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Happenings in the Keweenaw Peninsula February 15, 2006 Text  © 2006 Press Releases from the Community Arts Center and the Calumet-Keweenaw Sportsmen's Club. Photo © 2006 Charlie Eshbach. Reprinted with permission.

Charlie Eshbach to present slides of Iditarod sled dog race Feb. 16, 21

HANCOCK -- Keweenaw photographer Charlie Eshbach will present "Bouncin' down the Iditarod Trail" -- an up-close and personal slide show of the legendary Iditarod Sled Dog Race running 1160 miles from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska -- on two occasions open to the public locally.

At 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 16, Eshbach will be the guest speaker at the Calumet-Keweenaw Sportsmen's Club monthly dinner meeting at the Calumet VFW Post, Highway 41 North and Larch Street. A roast chicken and Baroni's Spaghetti dinner will be served. Hunters, fishers, outdoor and conservation enthusiasts, both men and women, and the public are invited to attend. For membership information, contact Mike Dudenas, 337-0347.

Eshbach will also show his slides and share his stories of the of the people behind the scenes along the Iditarod at a Potluck Dinner Party, beginning at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 21, at the Community Arts Center, 126 Quincy Street, Hancock. The slide presentation will begin after the dinner, at 7 p.m. Members of the Copper Country Community Arts Council invite the public to this potluck dinner and presentation. Please RSVP by 5 p.m. on Feb. 21 by calling 482-2333.

Jerry Riley, left -- an Athabaskan Indian who traps, hunts and fishes for his subsistence -- and Charlie Eshbach pause after bedding down Jerry's team in the 2004 Iditarod. "I met Jerry in Elim, an Eskimo village on Norton Sound," Eshbach said. "I was working as a volunteer there while I waited for my friend, who was also running the Iditarod. It was a cold, frosty morning in Elim, thirty below and a brisk wind. Getting to know people like Jerry captures the true spirit of Alaska." (Photo © 2006 Charlie Eshbach. Reprinted with permission.)

Running the Iditarod with friend Al Hardman gave him a reason to “hitchhike” through the interior in the wintertime with his cameras, Eshbach noted.

Eshbach selected 17 photos from his collection of more than 2000 images of the Iditarod for his exhibition, "Welcome to Koyuk: Portraits Along the Iditarod," now on display in the Community Arts Center’s Kerredge Gallery through Feb. 25. Eshbach’s photojournalist approach gives viewers a glimpse of the culture of the interior. His photos pay homage to the many friends he has made who live in villages along the 1,160 mile long Alaskan sled dog race.

This exhibit and accompanying programs are made possible with a grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. For more information call the Community Arts Center at 482-2333.

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