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The Denali Salmon Bake is hosting the first fundraiser for the new Denali Arts and Humanities Alliance, a community group dedicated to keeping the arts and humanities alive and well in the Denali Borough School District. That means our communities benefit, too.

As a special treat, Denali musical dynamo Candace Mudge and her husband, Darren Mudge, will perform for an hour beginning at 8:30 p.m., along with Allan Mortenson of Nenana. If you haven’t seen Candace play vibes, don’t miss it. Darren will be on guitar, and Alan will be on the drums.

The idea of the Alliance arose during the school district’s annual strategic planning last spring. Strategic planning creates the “road map” for the school district’s future and is attended by teachers, students, community partners and parents.

Everyone seemed to agree that arts and humanities are important, but who would work to ensure their regular inclusion in the schools and, inevitably, the communities? Budget cuts always hit those items first.

Community groups signed on, and members from the following groups created the Alliance: Denali Borough School District, Kids In Motion, Alaska Geographic, Denali Education Center and Denali National Park.

According to the strategic plan, the mission of the Alliance is to keep the current art and music programs, provide class options in humanities, support professional development for school staff and find the money to make it all happen.

This fundraiser is the first step.

In case you’re wondering, humanities includes important topics like global issues, economics and world history. The arts cover everything from fine art to visual and performing arts.

The suggestion donation at the door is $5. The Denali Salmon Bake will donate all entry donations to the Denali Arts and Humanities Alliance.

The group will work under both the Denali Borough School District and longtime nonprofit agency Kids In Motion, which also supports arts and humanities here.

A second fundraiser is planned in September in Healy, and the list of events sponsored by the Denali Arts and Humanities Alliance is already growing.

Jim DeCur recovering

Send good wishes to our very own Jim DeCur, who is recovering from a broken neck at Anchorage’s Providence Hospital, after the bicycle he was riding was hit by a tour bus last week.

The good news is he does not need surgery yet, he does not have a head injury and he will soon relocate to Fairbanks.

A number of local folks ride their bicycles the seven miles along the Parks Highway from the McKinley Village area to their jobs at Denali National Park every day.

Jim, who turned 60 Saturday, is one of the die-hard bicyclists. If he is not riding, he is running.

Guardian Flight

After watching three local people get airlifted for medical reasons during the past month, I looked more closely at the medical evacuation option — Guardian Flight Air Care.

For $75 a year, an entire household can have an evacuation flight covered. It appears that the cost of a medical evacuation is about $10,000 or more. This $75 annual insurance seems like a no-brainer for people who have no health insurance.

Someone told me Guardian Flight publicizes this option on television. I don’t have TV, and I figure there’s plenty of other folks who don’t, and hence, don’t know about this money-saving possibility.

Pick up a one-page form at Canyon Clinic, or call 1-888-457-1711.

Disc golf tournament

If you don’t know about disc golf, come check it out Thursday right outside the Tri-Valley Community Library. Bring a teammate. Bring some Frisbees. Heck, bring a team.

Disc golf expert Bridget Borg will be there to run the tournament, beginning at 7:30 p.m. The course is sponsored by Kids In Motion, Denali Princess Resort and Denali Salmon Bake.

Healy Cool Zone for sale

The Healy Cool Zone is for sale.

The fresh fruit and vegetable stand, located just down the road from the Healy Post Office, is no longer moving into a new building right next to Keith’s Healy Service.

“We have to re-locate to the Anchorage area,” said owner Jackie Wilhour. The family needs to move closer to Josh Wilhour’s mother, who is facing serious medical problems, she said.

The business, which provides fresh fruits and vegetables and some crafts during summer months has been a welcome addition to the area, often saving residents a drive to Fairbanks for fresh produce.

Now, it’s all for sale — the business, complete with a white van, the Wilhour home and the soon-to-be completed building that was to become the permanent home for the Cool Zone.

Mount Healy Challenge

Jo Kovach of Healy walks briskly along the Parks Highway every day, rain or shine.

On Sunday at noon, she’ll walk up from the Parks Highway as a participant in the inaugural Mount Healy Challenge.

This free event begins at the Bison Gulch parking lot at Mile 243.5 Parks Highway. The ascent-only race climbs about 1,800 feet in 1.5 miles.

If racers survive that, they are welcome to continue, at their own pace, to the top of 5,715-foot Mount Healy.

The route is not in Denali National Park, according to organizers.

The race is the finale of the Northern Trails Running series. For more information, contact Matias Saari at matiasalaska@hotmail.com or 347-9192.

Transportation system

Volunteers make things happen here in the Denali Borough.

One of these days, we may all thank Mike and Sumarium Low for taking the time to research what it would take to create a transportation system that would serve the entire borough from Cantwell to Anderson.

The Lows hope borough residents will join their effort to make the system nonprofit. Toward that end, they have taken initial steps to make this all happen.

They have begun work on a business plan and have hired experts to help. Now, they need the community to step up and help. To bring the consultants here, the Lows need to raise either $1,600 or accept a donation of 60,000 air miles.

The new Denali Community Transportation Web site is www.denalicommunitytransportation.org. Or call 907 –683-4765.

School days

School begins here on Monday.