Salmon bake comes to Alaska State Fair

PALMER — Cotton candy, corn dogs, candy apples and funnel cakes are staples at the Alaska State Fair for many people. New this year, folks also will be able to savor some of the flavors from Alaska Native cultures, too.

In the past few years the fair has added more demonstrations and vendors from the rich Alaska Native community, but this year, the fair has added The Gathering Place to enhance its cultural offerings.

Alaska State Fair Entertainment Coordinator Suzy Crosby said the fair has regularly featured Alaska Native performers and vendors since the Raven’s People Program began in 2011. She said the program began with a goal to expand to a full 12-day affair with Alaska Native arts and entertainment at a permanent venue, which opens this year as The Gathering Place.

“Over the years it just seemed like one day wasn’t enough,” Crosby said.

Located along the Yellow Trail across from the grandstand arena, the Gathering Place includes a covered eating pavilion, a performance stage and eight vendor cabins that will house two vendors each, Alaska State Fair lobbyist Bill Allen wrote in an email.

“The Gathering Place is an opportunity for the Alaska State Fair to enhance their brand, further their mission, and provide a unique place for Alaskans to interact within the context of Alaska’s rich Alaska Native past, present and future,” reads the area’s mission statement, as determined by the Alaska State Fair board of directors.

“At these retail outlets the fairgoers are not just purchasing an item, they are engaging in a story,” Allen said.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau website, it was estimated last year that 14.7 percent of Alaska residents are Alaska Native, the second largest demographic behind “white alone.”

“We really want to emphasize the ‘state’ in Alaska State Fair — to be more inclusive of Alaskans and their cultures from around the state,” Crosby said.

Inupiaq sisters Buffy Meyer and Esther Hershman are partners in the Fish On! Camp Grill, and were selected by the fair to create the new salmon bake food booth.

The Meyer family of nine girls and five boys hails from Nome, though they say they spent much of their childhood years between the Valley and the village. The sisters and their families live in the Valley now and travel around the state to harvest subsistence foods for their freezers.

“Everyone in our family has two or three freezers,” Hershman said.

“Subsistence is our way of life,” Meyer added.

Subsistence has been the Inupiat way of life for thousands of years and it still is for many families and communities across Alaska, she said.

“As a young girl I remember spending a lot of time in the fish camps for subsistence,” Meyer said. “I would always watch my mom and my aunt and my grandparents cutting up fish until dark right by the river. I was like the little runner girl.”

All of the food served at the booth — except for the jalapenos, rice and ginger — is grown or harvested in Alaska, Meyer said.

Brady Hayden, Meyer’s fiancé, also is helping organize the salmon bake, which will serve a variety of dishes made with silver salmon harvested from Norton Sound Seafood Products. Some signature items to try at the salmon bake, Hayden said, are “The Umiak,” meaning “skin boat” in the Inupiat language, and Akutaq, or Eskimo ice cream.

The Umiak is made with half a jalapeno, cheese, salmon and bacon, and the ice cream is made with frozen berries that have been mixed with whipped coconut oil and sugar.

The sisters say the menu reflects traditional Alaska Native subsistence foods, but with some modifications for restrictions on the commercial use of marine mammals. So the Akutaq served at the fair won’t be made with seal oil — or caribou fat — the way their mother taught them, Hershman said.

The traditional salmon smoking process has been modified, too, Meyer said. For their own use, she said her family prefers the cold smoke process for fish, which takes about four days. For speed and safety, the sisters say they will hot smoke the seafood they serve at the fair.

“All our salmon will be cooked over charcoal and wood chips on an open grill that people will be able to watch,” Hayden said, which also will encourage patron interaction. He designed and fabricated the grill to include a smoking unit at one end.

Another attraction will be the opportunity to watch Alaska Native women demonstrate traditional ways to filet fish using ulus. The current Eskimo Indian Olympics record holder for salmon filleting — who can filet a fish without breaking the skin in 30 seconds — is also expected to make an appearance at the booth.

Meyer said the business also is looking for Alaska Native people to work during the fair and she said they also will help people get their food handler’s card.

The Gathering Place’s grand opening and dedication ceremony is Aug. 22. For more information, visit alaskastatefair.org.