On June 28th I flew to Utqiaġvik (formerly known as Barrow) Alaska. The purpose of my visit was to chaperone a youth I work with while the visited family.
Although I’ve lived in Alaska since 1993, this was the furthest North I’ve ever been. When we arrived and stepped off the plane I could immediately smell the ocean. For me this is a smell that brings back memories of growing up on the coast of Washington state.
Similar to Puget Sound where I grew up, the beach in Utqiaġvik had no waves. But unlike Puget sound that is protected by islands, the beach in Utqiaġvik is protected from waves from the ice that still extended nearly a quarter mile out from the shore.
The town of Utqiaġvik sits right on the water and climate change has increased erosion. Ice that used to form early in the fall and protect the coast from erosion is now forming later and winter storms are able to batter the coast for longer and harder than they did in the past. The beach in town highly modified due to this erosion, and a berm had been built in most places to keep the high water out.
The town itself was a mix of the modern and the old. The roads were all unpaved except for one small stretch by the airport. The schools, hospital, stores, banks, courthouse, and corporation buildings were all large and modern.
At the other end of the scale were tiny houses built decades ago sitting among the more modern buildings. Utqiaġvik is a mix of money and poverty. The oil that was found on the North Slope of Alaska has brought great wealth to the people as a whole, but there are still struggles as there are in all communities. That being said, dividends given out by the Arctic Slope Region Corporation to all members has helped to bridge the wealth/poverty gap and helps many to survive.
Living in any village or community in Alaska off the road system is expensive. When I lived in Kasigluk AK on the YK Delta, the only way to get to the village was by plane, boat, snowmachine, or car on an ice road built in the winter. Many villages up here are even more isolated. This isolation means that food and other materials primarily arrive by plane or barge if possible. While in Utqiaġvik I did check out the local grocery store where prices were generally about 2x that of what we have here in Fairbanks and Fairbanks is often quite a bit more expensive that the lower 48.
But more on why we were in Utqiaġvik. In addition to visiting family, we chose this particular time because of the Whaling festival called Nalukataq that was taking place. This festival is a celebration as well as a time of sharing for the whale hunts that took place earlier in the year.
The celebration took place next to the hotel where we were staying. As shown in the picture above, they built a temporary wall out of scaffolding and plastic to keep the wind out. In the center tables were set up to hold the whale meat and other food items. Around the outside of the shelter families and friends sat together.
The celebration was cohosted by two of the whaling crews. These whaling crews are large as it is not only those on the boats that catch the whale, but their families and those that help process the catch. A whale is huge and it takes a lot of people to catch and process. During the festival, the crews who hosted provided soup, tea and coffee to everyone, then they did rounds of passing out whale meat from the catch to everyone there.
The only requirements for getting part of the catch was to be there and have a container to put it in.
What was given out was provide to family units. The youth I was with took home about 10 lbs of whale meat of various cuts and preparations. He was very excited. Two other youth I work with were able to visit and attend a whale celebration the previous week and each brought back whale that they shared with family members here in Fairbanks. The whaling that still takes place not only provides food for the immediate community, but the community at large statewide that shares family and cultural connections.
Throughout the celebration, there were various blessings of the whale, of the people, of the opportunity to share. And when the MC of the even was not talking, the mic was open for community members. Many shared singing, some LDS missionaries that had flown up with us on the plane introduced themselves, other community members spoke welcoming people, and between the sharing of whale there were times for visiting, and events like the children’s blanket toss.
The festival took up much of the second day we were in Utqiaġvik, but I still had some time to walk around town. I wish I’d had more time, but in what little time I did have, I was able to use my camera to capture things that are rather unique to the area.
Thank you for sharing your excursion. It is so nice to see and learn something of a place that I will never visit in person. The pictures are beautiful and the captions really help to describe the experience.
Such an amazing post! Sure brings back memory for both myself (having conducted botanical inventories and sketching over and around Anaktuvak Pass), and for Roy (having spent time in Barrow and the north slope, and “experiencing” muktuk). We both recognized the scenery, the birds and plants in your post. Such good times! Looks like you had fun! Thanks so much for sharing.