Talkeetna Historical Society to host 'timeline party' in preparation for centennial

With the help of grant money from the State of Alaska, the Talkeetna Historical Society is in the process of planning Talkeetna’s centennial celebration in 2016.  On Wednesday, KTNA’s Phillip Manning spoke with representatives of the Historical Society about those plans:

A community’s centennial celebration is a major event no matter where you are.  With Talkeetna’s centennial approaching, I sat down with Sue Deyoe, Site Manager for the Talkeetna Historical Society Museum and Historical Society board member Laura Wright to talk about what is being planned.  One of my first questions was why 1916 was chosen.  Talkeetna is not incorporated, so doesn’t really have an official founding date.  Sue Deyoe says that 1916 was a very significant year for what would become Talkeetna as we know it today.

“By 1916 there was a lot of activity in town.  There was a sawmill, a trading post, a general store, and an Imperial Cigar store…There was a lot of activity, and people had actually built their houses.”

In addition, 1916 marked the opening of Talkeetna’s first post office.  Over the hundred years since then, the community has grown and changed.  While the Talkeetna Historical Society has many records and photographs over that time, there is no single repository of all of the available history.  As part of the plan for Talkeetna’s centennial, Sue Deyoe says the Historical Society would like to change that by inviting the community to help build as complete a timeline as possible.

“It came out of discussions and people saying, ‘How in the world are we going to plan this stuff?  Let’s have this timeline party so everyone understands what was happening 4,000 years ago, what happened in 1916…'”

The timeline party will be held on January 17th at Northern Susitna Institute.  Everyone with knowledge of the area’s history, and those who want to learn more about it, is invited.  Butcher paper will line the walls, separated into decades.  Laura Wright says that all memories of stories and events are welcome.

“People are going to come in, and they’re going to write, ‘Yep, I came here in ’57’…and whatever little nugget or person they remember…and maybe a little tidbit to help us compile that.”

For those who can’t make it to the party, the Talkeetna Historical Society is also accepting submissions through its Facebook Page.

You can find the entire recording of this week’s Su-Valley Voice, including more discussion of Talkeetna’s centennial celebration, at our website, KTNA.org.