Background
For 7 years Hoonah’s Traditional Food Fair has been a place to meet, share a meal from locally-sourced foods, and enjoy Tlingit dancing. Over 125 people gathered on September 7, 2024 to enjoy warm food which was an accent to the overhead clouds of a cool-but-comfortable autumn day. This article is meant to recap the day and thank all those that participated and provided to this event! Gunalchéesh!
Food:
Of course you cannot have a food fair without food! A common theme at each food fair is the distribution of food that was prepared by our youth through the Alaska Youth Stewards program, Huna Heritage Staff, and HIA Staff. This year we had a variety of jarred, traditional foods as well as food from the community garden to provide back to our community including:
- Hudson Bay Tea – 146 snack bags
- Spruce Tip Jelly/Syrup – 62 half pints
- Pickled Beach Asparagus – 96 pints
- Blueberry Jam – 33 half pints
- Community Garden : 3 bundles of carrots, 3 bundles of bok choy, 25 garlic,
- Salmon Eggs : 2 cases of ½ pints donated by Sarah Lampe and prepared by Johanna Dybdahl
Dancing
Thank you to our youth dancers Gaawt’ak.aan for honoring us with their dance and song! Each time they perform it is wonderful to see their growth and the love from their elders and families!
Cooks
Thank you to our cooks! This year Debbie Picken, Emma Lee, Niccole Williams, Brooke Lampe. They cooked up some amazing food for us and the community really appreciates it! Fry bread, herring egg salad, and halibut chowder were the main meal followed by a bunch of pies and desserts!
Community Survey
On their door prize tickets participants were asked “what would you like us to jar up next year?”. Thank you to all that responded! This will give us guidance for the foods we prepare with our youth next year!
Partnerships
The food fair is co-hosted as a partnership between Huna Heritage Foundation and Hoonah Indian Association. Each organization meets through the year to plan the event, coordinate harvest, and contributes financially to bring this even to reality. This year the Gap Year students from Tidelines Institute we very helpful in passing out meals. Thank you to them!
Donations
Thank you to our generous community donors who provided door prizes and services to this event! Each year we are able to offer participants some valuable door prizes due to the generosity of our local businesses and partners. We took the time to thank each sponsor at the event and want to ensure they are listed here as well!
Thank you so much for sharing all the great photos and updates to HIA’s environmental program!! Yay Hoonah Youth and Elders, and all those in between! All that good food is totally mouth-watering!!