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A reminder that Sunday is the “Love Fest for the Dick Olson Medical Fund,” which will take place from 3-6 p.m. in the Binkley Room at Pike’s Waterfront Lodge.

Dick Olson, a prominent North Poleroid who has been involved with KJNP for 42 years, was in a motorcycle accident Aug. 29. Most people have read or heard his story, so I will just give you the bare bones. Olson lost control of his motorcycle on the Parks Highway and went down a 25 foot embankment. He was severely injured with two broken ankles, cracked vertebrae in his neck and back and a broken sternum. He was unable to move to seek help and it was surely a God-incidence, not a coincidence, that traveler Sandee Rabideau, stopped her vehicle at that precise spot in the road to walk her dog. She heard Olson’s cries of distress and was instrumental in summoning help.

He spent five days in the intensive care unit and two weeks in the hospital, and now the bills are coming in. Medicare will cover about 80 percent but that still leaves a whopping $30,000-$34,000 of out-of-pocket expenses.

Dick Olson’s multitude of friends has banded together to help this great man through his crisis or, as one of the organizers Debbie Seeger told me, to help her friend “out of this ditch.”

Tickets for the fundraiser are $15 and available at KJNP, Good News Bible and Book Store and The Diner. Seeger said every bit of the money collected will go to help Olson. The love fest will include a pasta buffet, live music, silent auction and door prizes. People wishing to donate items for the auction can get information by calling 373-4672.

In addition, a medical fund has been set up in Dick Olson’s behalf at Denali Alaskan Federal Credit Union.

Congratulations

I would like to offer my sincere congratulations to Dick Olson and his new bride, Deana McKnight, owner of Good News Bible and Book Store. They have both lost spouses, and it is so refreshing to see love bloom and flourish in this wonderful couple. May God bless them with a multitude of years together.

Third Friday, Oct. 17

Recently, the North Pole Art Society announced a change to its First Friday events, saying that because of the tremendous competition in Fairbanks the organization will host Third Friday art shows after the first of the year. The month of October, however, will be a trial run for the new date with a trio of artists being featured on the Third Friday, Oct. 17.

The show will include well-known North Pole watercolorists Tammy Phillips and Betsy Bear and potter Nansi Chandler-Norum.

Phillips, who originated from Montana but has been in Alaska since 1983, said she has always been interested in art and has dabbled in everything from crafts to stained glass. However, being a watercolorist is her strongest passion. “I love getting ‘lost’ in my paintings,” she said. “I love the way watercolor paint flows on wet paper.”

Phillips considers herself a self-taught artist, even though she has studied with Gerald Brommer, Karlyn Holman and Lian Quan Zhen, who teach painting workshops around the world. She also has studied with Vladimir Zhikhartsev, a very talented Russian ice sculptor and accomplished artist from Fairbanks.

Phillips belongs to the Fairbanks Watercolor Society and is a member of the Fairbanks Arts Association and the North Pole Art Society and is a master gardener. Her love of gardening and the outdoors has influenced her art a great deal.

Phillips has spent a great deal of time getting ready for the North Pole Art Society event. “I am very excited about the upcoming show that I am sharing with two other very talented women,” she said.

The second watercolorist, Bear, migrated to Alaska in 1966 with her family after having lived most of her childhood in Europe, ultimately falling in love with Alaska and her Salcha neighbor, Tom Bear. The ensuing years were filled with college, marriage, children and a busy teaching career in several North Pole schools. Retirement from teaching in 2001 provided Bear the opportunity to dive headfirst into art, which now is a big part of her life.

Bear actively takes advantage of the many opportunities and venues available through local classes, workshops, seminars, art shows and bazaars and her watercolors reflect her love of the natural beauty and rich history found throughout the state. She loves to paint diverse subjects, from wildflowers to landscapes and historical scenes. Her recent shows include exhibits at the Valdez Museum and at the Fairbanks Arts Association’s Bear Gallery.  She is active with the North Pole Art Society, Fairbanks Watercolor Society and North Pole Chamber of Commerce.

Bear makes her own Giclee’ prints and note cards, many of which are carried at local gift shops. More information about Bear, her studio and her art can be found on her Web site at

www.betsybearcreations.com.

The potter in the trio, Chandler-Norum, said she has graduated from the Pottery Works “at least three times.” She gives credit to Ida Knabel to enable her to pursue ceramics. She has gone through beginner, intermediate and advanced classes at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and said she has learned from a rash of talented artists and teachers.

“I not only learned from some very talented artists/teachers (Anna Ramsburgh, Shannon Nelson, Jim Brashear, Michele Devaul and Teresa Shannon) but I also was privileged to work alongside exceptional students.”

“It was and still is a constant learning process,” she said of pottery. “Clay is an unbelievable medium to get your hands into, and what you create is always amazing. I am humbled to be among the Fairbanks Potters Guild.” She praised the energy and knowledge of the ceramic artists who belong to the group.

The Oct. 17 North Pole art show, like all monthly shows, will be held at the North Pole Grange and is from 4:30-9 p.m. In addition, Grange members will serve dinner.

To find the Grange, follow the signs off Santa Claus Lane.

Lights on after School

North Pole Elementary School is celebrating its “Lights on after School” program next Friday, and the public is invited.

“We take this opportunity to share with the community our ‘delight’ in keeping our lights on after the bell rings to offer our students tutoring, homework help, recreation and a multitude of enrichment activities,” said organizer Lois McKinnell.

For information call McKinnell at 488-2286, extension 242.

And finally ...

Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. A lot of us have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.