Sluicebox crowd, staff breathe easy

PALMER -- Rhianne Teachworth had a cigarette in her hand as she ducked into the Sluicebox for some beer and music Saturday at the Alaska State Fair. But she didn't get much past the front door before an employee pointed to a "No Smoking" sign.

Teachworth complied willingly.

"I only smoke on weekends when I go out," she said.

The Anchorage woman said the bar's policy about cigarettes, implemented for the first time last year, wouldn't prevent her from enjoying the bands. Teachworth added that the air isn't bad if only a couple of people are smoking, although even an occasional smoker like herself dislikes a dense fog of smoke.

"If everybody steps outside it would be cool," she said.

And that's what people are doing at the Sluicebox. They go out a side door for a cigarette, leaving their beer inside.

Amber Rose, a non-smoker who is working at the Sluicebox for her fifth straight year, said she welcomed the change wholeheartedly.

"It's nice," Rose said. "It would get so smoky in here."

Bartender Traci Getzler, who likes to smoke, agreed.

"Even as a smoker it's a lot easier to breathe like this," Getzler said while filling customers' glasses.

Not everyone embraces the change. "I think beer and cigarettes go hand in hand," said Jamie Rich of Anchorage.

Sluicebox bar tender, Eric Henry, said some locals were a bit upset last year but attendance at the Sluicebox didn't decline noticeably.

"There are a lot more people quitting smoking these days," he said.

Henry, a smoker, said he remembers the days when cigarette wars were waged in his hometown of Los Angeles.

"There were some holdout bars that said 'We'll eat the fine,'" he said of a municipal smoking ban in public places.

The same change seems to be coming to Alaska. More and more communities -- Anchorage included -- have adopted smoking bans in restaurants and other places. The Alaska State Fair is riding the wave, too, with its changed policy at the Sluicebox. Also, a special kids' day held on Monday allowed smoking only in designated areas.

"We are getting the idea that more and more people want smoke-free environments," said John Stinson, coordinator of BreatheFree Mat-Su. "Businesses are seeing the sense in marketing to those people."

A recent BreatheFree Mat-Su survey of Valley adults showed that 30 percent are smokers, he said, which is higher than the national average of 21 percent. Stinson said his organization had urged the Sluicebox management and the fair association to implement the smokeless policy.

Stinson's organization has "smoke-free dining guides" listing 45 clean air restaurants from Palmer to Talkeetna. The guides are available by calling at 373-7982 or visiting the BreathFree booth at the fair.