Unalakleet market feeds hope for a return to regular community gatherings

UNALAKLEET — The mayor splurged on a handmade qiviut hat and headband. It’s soft, warm and “so classy looking,” Mayor Kira Eckenweiler said of the garments made of musk ox wool.

But that wasn’t her only takeaway from the Saturday Market, held this weekend for the first time in months, and for just the second time since the start of the pandemic.

“We haven’t really had a Saturday Market, especially to this size, in quite some time,” Eckenweiler said. “Being together as a community is who we are. … It’s nice to see everybody coming back together again, slowly but surely.”

Optimism filled the hall Saturday as the community’s crafters and bakers brought items to display and sell. Knit, stitched and beaded works were sold at tables alongside baked goods and treats. The Saturday Market had been a near-weekly event prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, said Karen Nanouk, who said she helped launch it about seven years ago.

“It’s a way for people to get together, and for people to sell their crafts or whatever, and enjoy the hay out of it, I thought,” Nanouk said. She said it would be “awesome” for the market to return on a regular basis soon.

“It’s a lot of fun to see what people have made and baked,” she said. “Especially the baked stuff, and they go really, really fast.”

A handwritten sign at the front of the village’s grocery store announced the event. The “Iditarod Saturday Market” would be held from noon to 3 p.m. “Open tables to anyone,” it read.

“We missed it, and we missed Iditarod,” said longtime sewer and village elder Lorena Paniptchuk, who stopped in to visit and grab a bite to eat. “It’s back to normal this year I hope. I hope everybody will be safe.”

Nanouk’s daughter, KariAnn Grimes, held her own infant daughter while she stitched a sea otter purse with a fabric trim. Grimes said a crowd had already gathered at the front door when she went to unlock it before the market’s noon start time.

Thirteen-year-old Aliana Towarak sold her origami projects for $2 each. Purchasers could choose from various forms including cranes, butterflies and “Iditarod huskies,” which she said symbolized happiness and perseverance.

“She has been interested in this since she was about 6 years old,” said her father, Marty Towarak, who resupplied Aliana with a fresh stack of unfolded paper during the sale. “She loves origami and loves crafting.”

One of the most anticipated items was Jolene Nanouk’s akutaq, a frozen whipped dessert made with berries, sugar and fat. Nanouk is serious about her berries. “We have freezer just for berries,” said Nanouk, who also sells berry-themed headbands.

Though the recipe can vary by region and preferences, Nanouk’s akutaq uses locally picked blueberries and salmonberries. She adds strawberries and raspberries and whips them with milk and Crisco. Customers lined up to make gallons of the treat disappear, one plastic cupful at a time.

If there’s a secret to making it great, it might be the milk, which makes it fluffy, Nanouk said. One customer, Heather Jones, credited another ingredient after she handed Nanouk cash.

“A lot of love goes into this kind of thing,” Jones said. “That’s why it’s so good.”

Unalakleet is Jones’ hometown, she said, but at the start of the pandemic she relocated to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. She returned for just a day on this trip, but looking around the room made her emotional about what she had missed over the course of the last two years, she said.

“It’s amazing. It’s restoring, is what it is. I’m going to cry,” Jones said, pausing for a moment.

“This is what Unalakleet’s all about …” Jones said. “It feels like life is coming back.”