Thousands of music lovers descend upon Ninilchik each summer for Salmonfest, a three-day music festival that advocates for the preservation of healthy salmon runs in Bristol Bay. The festival partners with several Alaska-based environmental organizations to offer attendees educational resources on several issues.
While the partnership’s primary objective is to get the word out about environmental causes, it also acts as a fundraiser for some organizations. That’s because ARCHES Alaska, the organization that runs Salmonfest, donates a portion of its proceeds to Alaska organizations.
“The goal is to protect Bristol Bay, that has taken on various means over the years,” said assistant director of Salmonfest David Stearns. “But we all obviously support other conservation efforts, other cultural efforts, the arts, kids outdoor programs. It's kind of an umbrella for conservation and arts, artistic expression, since the beginning.”
It costs about a million dollars to organize the three-day festival. But Stearns says each year, ARCHES Alaska donates between $50,000 to $75,000 to Alaska organizations and nonprofits.
One such group is the Homer-based Cook Inletkeeper, which advocates for clean water and healthy salmon. Another is United Tribes of Bristol Bay, a consortium of tribal governments that work to preserve Alaska Native ways of life through environmental stewardship.
But it's not just environmental groups that get a slice of the Salmonfest pie. Altruist Relief Kitchen is based in Homer and operates a kitchen in Ukraine for people fleeing conflict. ARCHES Alaska has donated to the kitchen since Russia invaded the country in 2022.
Lucas Wilcox is Altruist Relief Kitchen’s president and founder. He says Salmonfest contributions have helped them serve tens of thousands of meals overseas. According to their website, they’ve served about 400,000 meals in Ukraine.
“There's many situations where we couldn't have set up at all in 2022 and there's other times afterwards where we wouldn't have been able to continue, and would have had to have shut down the kitchen entirely without their help,” Wilcox said.
Altruist Relief Kitchen is funded entirely by grants and donations.
The Ninilchik Food Pantry is another organization Salmonfest financially supports. The organization launched in 2023 and distributes food to people in need every Monday.
Jack Money runs the food pantry. He says their operations are funded almost exclusively by ARCHES Alaska.
“As far as donations wise, Salmonfest is the lion's share of that money we have received," Money said. "We receive food donations, but we've only received maybe less than $100 in total over the 20 months that we've been a food pantry.”
Money says the pantry’s food donations wax and wane. Some weeks, they’re able to secure large food donations from local grocery stores. Other weeks, it’s only a small bag of food.
That’s why financial contributions are the lifeblood of the food pantry. Money says their pantry wouldn’t be able to operate without them.
“Some days it would be very bleak,” Money said.
But the support organizations get from Salmonfest isn’t always financial.
Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay advocates for the protection of the Bristol Bay watershed, which supports the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. Nels Ure is the organization’s deputy director. He says Salmonfest is crucial to educating the community about its pro-fish, anti-Pebble Mine cause.
“It's amazing that after a decade, or over a decade, that Salmonfest has continued to contribute and amplify the voices of the people who are on the front lines and doing the work," Ure said. "And so we're really appreciative of the partnership that we have with them, and really hope to continue.”
According to its website, Salmonfest has donated over $300,000 to salmon-related initiatives across Alaska in the last decade. And Stearns, the festival’s co-organizer, says Salmonfest will continue that mission into the future.
