Rain clouds parted and the sun was present for Salmon Jam festivities that kicked off with food vendors, an artisan market, and plenty of music on July 19 — the community celebrating what sustains Cordova: Salmon and art.
Day one
Salmon Jam weekend began with Friday performances around town by kids from the week-long Cordova 4-H music camp. Local musician Malani Towle, who runs the Cordova 4-H music camp, grew up singing with her parents at Salmon Jam and now performs with her family, The Towle Family Band, at the festival.
Linden O’Toole, Towle’s mother, was the one who gave Salmon Jam its name. After attending a bluegrass festival with Towle’s band more than 20 years ago, the mother-daughter pair came up with the idea to have a music festival in Cordova.
“Salmon Jam feathers well with the music camp that runs earlier in the week. It really is a sense of community, Cordova at its finest, enjoying your friends and neighbors,” Towle said. “The festival has grown from just playing acoustic music, however, it still gives local musicians a place to perform.”
In May of this year, a new tent arrived to host the musicians’ stage, replacing a smaller tent that was damaged in 2022 due to a high wind storm at the ski hill. Donations from community members, artists, the Cordova Community Foundation and the Rasmussen Foundation enabled the purchase of the much-needed tent, which debuted this year, setting the stage for the festival’s headline band, Wasabi Black, hailing from Anchorage.
In choosing this year’s band, Salmon Jam Music Coordinator Sarah Phillips commented, “I was impressed with how engaged the crowd was at a Wasabi Black performance. Picking bands for different events and pairing them with the right venue and the audience can be tricky, however, I felt like Wasabi Black was a band that would appeal to our Salmon Jam family, friends, and visiting audience. Singing classic favorites that you could sing your heart out to — even after running a race, you would still want to dance all night long!”
“They signed autographs for kids, cheered on the other bands at sound check and made time to explore our town and take it all in,” she added. “They have grateful hearts and said they wanted to make Cordova their annual inside-Alaska vacation spot.”
Early in the week, vendors sold merchandise at the Festival HQ booth on First Street. Every year a new logo is designed for Salmon Jam, and this year was a collaborative effort within Cordova High School’s junior high visual arts class. Student Amelia Niles began the process by creating a fish and sheet music design, then fellow student Tracer Stimson took it a step further with the lettering. Finally, their teacher Rob Ammerman pieced the two parts together using a guitar as a backdrop.
Day two
Early Saturday morning, the second day of Salmon Jam, the King Salmon Marathon started at 7 a.m. at the 27 mile bridge, on gravel road. The course passes the “Mudhole Smith” airport where it enters paved road, and finishes passing Eyak Lake into town. Irene Webber started the race when she ran the first King Salmon Marathon in 1986.
Floyd Witsoe placed first in the men’s marathon, finishing at 3:05:52, and Aleta Phelps was first in the women’s, finishing at 3:27:35.
Race Coordinator Kristin Carpenter stated that a lot of the marathon participation comes from those who are “50-staters” — runners aimed at completing marathons in all 50 states. (The King Salmon Marathon is also a certified qualifier to compete in other races, like the Boston Marathon.)
Following the marathon, race distances also include the Sockeye Half-Marathon, Coho 10k, Humpy 5k and the Smolt 1 mile Fun Run/Walk. As the names of each category suggest, the race honors the five salmon species native to Cordova and the keystone of the surrounding ecosystem.
The Alaska Salmon Run brought in 274 runners and walkers. The 5k race had the largest number with 138 participants. The top three women times in the 10K beat the top men’s time this year.
And to cap off the race, Copper River Seafoods donated salmon for the post-run potluck lunch, Trident Seafoods donated a shuttle driver and canned salmon for the runners’ swag bags, OBI Seafoods donated a grill, and many other businesses — including OBI — donated door prizes. The high school cross country team served the post-race lunch.
While kids participated in Small Fry activities at the ski hill organized by the Prince William Sound Science Center, adults partook in the Taste of Cordova event put on by Noble Ocean Farms — which is a seafood-themed community potluck that offers attendees the chance to sample dishes made of locally-harvested foods. Some of those this year included soup, seafood gumbo, clam chowder, crab cakes, smoked salmon fettuccine, and more.
“Attendance was great this year,” said Salmon Jam Coordinator Lauren Bien. “We had well over 800 people involved in the festival over the two days. We had six food vendors and 15 market/educational vendors this year. We also had twelve organizations or individuals offering activities for kids during Small Fry.”
“We would love to see more people get involved in making this amazing event happen. If you’re interested in being involved year-round, email [email protected],” stated Bien.
When you buy a ticket for Salmon Jam, you cast a wide net of support for youth art and cultural activities. Salmon Jam is the largest fundraiser for the nonprofit 501c(3) organization Cordova Arts and Pageants.
“We strive to offer a variety of performances from hip-hop to dance bands to classical piano,” states board member Barclay Kopchak. “We make sure every artist also offers an in-school concert or community workshop.”
All the money raised at this event supports year-round performances for Cordova, as well as college scholarships for local graduates and summer art camp scholarships for teens. These cultural activities make art available to our isolated community and educate Cordova’s youth. If you missed this year, bring your dancin’ shoes next year and experience the energy and enthusiasm of this community-supported event!
Note: This article has been updated to reflect that Irene Webber ran the first King Salmon Marathon in 1986.
