Two More Weekends of Anchorage Market & Festival this Summer!
Pictured: Wild Alaska (4 Caribou Corridor), Salmon Express (3 Caribou Corridor), and Alaska Artisan Coffee (1 Caribou Corridor)
We will be downtown on 3rd Avenue between C and E Streets for two more weekends this season! We will be open, rain or shine, so come check us out! Don't miss out on a visit to Alaska's largest open air market this year.   
September / 1 / 2017
Market Hours:
Saturday:
10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Sunday:
10:00 am - 5:00 pm

Upcoming Events:
Holiday Food & Gift Festival: 
November 4 & 5 

Arts & Crafts Emporium: November 18 & 19 

Christmas Village: December 16
Interested in becoming a vendor at one of our events? Visit: 
for more information!
Produce Report
Fresh Produce will be available this Saturday, September 2. Supplies are limited, so arrive early for the best selection!

Dinkel's Veggies
180, 182, & 184 Caribou Corridor
Green beans, green and yellow zucchini, tomatoes, new potatoes, sweet onions, broccoli, cauliflower, and leaf lettuce


Babbling Brook Farm
194 Caribou Corridor
Apples, b roccoli, g olden beets, p urple bell peppers, p urple cauliflower, r ed beets, Roma tomatoes, s helling peas,
 snap green beans, snap purple beans, spaghetti squash, sugar snap peas, sweet bicolor corn,  and homemade pickles, relishes, and salsa.

Thank you for supporting Alaska Grown!


Vendor Profiles
We would like to introduce three of our wonderful vendors who will be at the Anchorage Market & Festival this weekend:
O'Brady's Dawg Hut
Kelley Staffan
367 Bear Boulevard

 
Have you ever loved a restaurant so much that you wish you could just franchise it? Well, that's exactly how Kelley Staffan came to operate O'Brady's Dawg Hut, a partner of Mo's O'Brady's Irish Pub, at the Anchorage Market & Festival. Kelley has been whipping up real Alaskan burgers, made from elk, buffalo and even reindeer, for visitors from all over the world, and this first summer is just the beginning. 
 
From a hot dog stand to a food truck with a full menu in one season, Kelley Staffan is no stranger to working fast and being mobile. Kelley got his culinary education at UAA and through master's courses in New York. Though he was trained in the French tradition, he's kept American comfort foods close to his heart. "If people can't decide [what to eat], they go with comfort," he explains. After years of managing different hotel kitchens, something changed when he joined Mo's O'Brady's Irish Pub on Huffman, and became fast friends with the owner, Maurice. From there, it was a natural step when Kelley decided to open a food cart; he and Maurice made a casual partnership of it, where Kelley uses the O'Brady's name, but retains control of the menu and ingredients. "It's kind of a family thing, because it feels like that with him," Kelley explains of the partnership. 
 
Kelley brings his creative experience to O'Brady's Dawg Hut's menu and sources his own ingredients. By far the standout entrée at O'Brady's Dawg Hut is the elk burger: the meat is 100% Alaskan elk, dressed with all the Alaska Grown veggies Kelley can source throughout the season, and topped with a bun made just down the road at Franz Bakery. "We're not gonna sell what we don't approve of," Kelley says, and his exacting standards stand out in his burgers. "Even the order of vegetables on the burger changes the experience."
 
If you prefer more of a sit-down meal, try the cowboy fries: hand-cut potatoes topped with pulled pork that is smoked each week and Kelley's barbecue sauce. "We spend probably four days every week smoking meat and getting set up," he tells me, squeezing through the small kitchen crowded with his staff of friends and family. "We believe in building flavors." The time that Kelley devotes to his food shows in every bite.
 
Belly up to O'Brady's Dawg Hut for a real Alaskan burger every weekend at 367 Bear Boulevard of the Anchorage Market & Festival, now through September 10th.  
Alaska Bug Bites
Ben Masters
285 Moose Hollow


Ben Masters has a passion for apples; whether they be granny smith, gala, pink lady or honey crisp, liquefied, sauced or fresh off the tree, you could say apples have been his life. However, as Alaskans know, picking apples from the grocery store here can, at times, be fruitless. However, Ben, through Alaska Bug Bites, presents a way for you to enjoy delicious, shelf-stable fruits year-round; his dehydrated fruit and vegetable chips crunch like potato chips but contain no added sugars or the sulfur dioxides used in other dehydrated products!
 
Though I can't verify, Alaska Bug Bites might be the first crowd-funded business to join the Anchorage Market & Festival, and the community support came together fast. So I had to ask Ben: we know you love apples, but why do people love your products? "Well, what you see is what you get," Ben tells me. "You also have vegans and vegetarians, and people with allergies, and [our snack] supplies for that." Ben's fruit chips aren't just snacks--his shelf-stable dried citrus fruits can also be used to flavor teas: "They last way longer than fresh lemons. I'll put a single lemon chip in my thermos, and after six to eight cups, it's still strong." 
 
Growing up on a farm in Washington, where the largest produce export is apples, Ben has always been in and around orchards. When he moved up to Anchorage in 2008, the lack of fresh apples was astonishing to him. So he decided to do something about it; on his property in Houston, AK, he planted 100 trees that are expected to bear fruit within a few years. With his childhood so steeped in nature and agriculture, sustainability remains highly important to Ben. Thanks to solar heating, entrapment, and clever circulation, he tells me, "for at least six months out of the year, [our kitchen] is nearly carbon-neutral," which is especially important for a potentially energy-intensive business like Ben's. 
 
Though it's the first year for Alaska Bug Bites at the Anchorage Market & Festival, Ben has settled in quickly. "I know everyone around me," he smiles, "[and] there's enough draw that even in bad weather, we do well!" When someone gets hold of a bag of Bug Bites, Ben tells me, it's usually not the last he sees of them for the day. "The Market is great because someone will buy a single bag of apple [chips] and won't even make it to their car before they devour it!" With a diverse menu, a growing loyal customer base, and a sustainable business model, Alaska Bug Bites is surely set to be a lasting venture. 
 
You won't need a head net for these Alaska Bug Bites, so come downtown and catch Ben every Saturday & Sunday through September 10th, at 285 Moose Hollow of the Anchorage Market & Festival.
Denali Fur & Leather
Wayne Kemp
106 Caribou Corridor


Flitting between the Anchorage Market & Festival in the summer and his busy storefront in Wasilla over the winter, Wayne Kemp, Denali Fur & Leather, has become a cornerstone of the Anchorage Market & Festival. His unique art combining the skills of a taxidermist and a furrier has made him a sought-after furrier across the state!
 
After 14 years, Wayne has become a Market staple that returning visitors and locals expect to see every weekend. "It can be a real challenge to keep up with demand," he tells me, "since I'm a one-man show." His work is part traditional and all utility, and many of his designs come out of his short time working as a trapper in British Columbia in his youth. After quitting the trapping trade, Wayne went off to study taxidermy; after graduation he went into the field for a short time, but he never stopped sewing furs. "After that business took off, I left taxidermy, but that career left me a niche," he describes. He has made an art of mixing fur clothing and taxidermy, and the result is stunning, and intimidating! On the Sunday I came to talk with Wayne, the first thing I noticed were the piercing eyes of a Lynx head from the hat rack. 
 
(Pictured above: a customer tries on one of Wayne's taxidermied Lynx head fur hats at the Anchorage Market & Festival). 
 
His booth is decorated with a staggering variety of furs, including otter, beaver, red & silver fox, and lynx, but he works with a myriad of other furs, including wolverine and bear. Describing his fur sourcing and choice of animals, Wayne tells me, "I go to the Fur Rendezvous every year, and pick out what I know will wear the best... My products are made to be used, and if cared for they might last longer than you." 
 
Though he maintains a storefront in Wasilla, off of the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, Wayne relies on the Anchorage Market & Festival for his summer retail season, and the model suits him perfectly: "Winters are busy for me out in the Valley, but this Market is my summer season... I get to work in my shop all week long, and concentrate on customers over the weekend." He also takes a large amount of custom work every season, from repairing furs to making products with a hunter's kill. "I definitely consider myself an artist," he describes to me. "I feel like the man who learned to fish, and has never had to work a day in his life." 
 
Don't miss your chance to experience Wayne's unique art of fur at Denali Fur & Leather at the Anchorage Market & Festival, 106 Caribou Corridor, every weekend now through September 10th. 
On Stage at Anchorage Market & Festival:
Check out the great entertainment at the Market this weekend!
Saturday, September 2
National Anthem performed by Becky Kotter
10:05am - 11:20am: Becky Kotter
11:30am - 12:40pm: Country Gospel/Country Memories
12:50pm - 2:00pm: Ashley LaMoureaux
2:10pm - 3:20pm: Gil Rodriguez
3:30pm - 4:40pm: Marie Nielson
4:50pm - 5:50pm: Andrew Lyle

Sunday, September 3
National Anthem
10:05am - 11:20am: 
11:30am - 12:40pm: Between the Keys
12:50pm - 2:00pm: Dewey Whetsell
2:10pm - 3:20pm: Paul & Lee Band
3:30pm - 4:40pm: Gary Stedman
Thank you to our 2017 sponsors:
www.odomcorp.com/coke-alaska 
www.denalifcu.org
 
www.adn.com