Through Mark Larson’s Lens

During one of the few breaks in the rain on Jan. 20, Judy Longshore (left), Martha Longshore and Mona Dougherty join a couple dozen other participants in the 2024 Women’s Rally gathered in front of the Humboldt County Courthouse with their signs. Organizer Karen Mast said she was motivated to do something locally to bring attention to the erosion of rights for women and minorities, but started planning the event too late to get permits to march on city streets.
Monday, Jan. 20 was the first day of a planned week-long faculty strike against the California State University system. It got under way early in the morning, with dozens of sign-carrying supporters marching in the crosswalks at 14th and L. K. Wood streets in Arcata. The strike was settled by the end of the day.
Lanore Bergenske (left), of Fortuna, raced to a 67th-place finish overall and first place in the female 60-69 age bracket at the 58th Annual Trinidad to Clam Beach Run on Feb. 3.
An all-ages crowd of marble enthusiasts and collectors packed the Wharfinger building on Feb. 10 and Feb. 11 to see glass art and marbles by marble makers such as Seth Bickis, of Made With Fire in Madison, Indiana.
As the last of the rain clouds cleared, entries the Klamath Salmon Festival parade head down the parade route tossing candy to attendees.
This traditional redwood canoe carried Darlene Rose McGee and others throwing candy to attendees of the Klamath Salmon Festival parade.
Crowds of grade school children carrying balloons from the nearby Redwood Region Logging Conference stop to watch the Obstacle Pole race at the Forestry Clubs Conclave after touring the Cal Fire helicopters in the background on March 14.
Birling involves hopping on a spinning log with an opponent and trying to spill them into the chilly water. The Logging Sports Team members dressed up with a Hawaiian theme, including Addie Jones, of Northern Arizona University, on the left, at the Forestry Clubs Conclave on March 13.
Double Buck competitors Ed Laskey (left) and Ellis Brandt from the Cal Poly Humboldt Logging Sports Team began their timed heat on March 15 at the Forestry Clubs Conclave. CPH Logging Sports Team member Frankie Daumberger stretched out in her grease monkey role atop the log, spraying WD-40 on the saw to lubricate it and placing a wedge into the top of the cut.
The protest of the Israel-Hamas war at Cal Poly Humboldt began the evening of April 22 with students inside Siemens Hall. After de-escalation of a potentially violent situation that occurred when police attempted to forcefully remove students, police stood down and the protesters barricaded its entrances. By the next morning they were getting organized with food, flags, signs and plans to continue the occupation until their demands were met.
By noon on the fifth day of the Gaza demonstration and occupation at Cal Poly Humboldt on April 26, an unknown number of students began receiving suspension letters from CPH and by 2:30 p.m. that knowledge was widespread leading to this large gathering on the quad. A CPH source said the reasons for the suspension letters were either camping on campus or being part of the building occupation. Around 12:30 p.m., CPH then announced the university was now closed through May 10 for only remote work and online instruction.
In the afternoon of the sixth day of the Gaza demonstration at Cal Poly Humboldt on April 27 after the announcement of the campus hard closure, campus police began enforcing no entrance without authorization. Uniformed police were brought onto campus around 1 p.m. Students living on campus were restricted to their dorms and residential areas.
Gaza-demonstration-related graffiti was visible everywhere on buildings at Cal Poly Humboldt by April 27.
The day after police attempted to remove pro-Palestinian demonstrators from Siemens Hall on April 22 (including a police officer getting “bonked” on the head with an empty plastic water bottle), chalk graffiti popped up all over campus.
The pro-Palestinian protest at Cal Poly Humboldt continued on April 24 with all Siemens Hall entrances barricaded, tents filling the lawns surrounded it and speakers, yoga classes, teach-ins and music filling the quad area on into the evening.
The eighth day of the pro-Palestine demonstrations at Cal Poly Humboldt on April 28 saw little change on campus except for the appearance of even more make-shift barriers on sidewalks around occupied Siemens Hall.
On April 29, the eighth day of the pro-Palestinian demonstration at Cal Poly Humboldt, faculty, staff and community members gathered to march on the west edge of the closed campus as part of the California Faculty Association’s Solidarity March and Workshops. Their goals: demand safety for students on campus, that the university re-open, that the administration commit to de-escalating the current situation on campus and that graduating CPH students be able celebrate their accomplishments at a commencement event.
By the evening of the eighth day of the pro-Palestinian protests on April 29 at Cal Poly Humboldt, large numbers of law enforcement vehicles from out of the area had been seen driving toward Arcata from the east and south. A crowd gathered at the edge of campus at the “hard closure” sign chanting and holding signs protesting what appeared to impending police action. Early the following morning hundreds of uniformed police entered campus and removed and arrested about 30 of the remaining protesters gathered on the quad. Later that day, a massive cleanup of all the barricades and most of the painted and chalked graffiti began on campus and everyone was directed to stay away from campus, which continued under a “hard closure.” Protesters gathered in Eureka outside the county courthouse to protest the arrests on campus, ask for the release of those arrested and show support of Palestine. Cal Poly Humboldt announced it would hold a modified in-person commencement with local off-campus ceremonies on May 11.
The Dragon Dance at the Eureka China Town Street Festival on May 4 featured a team of dancers who maneuvered a giant long, flexible dragon puppet.
Attendees at the Eureka China Town Street Festival in May enjoyed a close interaction with the Lion Dance performers.
One of the hazards of leading Day Two of the Kinetic Grand Championship (May 25-27) for the Beaver Fever Kinetic team was finding the take-out from Humboldt Bay under the Samoa Bridge choked with mud at low tide. Despite the challenges of making it through the mud, the Beaver Fever crew kept their “ACE” status alive and raced onward.
Longtime Kinetic racer Duane Flatmo brought back the past with his fire-breathing dragon sculpture and was the first to cross the finish line on Day Three of the Kinetic Grand Championship … with a little creative cheating.
The HumBULLdt Pie Factory race team arrived with smiles on their faces at the finish line in Ferndale and were declared Grand Champion for the three-day 2024 Kinetic Grand Championship race.
The seventh annual Redwood Pride Summer Festival got underway June 8 under foggy skies with the Pride Parade marching from the Adorni Center through Old Town Eureka.
Organizer Shoshanna recruited attendees into the Maypole Dance at the start of the fourth annual Fairy Festival on June 9. But after a few stanzas of the Maypole Dance music led to tangled Maypole ribbons, Shoshanna cheerfully declared a halt (since people were having trouble following directions) and directed a re-start once everyone untangled the ribbons.
A stop at the face-painting vendor was a popular activity for many of the youthful fairies before the Fairy Festival costume contest.
After gathering the Juneteenth event (on June 22) attendees close to the stage and asking for a moment of silence, Black Humboldt’s co-founder Dionna Ndlovu led a “Say Their Names” ceremony, inviting people to call out the names of Black Americans whose freedoms were denied or whose lives were ended. After each name was called out, she then poured out a dipper of water filled from her bowl.
The financially strapped Puffy family in The Poor of New York were portrayed by stand-out physical theater performances by (from top) Benjamin Clifton, David Ferney and MorTisha Sloan at the Dell’Arte outdoor stage June 22 through July 7. It had been five years since the last Dell’Arte International summer show within the now renamed Baduwa’t Festival. As director and actor Michael Fields said, “I believe in the seriousness of comedy.”
It’s been seven years since David Josiah Lawson, a Humboldt State University student, was fatally stabbed at an off-campus party in Arcata in April of 2017. On the afternoon of June 24, his mother Charmaine Lawson dedicated the new Justice for David Josiah Lawson mural on the north side of Arcata’s D Street Neighborhood Center. The mural is a community collaboration created by project leader Benjamin Funke and mural artist Blake Reagan and involved the Lawson family, the NAACP Eureka Chapter, the city of Arcata, the Rotary Club of Arcata Sunrise and REBOUND, a DreamMaker project of the Ink People. Charmaine Lawson urged the justice system and the community to find her son’s killer and thanked many who helped create the mural.
The recently opened Rooftop sushi restaurant offered great views of the July Fourth vendors and crowd in Old Town as the restaurant hosted two events, starting with a Japanese BBQ luncheon with special guest chef Alexander of Kogiri and live music by the Young & Lovely jazz group. In the evening, the venue offered a sushi buffet dinner, sake wine and beer, and great views of the fireworks.
Dell’Arte International presented the 2024 Prize of Hope to Brenda Wong Aoki and Mark Izu of San Francisco’s First Voice at the 2024 Baduwa’t Festival at a celebration on July 7 in the Carlo Theatre. Dell’Arte has been offering the Prize of Hope with the Danish Institute of Popular Theater since 2008; past recipients include Universes (2018), Cornerstone Theater (2016), Tim Robbins & the Actor’s Gang (2008) and many more.
Dell’Arte honored this year’s Prize of Hope Ceremony recipients Brenda Wong Aoki and Mark Izu of San Francisco’s First Voice at the 2024 Baduwa’t Festival. At the end of the event, Dell’Arte’s Tony Fuemmeler gifted them with these masks that he had created.
The 55th annual Annie & Mary Day parade on July 14 had not just the usual two Annie & Mary look-alikes in the parade but eight, all dressed in period clothing with their “We Believe” backstory sign (did Annie and Mary actually exist?). Annie & Mary Days are named for the two women who were clerks on the Arcata and Mad River Railroad around 1907, Annie Carroll and Mary Buckley. The railroad was built in 1854 and was the oldest private railroad in California and was referred to at the time as “The Annie and Mary Railroad.” Left to right, front row: Larella Moore, Tami Trump, Janine Volkmar, Mette Hansen, Gin McMillin, Emily May.
Jerryn Kilby, of Fortuna, won the Senior Polebending division race with a clean, fast run at the Fortuna Junior Rodeo on July 17. The timed race includes 21 feet from start to the first pole and 21 feet between poles. No time for a broken pattern and a 5-second penalty for each pole knocked down.
This rider caught some air in the Bareback Steer Riding competition at the Fortuna Junior Rodeo on July 17. Nearly 200 boys and girls signed up for a chance to compete in seven age divisions for saddles, lots of buckles and cash awards at the rodeo grounds in Rohner Park in Fortuna.
Logan Cook, of Santa Rosa, was the only one of three participants in the Bull Riding event to successfully complete an eight-second ride at the Fortuna Junior Rodeo on July 17.
In a heart-tugging moment, Huckleberry Flint’s Dustin Taylor brought out his three children to sing “In the Highways” while accompanied by the band on June 17 at the Humboldt Folklife Festival.
Ruby Ruth & Mule Ranch opened the “Bluegrass and Beyond” show on July 18 at the outdoor Dell’Arte stage at the Humboldt Folklife Festival.
During the Eureka Street Art Festival on Aug. 2, mural artist Mir de Silva explained the backstory of “The Lost Pages” mural design on the side wall of Alder Grove Charter School: “They wanted it to look like a page from a story book, given their love of reading at the school.” She also explained that she enlisted Violet Crabtree, currently working on her feature film Wildfur, to help with the mural that featured Wildfur’s protagonist, Finnea Wildfur the sasquatch lady. (From left: Emily Rune, Violet Crabtree, Mir de Silva and Megan Phillips)
Mural artist Lucas Thornton paused to show onlookers his original design for his “Sequoia Sunrise” murral that he was painting on the side wall of Talisman Beads in Opera Alley in Old Town on Aug. 2 during the Eureka Street Art Festival.
During the Slugs of Eureka walking tour on Aug. 2 during the Eureka Street Art Festival, Molly Martian zoomed ahead on her bike to locate slug No. 2 high on the wall at Mendenhall Studios on the corner of C and Second streets.
The first-ever sighting of a California sea lion observed in the low-tide mud flats adjacent to and then in Klopp Lake at the Arcata Marsh & Wildlife Sanctuary occurred Aug. 25. It was reported to the Cal Poly Marine Mammal Stranding Program. During the following week, photos helped identify three numbers on the back of the sea lion and an Oregon Fish and Wildlife phone number on a fin tag. CPH professor Dawn Goley, head of the MMS program, reported that this sea lion was marked by the ODFW in Astoria, Oregon in 2017 as part of a routine marking project in Astoria studying the foraging ecology and movements of CSLs in the Columbia River. These marks allow scientists to track his movements and behavior over a large range and a long time period. After being marked as an adult in Astoria in the fall of 2017, this sea lion traveled as far north as British Columbia (2021) and (now) as far south as Humboldt Bay, California (ODFW).
During the week in August after the unusual appearance of a California sea lion in Klopp Lake at the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary, it displayed symptoms of poor health and was later discovered dead floating in the southeast corner of Klopp Lake on Aug. 31. The city of Arcata decided to leave its corpse in Klopp Lake and let natural decomposition run its course.
Maria Vanderhorst was all smiles in front of the Samba Parade on Sept. 22 at the North Country Fair, after she stepped back into a leadership role this year with the dancers who had been practicing Samba for the last 10 weeks.
Street theater at the All Species Parade at the North Country Fair on Sept. 21 featured the antics of “Vote for Me!” James Hildebrand and the egg-laying turtle created by participants in the Our Space project of Playhouse Arts (the local arts agency for the city of Arcata).
The North Country Fair featured many vendors and artists, including Charli Murphy, of Arcata, who demonstrated her Kaleidodragon’s kaleidoscope effect inside her 12-foot interactive sculpture on the plaza during the fair. Murphy described her interactive installation, made from a collection of upcycled materials, as a toy made for adults.
They had to expand the Adorni Center performance stage for the Cadillac Ranch and the added The Roadside Attraction horn section for a special show on Oct. 5 during the Redwood Coast Music Festival that ran Oct. 3 through Oct. 6. Cadillac Ranch is one of Humboldt County’s longest-running country/Americana bands and its members include Pat Comela (vocals, mandolin), Liz Whitchurch (vocals, keyboards), Jake Wiegandt (vocals, guitar), Rick Levin (vocals, guitar), Jes Bishop (drums) and Ron Sharp- (vocals, bass). Members of The Roadside Attraction include Josh Foster (trombone), Amanda Piscitelli (tenor sax), Melissa Cherry (clarinet), Kaeden Williams (alto sax), Drake Newell (baritone sax) and Sara Fine (trumpet).
It was great fun to watch the interactions on the renovated Adorni Center stage between these two amazing fiddlers (Michael Doucét, left, of the Cajun band BeauSoleil and Tom Rigney of Flambeau) on Oct. 6. The pair were two of the many featured headliners at the Redwood Coast Music Festival.
The Redwood Coast Music Festival got people up and dancing at every venue, including during Matt Munisteri’s Tribute to Chet Atkins at the Eagle House featuring Joel Paterson, Dave Stuckey and Dennis Lichtman on Oct. 4.
Teresa Mondragon and her dog Isla joined Nikki Collins (foreground) and a record number of Witches Paddle participants departed from the Eureka public boat launch near the Wharfinger Building for an out-and-back paddle east to the Samoa Bridge on Oct. 19.
Michelle Glancy brought along her skeletal dog Rusty for a ride on her stand-up paddleboard at the Witches Paddle on Humboldt Bay on Oct. 19.
Volunteer Sydney McCarty, of Cutten, helped the hundreds of Mushroom Fair attendees with their questions about mushroom species on the tables, like these Amanita varieties that had recently appeared locally in time for the Fair on Nov. 24.
Mushroom Fair volunteer Charlie Wheat, who created her own Red Basket Stinkhorn (Clathrus ruber) mushroom costume, showed attendees that species’ page in Noah Siegel’s mushroom-identification book, Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast. Fun fact – that mushroom smells bad.
December brought the annual holiday show by Playhouse Arts the Arcata Playhouse stage. And in the play, all’s well that ends well in closing as the Old Lady (Evan Grande), the Sultan (Malia Mar) and the Red Rooster (Victoria Timoteo), backed by the Blue Lake Choir, performed the closing song in The Valiant Red Rooster.

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