20 years ago

Old salts and landlubbers of all ages are invited to the Homer Spit this weekend to sing sea shanties, construct model boats and admire the work and travels of area boat builders during the 13th annual Kachemak Bay Wooden Boat Festival. The event — sponsored by the Kachemak Bay Wooden Boat Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to education about and the historical preservation of wooden boats in the area — gets its sea legs tonight at 7 p.m. with an entertaining mix of music and storytelling about the sea and fishing at the Salty Dawg Saloon.

— From the issue of May 5, 2005

30 years ago

When Peter Dunne was 7 years old, a little neighbor girl invited him to go on a bird hike to try out a pair of binoculars and a bird book her grandparents had given her. It was the start of a lifelong love affair — with birds. Dunne — who is the author of several books about bird watching, an editor of Bird Watcher’s Digest and director of the Cape May Bird Observatory in New Jersey — is the keynote speaker for this week’s Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival. He will speak at the brunch Sunday and offer a workshop about birding optics Saturday.

— From the issue of May 4, 1995