Enriched by Community ~ Salmon Life

Under a beautiful, blue sky, with just a nip of fall in the air, people from throughout Kodiak gathered to eat, dance, play and share stories of the season. The second annual Kodiak Salmon Social took place on the 20th of September 2015, bringing Kodiak together around shared, vital connections to salmon.

“This festival is kind of a community event, our community is so engrained with salmon culture, whether we realize it or not, we all have some reason for being part of a salmon fest,” said Nate Rose, a salmon seiner.

Kodiak is one of the nation's top ports by value and volume, and salmon is a key fishery.

An all-volunteer, grassroots event, the festival is spearheaded by Astrid Rose and Danielle Ringer, friends whose enthusiasm for salmon and community set this party into motion. Given the local cultural, economic and nutritional importance of this famous anadromous fish, it’s little surprise the event has been popular.

Kodiak (Sun’aq in Sugpiaq) is one of the nation’s top ports by value and volume, and salmon is a key fishery. All five types of Pacific salmon are native to the waters around the island where they were first fished for by the Alutiiq/Sugpiaq people. Commercial fishing and processing began in the 1880s and remains critical to the area economy, and sport fishing is a big draw for visitors. Salmon are a source of sustenance and employment for people in Kodiak, and the ripple effect is broad.

"Salmon means life. Our whole year revolves around it."

SALMON LIFE

“Salmon means life. Our whole year revolves around it. A big part of the reason we’re here is because of salmon, it’s just our life,” said Astrid Rose. During the salmon season, she’s land-based part of a family fishing operation, handling things onshore while her husband, Nate Rose, is out on their boat, the F/V Historian.

More than 300 people attended the event, enjoying music, food and community.

Held at the Abercrombie State Park pavilion, the festival drew approximately 300 people, including dozens of volunteers. Most who came brought something to share. The tables under the café light-strung pavilion were crowded with salads and sweets, breads and dips.

Most of the festival was on a broad meadow partially surrounded by a semi-circle of dense forest opening out to the water. Shimmering water and near-distant mountains provided a brilliant, real-life backdrop behind the tented stage, the words “Salmon Life” spelled out in lights and sparkles across the front. Local musician, Drew Sablon, played his guitar and sang as families walked down the dirt road, put their names in for door prizes, and settled into camp chairs on the lawn. The poster said “BYOE – Bring Your Own Everything.”

“Salmon fishing is so much more than any kind of a job. It’s how people sustain themselves the whole year round.”

Co-organizer Ringer is a UAF graduate student working on a project about the next generation of fishermen, so a curiosity about, and interest in the future of commercial fishing is important to her. She said, “Salmon is something that brings everybody together. People maybe get their first job on deck on a salmon boat or it’s young guys who get their start on entry-level fishing on salmon seiners.” Ringer went on to say “Salmon fishing is so much more than any kind of a job. It’s how people sustain themselves the whole year round.”

Event co-organizer, Danielle Ringer.

FUN AND FOOD

Over at the door prize table, Sadie McCusker was one of the volunteers Ringer and Rose reeled in with their online invitation to attend and participate in the event. She had people estimating the number of red Swedish fish in a couple of mason jars and signing the life ring guestbook. Asked what salmon means to her, she said “I was born and raised here and my father owns a marine electrician business so he works on all the salmon boats, rewiring and keeping them running for the season. My boyfriend is a fisherman and he fishes year-round, but without salmon I probably wouldn’t live here… So it’s not just financially part of my life but I grew up salmon fishing all the time just for fun and to feed my family.”

The air was filled with kids’ bubbles, smoke from the chimaneas park officials had permitted (a burn ban nixed the bonfire), and the sounds of people laughing and visiting in English and Spanish. Games of horseshoes were underway and Sablon’s cover of Tom Petty’s “Runnin’ Down a Dream” floated through the clanking of the thrown horseshoes. The overheard comment, “Everybody, meet Chuck. Chuck, meet everybody,” exemplified the easygoing environment. Even people who weren’t friends seemed like they were.

Volunteer grill-master Lexa Meyer tends to the generously donated salmon.

Volunteer grill-master Lexa Meyer presided over cooking generously donated salmon. She’d pre-seasoned it four different ways and wielded long tongs with the accuracy of a barbecue veteran. Meyer’s connection to salmon and seafood is multifaceted – she is a commercial setnetter, an artist doing a public commission about salmon, and a shellfish biologist. Asked about a fishing future for her eight-month-old daughter she said, “Hopefully she thinks it’s worth it. That when she becomes a teenager she doesn’t want to work at a fast food restaurant because it makes more money than salmon fishing.” The filets were done and ready to share.

Everyone was welcome to Kodiak Salmon Social 2015– the poster invited “all lovers of salmon” – and they came. Elsewhere, people might compete for fish or jobs or other sorts of opportunities, but that night they traded stories of the season, played with each other’s kids, and together celebrated salmon.

Astrid Rose, event co-organizer, greets community members as they arrive.

Salmon Life

Enriched by Community

To Give and To Get

Fish and Family

Enriched by Community

To Give and To Get

Fish and Family

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