Talkeetna landmark hopes to take guests by end of month

May 7, 2007

By John R. Moses/Frontiersman

The historic Fairview Inn in downtown Talkeetna is set to reopen at the end of the month after closing down suddenly in December. In addition to being a village centerpiece, the inn can boast of having had President Warren Harding as a one-time guest. JOHN R. MOSES/Frontiersman

TALKEETNA - The historic Denali Fairview Inn, shuttered since December, will spring back to life on Memorial Day if new manager Mike Lindgren gets his way. The door was symbolically thrown open Wednesday when Lindgren unlocked the outer “arctic entryway” on the front of the old bar and hotel and opened the shutters so people could look inside.

The actual doors to the bar are still locked but, he said, “I wanted to give people an idea that things are happening.”

Lindgren is spending his final two weeks as events coordinator at KTNA Community Radio, a busy job now that the summer concert series is getting under way.

Then, he said, it's full speed ahead with giving the Fairview a figurative facelift and a “reputation adjustment.”

The Denali Fairview is owned by Anchorage attorney Phillip Weidner, who expressed confidence in his new hire.

“We look forward to reopening the Fairview Inn and hope to do so in two to three weeks,” Weidner said Thursday. “We especially look forward to working with the Talkeetna community in fulfilling the Fairview's traditional role as the nerve center of the village.”

The Fairview closed suddenly and without notice Dec. 19, leaving a gaping hole in the town's winter social scene and closing the main musical center. Open mic nights on Thursdays drew crowds of locals and some hardy tourists alike. Local musicians played on weekends. Among the final acts was a jazz group that drew a reviewer from the Anchorage Press, an alternative weekly paper.

Locals and tourists mix at the old bar, and tables are often full when the dancing begins. The walls are covered with memorabilia, including articles noting that the place was almost the last stop for President Warren G. Harding before he died in San Francisco on Aug. 2, 1923, of a heart attack.

Music from the Fairview often echoes down the dusty Village Airstrip on long, light summer nights. The place has a lot of fans and some detractors. When it closed, however, most expressed shock that the symbolic - although not cartographic - center of the village was dark.

“It's just been horrible with that empty,” said Chamber of Commerce President Suzy Kellard, who was happy to hear the news that a local person who knows the town is taking over.

“I wish him all the best, and I'm sure he'll do a wonderful job,” she said.

Part of the problem with the business in the recent past, Kellard said, is that someone has to be on site at all times who keeps an eye on all aspects of a business, including appearance.

“Having a local person is going to help it so much,”

she said.

Talkeetna Roadhouse owner Tricia Costello operates her business in a historic structure near the Fairview. She said she's happy that tourists who often visit the place will find

it open.

“I think it's great,” she said.

Lindgren said he wants to reassure those with concerns that he thinks they'll like he way he will run the place. He also said the liquor license and insurance policies are all intact.

The recent shutdown was not the first for the landmark establishment. It spent more than a year closed due to previous legal problems, before reopening with a strict ID policy that meant even octogenarians had to pull out a license. The bar was cash only, although local checks were also accepted.

That will change, as will a policy that had bouncers telling patrons not to bring drinks onto the dance floor, Lindgren said. The new policy will be “kinder and gentler” treatment of customers and a credit card machine for the convenience of patrons.

“I have accepted a position to revitalize the Fairview,” Lindgren said. “I plan to work it year-round and make it more acceptable to the community.”

The establishment was smoke-free last summer. Shortly before it closed, it was left to the bartender in charge to determine whether smoking was OK.

The bar will return to smoke-free status.

Years ago, Lindgren tended bar there weekend nights, and he said the smoke was always a problem, creeping into everything he wore.

“Non-smoking, no exceptions,” he said. Inside the bar. There's a patio outside where lighting up may be allowed.

Among his plans is bringing back jazz night and lining up quality music.

Patrons will once again be able to enjoy the painting over the bar, of Denali with a bear in the foreground, by East Talkeetna artist Curt Wagner.

Wagner said he painted that in 1953, and said he has a large painting in the Anchorage airport as well measuring 12 feet by 5 feet.

As for the artifacts inside the bar, don't look for too much to change. Lindgren said he definitely plans to take down all those Christmas decorations that have been inside and outside the structure since it closed.

Contact John R. Moses at

352-2270 or john.moses@

frontiersman.com.