This year’s conference for the Alaska chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) will be held in Kodiak. That’s a national society for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the American Revolution.
The annual statewide conference rotates between five different cities, where theorganization’s chapters are located. It hasn’t been hosted on the island in several years. Alaska DAR’s five chapters are Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Kodiak and Wasilla.
Sarah Hieb is the Alaska State Regent for the group and also a member of the Juneau chapter, known as the Inside Passage chapter. She said the organization focuses on three main things, education, historic preservation and patriotism.
“Overwhelmingly we deal with veterans. We like to do anything patriotic with them. Encouraging them, supporting them, volunteering, anything like that,” Hieb explained.
This will be many members’ first time to Kodiak, including Hieb’s. The national organization’s President General in Washington D.C. will be attending the conference too, along with other dignitaries from the Lower 48.
Our National President General will be there which is exciting for us. She comes up once every three years, and it depends on where the meetings are. So it’s exciting to have her and our National Chairperson for that committee to celebrate America, will also be here. So it’s an opportunity for all of us to get together and honor our patriots,” Hieb said.
Kodiak Island Borough’s mayor, Scott Arndt sent a welcome letter to the organization. In the written statement, Arndt encouraged the visitors to, “explore our beautiful island by wandering through our museums and shops, visit historical landmarks, go for a nature walk, or stroll along the waterfront.”
The Daughters of the American Revolution conference kicks off with a patriotic marker ceremony to acknowledge the upcoming 250th anniversary of the United States of America and honor the country’s patriots. According to Hieb, this will be the first and only planned patriotic marker placed in Alaska currently, although more could be added in the future.
The ceremony is open to the public and begins at Oscar’s Spit in downtown at 4 p.m. on Friday, April 19.