Kenai

The Soldotna Little League proceeds down the Kenai Spur Highway in Kenai, Alaska, during the Fourth of July Parade on Thursday, July 4, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Celebrating Independence in the streets

Kenai comes out for annual Fourth of July Parade

The Soldotna Little League proceeds down the Kenai Spur Highway in Kenai, Alaska, during the Fourth of July Parade on Thursday, July 4, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
Lisa Parker, vice mayor of Soldotna, celebrates after throwing the ceremonial first pitch before a game between the Peninsula Oilers and the Mat-Su Miners on Tuesday, July 4, 2023, at Coral Seymour Memorial Park in Kenai.

Kenai and Soldotna square off once more in ‘King of the River Food Drive’

Food can be donated at the food bank or at either city’s chamber of commerce

Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
Lisa Parker, vice mayor of Soldotna, celebrates after throwing the ceremonial first pitch before a game between the Peninsula Oilers and the Mat-Su Miners on Tuesday, July 4, 2023, at Coral Seymour Memorial Park in Kenai.
Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
The Kenai Potter’s Guild’s annual exhibition, “Clay on Display,” is seen at the Kenai Art Center on Tuesday.

Expression in a teapot at July art center show

Kenai Art Center’s annual pottery show takes front gallery, with memories of Japan featured in the back

Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
The Kenai Potter’s Guild’s annual exhibition, “Clay on Display,” is seen at the Kenai Art Center on Tuesday.
Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
Attendees take food from a buffet during the grand opening of Siam Noodles and Food in Kenai on Tuesday.

Soldotna Thai restaurant expands to Kenai

The restaurant is next to Jersey Subs in Kenai where Thai Town used to be located

Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
Attendees take food from a buffet during the grand opening of Siam Noodles and Food in Kenai on Tuesday.
Council member Deborah Sounart speaks during a meeting of the Kenai City Council in Kenai, Alaska, on June 19, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Council member Deborah Sounart speaks during a meeting of the Kenai City Council in Kenai, Alaska, on June 19, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, delivers a legislative update to the joint Kenai and Soldotna Chambers of Commerce in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Bjorkman talks freshman legislative session, spotlights bills passed

Bjorkman spoke at a joint luncheon of the Kenai and Soldotna Chambers of Commerce in June

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, delivers a legislative update to the joint Kenai and Soldotna Chambers of Commerce in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Children help City of Kenai Mayor Brian Gabriel cut the ribbon at an event celebrating the installation of a new inclusive seesaw at Kenai Municipal Park in Kenai, Alaska, on Thursday, June 27, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai Municipal Park gets new inclusive seesaw

The seesaw is located in a central location right off the main cement pathway and is low to the ground

Children help City of Kenai Mayor Brian Gabriel cut the ribbon at an event celebrating the installation of a new inclusive seesaw at Kenai Municipal Park in Kenai, Alaska, on Thursday, June 27, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai Central High School stands under clear skies in Kenai, Alaska, on Thursday, May 23, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Borough issues contract for new KCHS concession stand

The $733,000 contract covers the cost of the construction of a new building that’s 24 feet by 36 feet

Kenai Central High School stands under clear skies in Kenai, Alaska, on Thursday, May 23, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Jack Penning, managing partner at Volaire Aviation, speaks to the Kenai City Council in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai Airport can support expansion, study says

New services could include a direct line to Seattle

Jack Penning, managing partner at Volaire Aviation, speaks to the Kenai City Council in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Cook Inlet View Drive is seen in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Cook Inlet View Drive is seen in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
A seal pup rescued from the Kenai Beach is in the care of the Alaska SeaLife Center’s Wildlife Response Program in Seward, Alaska, on June 6, 2024. (Photo provided by Alaska SeaLife Center)

2nd seal pup rescued in Kenai, ASLC now caring for 4

A second newborn seal was rescued on Kenai Beach and admitted by the Alaska SeaLife Center’s Wildlife Response Program, now the fourth in the center’s… Continue reading

A seal pup rescued from the Kenai Beach is in the care of the Alaska SeaLife Center’s Wildlife Response Program in Seward, Alaska, on June 6, 2024. (Photo provided by Alaska SeaLife Center)
Nathan Nelson directs a kite flying dozens of feet up in the sky above Millennium Square in Kenai, Alaska, during the Kenai Kite Festival on Saturday, June 15, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Sun, wind, friends and kites

Kiters both experienced and novice gather for Kenai festival

Nathan Nelson directs a kite flying dozens of feet up in the sky above Millennium Square in Kenai, Alaska, during the Kenai Kite Festival on Saturday, June 15, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Photo provided by Art We There Yet
José Luis Vílchez and Cora Rose with their retired school bus-turned-art and recording studio.

‘It’s all about people’

Traveling artists depict Kenai Peninsula across mediums

Photo provided by Art We There Yet
José Luis Vílchez and Cora Rose with their retired school bus-turned-art and recording studio.
Council member James Baisden speaks in favor of an amendment to the City of Kenai’s budget that would add funds for construction of a veteran’s memorial column in the Kenai Cemetery during a meeting of the Kenai City Council in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai budget amendment allocates funds for veterans’ columbarium in cemetery expansion

A columbarium is an aboveground structure that houses cremated remains

Council member James Baisden speaks in favor of an amendment to the City of Kenai’s budget that would add funds for construction of a veteran’s memorial column in the Kenai Cemetery during a meeting of the Kenai City Council in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Council member Alex Douthit speaks in favor of an amendment to the CIty of Kenai’s budget that would reduce funds allocated to the Storefront and Streetscape Improvement Program during a meeting of the Kenai City Council in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Funding reduced for City of Kenai’s storefront improvement grant program

Just over a year after the City of Kenai established its Storefront and Streetscape Improvement Grant, the city council last week reduced the amount of… Continue reading

Council member Alex Douthit speaks in favor of an amendment to the CIty of Kenai’s budget that would reduce funds allocated to the Storefront and Streetscape Improvement Program during a meeting of the Kenai City Council in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Council member Phil Daniel speaks during a meeting of the Kenai City Council in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

City of Kenai approves budget

A draft of the document says that the city expects to bring in around $19.5 million in the next year, and spend $20.2 million

Council member Phil Daniel speaks during a meeting of the Kenai City Council in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
City of Kenai Public Works Director Scott Curtain; City of Kenai Mayor Brian Gabriel; Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Peter Micciche; Sen. Lisa Murkowski; Col. Jeffrey Palazzini; Elaina Spraker; Adam Trombley; and Kenai City Manager Terry Eubank cut the ribbon to celebrate the start of work on the Kenai River Bluff Stabilization Project on the bluff above the Kenai River in Kenai on Monday.

‘The future is bright for the City of Kenai’

Kenai celebrates start of bluff stabilization project after developing for 40 years

Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
City of Kenai Public Works Director Scott Curtain; City of Kenai Mayor Brian Gabriel; Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Peter Micciche; Sen. Lisa Murkowski; Col. Jeffrey Palazzini; Elaina Spraker; Adam Trombley; and Kenai City Manager Terry Eubank cut the ribbon to celebrate the start of work on the Kenai River Bluff Stabilization Project on the bluff above the Kenai River in Kenai on Monday.
Rylee Smith operates her lemonade stand, Lemony Smith, outside of Orange Poppy in Soldotna during Lemonade Day on Saturday. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Lemonade Day sparks dozens of pop-up stands

Stands were strewn across Kenai, Soldotna, Sterling and Nikiski

Rylee Smith operates her lemonade stand, Lemony Smith, outside of Orange Poppy in Soldotna during Lemonade Day on Saturday. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
The Kenai Fire Department headquarters are photographed on Feb. 13, 2018, in Kenai, Alaska. (Peninsula Clarion file)

Fundraising efforts spring up after 2 families are displaced by Monday fire

Kenai Fire Department responded to a structure fire around 1 a.m. on Monday

The Kenai Fire Department headquarters are photographed on Feb. 13, 2018, in Kenai, Alaska. (Peninsula Clarion file)
Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
Artwork by Kim McNett is displayed at the Kenai Art Center on Wednesday.
Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
Artwork by Kim McNett is displayed at the Kenai Art Center on Wednesday.