Music and Market

Medicine for the People, a group from Hawaii that performed at the Homeskillet music festival this past week.
Breathe Owl Breathe, another amazing band that came to Sitka
The Sitka Farmers Market!!
Amy, the director of Alaskans Own at our booth where we sold fish and gave out information about the Sustainable Fisheries Trust.

It was a busy weekend full of great Sitka community events. The Homeskillet Music Festival was from Wednesday to Sunday with great performances each night by both local bands and professionals from down south. The highlights were the two bands pictured above: Medicine for the People and Breathe Owl Breathe. I attached the links to videos of their performances at the Sitka radio station on the side of the blog. Medicine for the People is a guitar and drum duo from Hawaii with a very strong message about returning to the native way of life and becoming one with the spirits and with mother earth. They were a little over the top at times when talking about their message, but their music was incredible. Breathe Owl Breathe is this kind of folk, alternative band that was very original and fun. Their performance was very interactive, I really enjoyed them. They're going to be in New England in the fall and I'm talked with them some about possible coming to Bates. It was really cool how much these visiting musicians love Sitka and make an effort to engage with the local people.

The Farmers Market was on Saturday at which I sold fish for Alaskans Own. Alaskans Own is the brain-child of the Alaska Longline Fisherman's Association and the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust. It's a marketing initiative where fish is bought from fisherman who are a part of the Conservation Network and therefore agree to certain conservation practices and principles, and then sold to the local community. The Trust uses funding from Alaskans Own to invest in local, particularly small boat fisherman who are committed to sustainable fishing practices. It's a very new company that Linda actually started along with others on the board of the trust and it seems to be growing steadily. There's a Community Supported Fisheries Subscription Program where people pay in advance to receive a box of fish every two weeks for the whole summer. I've been helping with the fish box pick-ups and at the market we were gathering names of more interested individuals. People seem really receptive to the goals of Alaskans Own and how it's supporting local fisherman while also promoting conservation and providing the community with sustainably caught fish. There was someone from the radio station at the market; they interviewed me and a little clip of my response actually got on the radio! The link to the broadcast is on the side of the blog.