Fair draws dozens of dazzling exhibits
Four-day celebration starts Thursday at noon
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Max Graham
Tawny Darling hangs suncatchers Tuesday as she prepares her booth for the Southeast Alaska State Fair, which opens at noon Thursday. More than five dozen vendors will be at this year's event.
His name is Yosemite Sam, and you'll be able to see his butt tattoos at the Southeast Alaska State Fair this weekend.
"Yosemite Sam, the Tattooed Tree" is a ceramic Christmas tree gnome that Skagway resident Betsy Albecker bought at a thrift shop and remodeled to be entered this week as one of dozens of fair exhibits across a range of categories, from desserts to quilts to children's science projects.
Painters, bakers, knitters and all kinds of artistically-inclined residents of Southeast Alaska spent the past week putting final touches on their creations and submitting them at Harriett Hall, where about 20 judges convened Sunday and Wednesday critiquing the exhibits. The four-day fair opens Thursday at noon.
"I'm just so nervous and excited. It's the first time I've entered something in the Haines fair," said Juneau resident Danika Swanson, who submitted a bouquet Wednesday, the deadline for perishable exhibits. "The pressure's on."
Swanson took a Tuesday ferry to Haines, leaving herself only 24 hours to put together a bouquet with items found around town. She said she initially thought she'd enter a flower bouquet but the flowers in Haines were more impressive than the ones she had planned to use from Juneau.
"Your flowers are exquisite," she said. "The only chance I have here of winning a ribbon is with a non-floral bouquet."
Swanson's arrangement features mixed strands of ferns, sedges and sumac standing above an earthly salad of driftwood, duck feathers, rocks and seaglass - all sitting in a small blue buoy that Swanson found at the Small Boat Harbor.
Fair exhibits coordinator Emma Brouillette said one of her favorite art pieces this year is "Llama at the Fair" - a drawing by 8-year-old Libby Taiber of Petersburg depicting a llama wearing a green top hat, bow tie and sunglasses.
"I like how well-dressed he is. He's very dapper. He makes the fair feel like a very fancy occasion," Brouillette said. It won a judges' choice award among school and youth projects.
Another younger Southeast resident - 13-year-old Riley Soboleff of Juneau - won a first-place ribbon in 2-D Fine Arts with an eye-popping abstract painting of chickens.
"My current favorite pet is my chickens. I have 40 right now. I kept on hatching them this year," Soboleff said. She said the art piece originated as a school project about a summer activity. "Mine was obviously about chickens," said Soboleff, who along with younger sister Cora has submitted several exhibits each of the past five years.
Juneau resident Sarah Lewis, a longtime judge of preserved food exhibits, said Wednesday morning she was looking forward to this year's creative mixtures of berries, vinegars, herbs and spices. "I just love seeing what people are doing with wild berries," she said.
Lewis will be offering short demos on fermenting vegetables, pickling and sourdough starters Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Harriett Hall, she said.
Max Graham
Juneau resident Danika Swanson makes final tweaks to her non-floral bouquet exhibit as she submits it to be judged Wednesday at Harriett Hall.
With the Canadian border open and covid restrictions eased, fair staff are anticipating significantly higher turnout at the fair this year compared to last, when attendance was down about 60% from usual. The fair was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic.
A covid outbreak followed last year's fair, and the virus is spiking again across the country and in Southeast Alaska. But the fair is moving ahead with the event, relying on mitigation measures like hand sanitizing stations, free masks, encouraged social distancing, reduced traffic inside Harriett Hall and closure of the Klondike Saloon.
The fair runs through 4 p.m. Sunday. This year's theme is "Salmon Enchanted Evening." Fair schedules are available at the information tent just inside the main admission gates.
Fair gates open at 11:30 a.m. Saturday and noon on other days. A four-day fair pass costs $50 for adults, $30 for senior citizens and teens ages 13-17. For more information, call the fair at 766-2476 or go to http://www.seakfair.org.
