Fishes, fishes, fishes

With the holiday comes something very special around here.  It began yesterday evening and will continue on until the prize potluck and salmon cook-off late in the day on Monday.  Some of the things to do here are bead necklace making, Jalapeno eating contest, face painting, boat races, plenty of fish eating, fishing, and even a swim in the chilly ocean.  I did spend some time indoors today, but upon running into some of my students outside fishing, I was immediately drawn to them.  I learned so much.  It was soooo cool.  Here is how I saw the event.  (this event was located in the harbor and primarily centered around the local culture of fishing, hence, all the photos of fish).

Event Flyer.

This is the underside of a Sunflower Star (sea star, starfish).  Much different than the ones we have seen pre-Alaska.  One of the kiddos snagged him from deeper water and drug him close to shore.

Look  at the size of this guy (the same Sunflower Star as pictured above, this time right side up).  That foot belongs to the seven-ish year old fisher boy.

The kids kept saying, "watch out, he's real sharp, you don't want
to touch this one" black bass??

Pile of silvers.

One of my students caught this Rockfish/Pogie??

More silvers

(Options of what to make.  The necklace on the right is the Aleutian Wave)
This is what I participated in when I went indoors, aside from socializing with some of the folks. Beading.  The women at the table were such rock stars at this.  It was really nice to just talk and have such loving and helpful people teach me a passion of theirs. I started one like the one on the right.