Forest Fair at 50: Still Growing Strong
Girdwood Forest Fair’s Vice President Terri Adkins presided over the 50th Anniversary of the festival. (Photo by Soren Wuerth)
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
Tents yawned open, music trickled from a stage, and bubbles and cottonwood drifted among crowds as Girdwood's Forest Fair began its 50th year under blue skies Friday.
Throughout the day and into Saturday, they came—patrons wearing face paint, summer skirts, muscle shirts, rainbow tie-dyes, sunglasses or ball caps painted with mountain reliefs.
They endured long lines of traffic along Alyeska highway, lines for merchandise and even lines for spinach bread without complaint or even notice. "The line goes fast and it's worth it," remarked a fair-goer holding a paper tray of cheese-slathered bread.
Over five decades, the event has grown from a small "arts and craft" fair with a half dozen booths into a busy festival with more than 200 vendors, 52 music acts, and 24 food booths.
There is no way to count the number of people who attend the three-day weekend, but, by 10 a.m. Friday every available parking spot in downtown Girdwood was taken.
"When people ask how many showed up, we say, 'a forest full'," said Terri Adkins, the event's vice president.
The fair has unmistakably grown. Its formerly 10-member nonprofit board now has 30 people. Its red-shirt clad volunteer force has grown into a 200-strong small army of "keg pushers" (beer servers), "age discriminators", "earth maintenance" crew, merch slingers and security. The beer garden alone requires 40 volunteers.
The Forest Fair is a project so consuming, its core committee call themselves the "commit me", Adkins said.
"If you ever need a ride somewhere, someone (with the "commit me") will pick you up," Adkins said. "We've become a second family."
The organization's munificence extends beyond three days of music, art and fun. Proceeds from the event are returned to the community. Last year, the board donated $40,000 to local nonprofit groups. This year, Adkins hopes the amount will be $50,000.
This year, the Argus Foundation gave the fair an unsolicited $5,000 grant that went to providing bus service, Adkins said.
A siren whined above the music of a band as she spoke.
"That's why we want people riding the bus," Adkins said, referring to the possibility of a car accident on the highway. "The big push is to get more people riding buses from Anchorage."
"We don't want conflict. We want people to have a good time and a safe ride home. We want people to be free of conflict," she said.
The rules are simple: no dogs, no politics and no religious orders.
Yet, perhaps because they didn't understand that Independence Day occurred the day prior, or simply to be provocative, three young men paraded around the beer garden with an over-sized U.S. flag Saturday.
Few spoke with the men, maybe because no one wanted conflict.
Folks were happy to just listen to music, talk and enjoy the fair.