News

2021 in Pictures

By Mark Larson

newsroom@northcoastjournal.com

It’s been a pandemic year of daily walking for my wife and me, and we never left Humboldt County. From January through April, we continued to explore our local trails and enjoyed the wildlife and emerging spring flowers.

Once we got our Moderna vaccination shots, we masked up and joined vaccinated friends and neighbors for a mix of community outdoor events in May, June and July. Then our local COVID-19 test rates and hospitalizations soared from August onward. No county fair attendance for us in August and for the rest of the year, we only attended in-person events that required all attendees to be vaccinated. Here are some highlights of what we enjoyed throughout it all in our county. View the full slideshow at www.northcoastjournal.com.

At a stop in the Migrations procession, Deborah Ketelsen (left), Vicky Ozaki, Barbara Rich and Chiemi Lehner joined Gary Ronne and other members of the Humboldt Asians & Pacific Islanders group in taiko drumming at Stewart Park. A favorite sign of spring's arrival is when Marsh Wrens show up at the Arcata Marsh & Wildlife Sanctuary and defend their territory.

After years of lobbying, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park removed the plaque honoring eugenecist and Nazi collaborator Madison Grant from this stone monument on June 14. A CAT hydraulic excavator lifted the stone monument onto a waiting flatbed trailer. The bare boulder will be placed on the east side of the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway.

A special feature of the Baduwa't Festival: A Gathering of the People included a work-inprogress preview of Michael Fields' new production company's MADSUMMER Night's Dream. The Dell'Arte House Band accompanied Bob Wells and others as chorus singing "My Generation."

Participants in the second annual Witches Paddle paused at the foot of F Street along the Eureka Boardwalk to enjoy being out of the wind before turning back to their put-in site at the Eureka Boat Basin Public boat launch dock. On one of our hikes, we found Master Builder Walt Lara Sr. inside the framework of the traditional Yurok women’s Dressing House under construction at Sumég Village in recently renamed Sue-Meg State Park. “My favorite part of the project has been watching the boys do the work,” said Lara. “They’re a pretty good crew and it’s important that traditional people are here doing it.”