Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 6, June 2003

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Kalakala future uncertain

The history ferry Kalakala remains at its temporary moorage on the north edge of Lake Union as bankruptcy trustees attempt to determine its financial future.

The Kalakala Foundation, owners of the ship, declared bankruptcy in February. Peter Bevis, the Fremont artist who led the drive to rescue the ship from a career as a beached fish processing facility in Alaska, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in late May that he intends to sell his Fremont Fine Arts Foundry and leave town. Bevis is a major creditor of the Kalakala Foundation.

Where the Kalakala will end up is anybody's guess. The ferry is technically trespassing at its current moorage, says former foundation executive director Art Skolnik, but the Coast Guard won't allow the ship to be moved until a new moorage spot is found.

Skolnik laments the sad state of the once-stately streamlined ferry, but says that donors simply lost interest despite the public attention lavished on the project. "The more press we got, the less money came in," he says.