a place like this you never know when you may need a hand in return. And although we are far away from the mainland ., there's a deep patriotism. After 9/11, just as many flags flew around our town as anyplace else."
Like most American towns and cities, the big day arrives with plenty of noise and fan[are. Just before noon, a military color guard and fire trucks launch the parade, which includes crowd-pleasing perennial favorites, such as the Shady Ladies and Can-Can Girls (hospitality groups in period costume), random dogs, and the Unsafe and Insane Logging Company. To the beat of drums, the cultural troupe dances down the street in red and dark blue wool-blanket capes ornamented with abalone buttons. The motifs on the outfits--ravens, frogs, and eagles--wink in the sunlight as traditional deer-hoof rattles sewn onto leg bands snap and pop accompaniment to dancers singing in the ancient Tlingit language.
"There's no place like Wrangell on the Fourth," cries David Roy Churchill, echoing the banner rippling on the Churchill family float--a flatbed truck with family members waving signs with the names of their current homes: Juneau Seattle, Mt. Vernon, even Russia. A retired bank executive now living in Milton, Delaware, David claims Tlingit, Haida, and English forebears. He grew up in Wrangell and returns annually. "Wrangell people are very close. We always have been that way. People grow up and move away, but they always come back for the Fourth. It's one big family reunion."
After the parade, Front Street fills with a blocks-long egg toss, a wheelbarrow race, and a gunnysack race. On the nearby waterfront, spectators munch cold shrimp and sip Stikine Mud (iced coffee) while they cheer local lumberjacks competing at sawing, axe throwing, and logrolling.
The last and grandest event of the day follows the lush and lingering midsummer Alaska twilight: Families and friends gather around the bay as cascades of color erupt overhead, the hour-long fireworks display plays out against the dark outline of the mountains around the town.
"We have a quality of life that a lot of people wish they had," says Mayor Bruce Harding. "We are pretty much crime-free, there are no stoplights, and the river has a little magic. The Fourth represents the heritage that all Americans enjoy, and when it is linked with family it means just so much more."
A ROLLICKING DAY OF RED, WHITE, AND BLUE
1. With flashes of color, joyful songs, and the steady beat of handmade drums, Devan James and Virginia Oliver of the Johnson O'Malley Cultural Troupe swirl through town during Wrangell's Fourth of July parade wearing Native American Indian robes. 2. Willie Eyon, adjutant of American Legion Post 6 in Wrangell, enjoys the parade. 3. Lynn Campbell proudly displays a most patriotic cherry-and-blueberry pie offered at the Beta Sigma Phi booth 4. Howdy! Wrangell's own can-can ensemble--Theidra Buethe, Jody Waddington, and Rhonda Butler--welcome a cruise ship to town 5. A historic truck belonging to the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department rumbles along the parade route. 6. When it came to concocting Fourth of July getups, these three definitely put their heads together. Terri Kozeroff, Donna Larson, and Sue Burrill show off a heady mix of stars and stripes. 7. A plainly devoted fan of the festivities celebrates by letting her hair down.
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