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The state’s Board of Fisheries passed some major proposals supported by Petersburg fishermen at the beginning of 2025, changing how the state manages the commercial red king crab fishery in Southeast and sport fishing for king salmon in Blind Slough.
Two different house fires happened in Petersburg in January. No people were injured in either case, but one home was destroyed and two dogs died in the other, which was damaged.
Six fathers of young dancers took their turn in the spotlight in a first-of-its-kind fundraiser for Petersburg’s nonprofit Mitkof Dance Troupe. Dustin Crump was crowned Mr. MDT at the dad pageant.
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted against getting a K-9 unit for the police department in February, and for a second time in April.
Longtime Borough Clerk Debbie Thompson swore in Deputy Clerk Becky Regula as her successor in April. Clerk Regula stepped into the role as Thompson retired after two decades of working for the Petersburg Borough and moved to Washington state.
The state issued an early fire season for much of southern Alaska. Then, Petersburg got record rainfall in both April and May.
The Petersburg Borough Assembly officially passed a new zoning law in May. It created a dedicated marine industrial overlay zone to ensure the borough’s tidelands are used for marine purposes.
Petersburg’s iconic Viking ship, the Valhalla, set sail on an unexpected voyage following the town’s Little Norway Festival. A gust of wind caught in the mast, causing the ship to roll and ram into park property. The damage was eventually fixed.
Petersburg residents packed the assembly chambers for a town hall about tourism. And much of the conversation was about potentially building a cruise ship dock proposed by American Cruise Lines. The company doubled its stops in town this summer, which helped make up for fewer overall port calls that were scheduled in Petersburg. But space constraints meant harbor staff had to do more rearranging than in years past – like evacuating the biggest float in South Harbor – to make room for cruise ships to tie up.
Silver Bay Seafoods bought out OBI Seafoods. The transition at the local plant was in full swing by summer, when President and CEO Cora Campbell returned to her hometown in Petersburg to meet with the fleet.
In June, the Petersburg Borough Assembly approved an increase to the property tax rate —which helps pay for things like education, public services, and bond debt— raising it within service limits from 10 mills to 10.8 mills.
Petersburg’s youth marksmanship team, the Devil’s Thumb Shooters, won their first state championship title.
Two men were arrested in Petersburg in June for scamming an elderly resident out of over $100,000. Both men later pleaded guilty to theft charges and were sentenced to jail time.
In June, KFSK welcomed Hannah Weaver to the station for a few months as the 2025 news intern. She reported on a range of topics, from hydropower to the Petersburg printing press. Weaver traveled to Prince of Wales Island to cover the arts festival in Coffman Cove, where she also reported on the community’s first disc golf course.
The Petersburg Borough proclaimed June 28 as Amy Hallingstad Day. It recognizes the late Petersburg resident as a civil rights leader who advocated for the end of segregation in Alaska’s schools. Friends, family and community members gathered to celebrate the day for the first time.
Tribal and community members gathered dockside in Petersburg to greet a group from Kake traveling by canoe on a journey to Wrangell for a totem pole raising.
The Petersburg School District began construction on the high school roof and office this summer to improve school safety. A little over half of the construction was paid for with a $3.5 million bond, and the other half was paid for by the state.
And parts of the three lakes trail on Mitkof Island were upgraded, with help from seasonal workers contracted by the U.S. Forest Service.
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church ended its services in Petersburg in July, and the town’s nonprofit dance troupe made plans to buy the building.
Petersburg’s police chief sued his employer, the Petersburg Borough, and the two parties finally resolved the matter this summer with an out-of-court $70,000 settlement.
Authorities urged Petersburg residents to secure trash due to problems with ‘food accustomed’ bears in the summer, and planned to “lethally remove” the problem bears from Petersburg. The borough is exploring additional measures to address the issue, such as bear cans.
Petersburg’s school buildings and surrounding area were on lockdown for over an hour during a registration day in August after police received a false report of a person with a gun and magazines in a school bathroom. No one was hurt.
Budgets were tough for the school district and the Borough. The Petersburg Borough made it out in the black, including funding for the school district, which is using its reserves.
The state Legislature approved a boost to education funding this summer. It overrode Governor Mike Dunleavy’s line-item veto, giving schools a full $700 increase in per-student funding. But Petersburg School District officials cautioned that the increase still isn’t enough money to be sustainable long-term.
Petersburg’s community also felt the impact of federal actions. Early in the year, thousands of federal employees nationwide lost their jobs, including staff with the U.S. Forest Service in Petersburg. Roughly 240 people gathered for a protest on Main Street in February to support their neighbors. Most workers were eventually reinstated, but several more protests opposing actions by the Trump administration happened throughout the year.
In the summer, the federal government defunded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which significantly slashed the budgets of many rural radio stations, including KFSK. Then the federal government shut down later in the year, delaying SNAP benefits, which almost 13% of Petersburg’s population relies on. Locals organized food donations to help their neighbors in need, including federal employees who were furloughed during the shutdown.
Citizen scientists searched for evidence of the highly invasive European green crab on Mitkof Island. Luckily, no evidence of the crab species was found. But sightings of the species were reported in southern Southeast Alaska.
The commercial Dungeness crab fishery in Southeast Alaska got a full fall season after the harvest estimate increased.
An intense wind storm happened in September, taking out trees and collapsing a dugout on the Petersburg ballfield. Later in the year, the local Borough Assembly changed the budget to include the repair cost for the dugout.
The campaign trail for local office was in full steam ahead of Petersburg’s municipal election. Longtime mayor Mark Jensen did not run for reelection after nearly two decades in local office. And when election day finally came in October, voters elected Bob Lynn for mayor. Voters also elected Jeff Meucci and Bob Martin for Borough Assembly, and passed a ballot measure that limits the town’s senior sales tax exemption to just low-income seniors. The change took effect in January 2026. The seated assembly members later voted in Scott Newman, who had run for mayor, back to his seat at the dais.
Also in October, over 100 people gathered at Petersburg’s Sandy Beach to watch a young seal that was rescued earlier in the year be released back into the wild.
The engine of a small plane failed near Petersburg in early October with two occupants on board. The pilot emergency landed on a remote road on northern Kupreanof Island. Both occupants were able to get out and walk away uninjured.
The Moose hunt in central Southeast Alaska recorded a new high harvest: 145 bulls.
Petersburg also joined other Southeast Alaska communities in asking authorities for stronger sea otter management.
Petersburg’s assembly reversed a previous decision and allowed a local housing developer’s application to proceed. The Assembly also approved a different sale to a different local developer for a public benefit purpose. The Assembly has a housing work session scheduled for the first week of January 2026.
Southeast Alaska’s first commercial red king crab fishery in nearly a decade saw a historically high value. The competitive fishery opened in the region in November and has generated over $5 million at the docks — more money than it did in the past two decades combined.
Petersburg High School students performed Dracula in November, and have plans to take the production to Scotland in summer 2026 for the world’s largest performing arts festival.
The Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska’s internet service venture Tidal Network plans to build three communications towers in Petersburg, and built one in November. The project has received some community pushback.
Winter weather suddenly arrived for much of central Southeast Alaska in December, hitting Mitkof Island with freezing temperatures and record-setting snowfall.
Petersburg’s only movie theater has been struggling to stay afloat this year due to rising operational costs. Local screenings of the new Petersburg-focused documentary “Tide and Table” doubled as a fundraiser for the theater, bringing in over $8,000 in December.
And ending the year with gratitude, Petersburg High School students spent their last day before winter break serving the community as part of the school’s Day of Giving — the first of its kind in a few years, thanks to a change in the academic calendar.
At KFSK, 2025 brought lots of change for the station. In March, former news director Hannah Flor moved on to report in Anchorage. Taylor Heckart joined the newsroom in May, and later, KFSK’s longtime general manager Tom Abbott retired after over three decades with the station.
“It’s Petersburg having a conversation with itself,” Abbott said. “It’s been a great service, and I’ve been really happy to be a part of it.”
Thanks to our listeners for joining us in 2025. Happy New Year!
