UMaine event brings Arctic alive for public

ORONO – The Hudson Museum at the University of Maine is offering an opportunity to experience the Arctic at an indoor-outdoor event called “Ends of the Earth: The Arctic,” from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 3, at the Maine Center for the Arts.

Activities include stations where families can try their hand at Inuit games, look at Arctic artifacts, build an inukshuk (a trail marker built with stones), learn Inuit carving, play with shadow puppets, make string figures, visit the book and video corners, learn about the Yupik language and dance and explore Internet Arctic resources.

Outside, members of UMaine’s Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity will build an Inuit snow sculpture near the MCA marquee. Visitors also will have a chance to meet Cruiser, a husky owned by Mike and Barbara Hermann.

Scheduled events inside the MCA Bodwell Lounge are: 11 to 11:45 a.m., Richard Emerick, director emeritus of the Hudson Museum, will present his 1954 documentary film of Iglulingmuit life; noon to 12:45 p.m., Richard Jagels, professor of forest biology, will present “Want to See a Redwood Swamp Forest? Book a Trip to the North Pole?”

From 1 to 1:45 p.m., William and Mary Bergen will show a video of time spent in the Alaskan Arctic in the early 1990s; 2 to 2:45 p.m., Paul Mayewski, professor of geological sciences and quaternary studies, will present “Secrets of the Ice.”

Events scheduled outside, across from the Class of 1944 Hall, are: 10 a.m. to noon, dog sled demonstration by Jennifer Buswell, a UMaine student who operates the Tufflace Kennel; 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Maine Bound demonstration of a “quinzee” (snow shelter) and a snow kitchen.

Admission to the event is $1 per person and $5 per family (maximum). Free admission for Hudson Museum Friends. For information, call 581-1901 or visit the Web site at www.umaine.edu/hudsonmuseum.