This week, Soldotna will be celebrating its community and businesses with a scaled-back version of its regular annual festival, Progress Days.
Instead of the usual fanfare, parade, live music, and barbecue, the more modest event will coincide with the Wednesday market. The Soldotna Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the event, scaled back its plans in response to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic and the City of Soldotna’s regulations about large events, particularly in Soldotna Creek Park.
Leading up to it, the chamber has been sponsoring a “Shop Local” campaign that encourages the community to support their local businesses. Each participating business has cards that customers can pick up. For every $10 spent at a local business, they get a stamp. When they reach $100, they’re entered to win a $500 gift card, which will be drawn for on Wednesday evening.
Not many people have known about the campaign before coming in, but more are learning about it, said Kimberly Hansen, who owns Northcountry Fair on the Kenai Spur Highway. Northcountry Fair has been around for years, but Hansen bought into it in in February.
"I grew up here and I’ve been in the community for a long time," she said. "This was a business that I’ve been shopping at for a very long time, and the opportunity came where she was retiring and I was actually working for her at the time, and I was given an opportunity to purchase the business."
Then, the coronavirus pandemic hit. Small businesses had to close, along with all other nonessential businesses. But with people stuck at home and cooking more, Hansen said she’s gotten a lot of support and interest from the community.
"People have been cooking at home a lot more, and so it makes them realize, ‘Hey, I need some new pans—these are awful,’ or, ‘I need new knives,’" she said. "Sourdough really took off. Everyone has been at home making sourdough bread, so that was a lot of sales in the sourdough department over the last few months."
Another local business, Alaskins, which sells dog treats made of wild-caught fish skin and other pet products, has also been trying to weather the pandemic this year. Owner Sara Erickson has been making the products since 2017 but chose to open a brick-and-mortar store next to Don Jose’s on the Sterling Highway this year. She opened her doors in June, and said it’s been hard. Originally, her target market was tourists, but locals have been supportive.
"I think Alaskans really know and understand the absolute nutritional benefit to wild Alaskan seafood," she said. "We’re super proud of our state and what we have to offer. The Kenai Peninsula alone has a bountiful amount of fish, and their commercial fishermen are bringing it in for us to eat, whether it’s crab or halibut or cod or salmon—every kind of fish, we’ve got it. Kachemak Bay, Prince William Sound … we have the fish, and Alaskans are super proud of that."
Erickson says not many people who have come in have been aware of the shop local campaign this year. One place that’s been successful has been the markets, and she said she plans to close the store this Wednesday and be at the Progress Days market in Soldotna Creek Park.
"I’ve realized that local markets are where people are at," she said. "They’re out there, especially on a pretty day in Soldotna, on the peninsula. They’re out, doing these markets, enjoying the sun and the weather. It’s really, for them to stop and… because everyone says the same thing: ‘Oh, I saw your sign, I saw you on Facebook, I heard your ads, and we’ve been meaning to get in there.’ But when I’m out there, then they buy a ton of stuff, and I say, I love this… but we haven’t come back to get more. And when I’m at the market, that’s when people are buying a ton of stuff, because they’re out already."
Her shop will be there through August this year, and while she said getting people through the doors of a retail shop is hard, it’s been worth it and she’d consider it again in the future.
The Soldotna shop local campaign runs through Wednesday. The chamber will also be participating in the market and there will be a dance performance from ForeverDance. That evening, the chamber is also running its first Soldotna-based team scavenger hunt, called the Amazing Chamber Chase. Teams of at least four get clues delivered via email and from 5:30-8:30 Wednesday hunt for them around downtown Soldotna. Monique Burgin, the communications manager for the chamber, said they’re still looking for participants and anyone interested can sign up online through Tuesday. There is an entry fee of $25 and teams must have at least two adults. Teams are also encouraged to dress up.
For more information, visit theSoldotna Chamber of Commerce’s website.
Reach Elizabeth Earl at eearl@kdll.org.
