Subsistence, tradition and humor celebrated during the Kuukpik Corporation’s 50th anniversary

As Nuiqsut guests approached the Colville River shore on a small boat, the Kuukpikmiut Dancers and Nuiqsut residents welcomed them with traditional music and treats.

“They were greeted by Eskimo drumming, and songs, and dancing,” the Kuukpik’s Corporate Secretary Leonard Lampe Sr. said. “They gave them dried fish as they walked up the beach to watch the rest of the dance.”

The greeting was a part of the Kuukpik Corporation’s 50th anniversary, a five-day-long event that spanned from July 30 to Aug. 3 and featured workshops, contests, comedy, music, traditional games and dance performances. More than 400 people, locals and visitors, attended the celebration, Lampe said.

“It was like a big family reunion,” Lampe said. “There was a lot of recognition. There was lots of kinship, like renewed friendships and brand new friendships and new family members that never met before.

“I think that was really a highlight of the celebration,” he said, “that we’re all one people.”

The Nuiqsut village’s Kuukpik Corporation was established in 1973 under the provisions of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. It now has more than 600 shareholders. Nuiqsut area — the Colville River Delta — is abundant in petroleum and natural gas deposits and is the location of the Alpine oil field, operated by ConocoPhillips. Following ANSCA, whenever oil deposits are extracted on Alaska Native lands, 70% of the royalties go to the 200 Alaska tribal corporations, Lampe said.

“We feel like we contributed a lot to the economy of the state of Alaska so we want our shareholders to be proud of that fact,” he said. The event, he said, was a reminder that “we’re a modern village but we hold on to our ties, our tradition, very strongly. We teach our children the dances and songs. It was very inspiring to remind the rest of our region, our state, that we are real people, with real tradition.”

To strengthen that tradition, event participants had a chance to learn to make mukluks, atikluks and baleen baskets and boats during daily workshops. Lampe said that young participants were especially excited, eager to learn new skills so they could make their own garments.

Corrine Danner and Diana Martin shared how to make ruffs using skin and fur.

“The participants were very interested and they even told me they don’t want to leave this class,” Danner said. “The importance for me to teach anything is to pass down the knowledge so it can be passed down to generations to come.”

The celebration mostly took place in the Trapper School and other buildings in Nuiqsut, for example, the Kisik Community Center where the City of Nuiqsut offered a place to gather and share traditional food. But locals and guests also went out to the river and local hunting spots. The location of Nuiqsut is unique because it allows residents to hunt ocean mammals, as well as land animals.

“We also got to show the surrounding of our village and the beauty of the river and the ocean,” Lampe said. “We got to share dry fish. We got to share freshly caught caribou, as well as things that were gathered throughout the year, such as bowhead whale, seal and other mammals.”

Each part of the celebration reflected different traditional Inupiaq values, Lampe said.

One is celebrating children, so the youth took the spotlight during dance performances and the talent show. To honor Elders, everyone gathered to listen to the stories of the knowledge holders and acknowledge their successes.

The Inupiaq value of humor was not missed either, and comedy night was a hit, Lampe said.

In addition to workshops, participants also competed in nigliq and ptarmigan calling contest, maktak eating contest and old fashion boat races at the river. In the evenings, dancers from Nuiqsut, Kivalina, Utqiagvik, Kaktovik and Point Hope and Anaktuvuk Pass shared their art.

The celebration ended with Premium Blend Live Band, a talent show and fireworks, said Nellie Kaigelak, board assistant at Kuukpik Corporation.

The winner of the talent show was 15-year-old Cora Kaigelak who played her guitar and sang “What’s Up?” by 4 Non Blondes. Kaigelak said the young woman dedicated the song to her late aaka, Margaret Opie.

“She sang a song in memory of her grandma that loved the Colville and loved Nuiqsut,” Lampe said.