Hope Residents Take Action Against Popular Music Venue Creekbend

By Soren Wuerth

TNews Editor

A group of residents in the tiny, end-of-the-road community of Hope are taking their complaints about a popular music venue to a state agency in charge of alcohol permits. The group, Friends of Hope, says noise, traffic and public inebriation have gone too far.

The group, founded to challenge the festival operator's liquor license, has organized a non-profit and enlisted the help of an attorney. 

The move has elicited an email alert by the company, Creekbend, which runs a restaurant and holds concerts and weddings on its property.

Creekbend has become a popular destination for weekend music fans, hosting bands from Alaska as well as national artists. 

"We're not trying to close down his business at all. We want a few concessions from him to not have as many venues," said Jim Skogstad, who lives down the road from Creekbend and helped  organize the group.

He said Friends of Hope seeks limits on Creekbend's noise level and that music from weekend festivals, which last year amounted to 44 events, can be heard throughout the small, historic town and goes as late as midnight on some days.

Efforts to convince Creekbend owner, Steve Thomas, to "slow down" by restricting noise levels and the number of events have been ignored, Skogstad said.

"[Thomas] has no intention of cutting back and is only moving forward," he said.

Thomas, reached via text Saturday, is on vacation and did not reply to a request for an interview. In email and social media posts, Creekbend went on the defensive.

In a post on its Facebook page, "Team Creekbend" said with "misinformation circulating, we feel it's important to share some context" and changes it has made to "reduce impacts", including increased on-site parking, additional signs, sound buffering, security, dumpsters and reusable cups. 

In its post, Creekbend admitted "parking has been a recurring concern" and blamed "a town organization" for resisting efforts to "pursue infrastructure that supported our business".

Among documents on Friends of Hope's webpage is a Nov. 26 "Notice of Violation" by the state's Alcohol and Marijuana Control Board for unauthorized changes to Creekbend's establishment.

Of around 600 properties in Hope's valley only about 125 are occupied year round. The town center has only a dozen streets and is a popular visitor destination for hiking, fishing, rafting and mountain biking, as well as for the town's isolated, romantic and mining-era appeal.

Comments on social media were mixed. 

"I have commented ever since Creekbend opened that I can’t believe how low-key and quiet everything is there now starting at 11p.m.," wrote Kelly Selmer in a post on Girdwood's Facebook page. "Even the camping after the shows at [Creekbend], everyone is respectful and quiet."

Cole Carmody wrote that he lives near Creekbend for six months during the spring and summer and said he has had "teenagers making out in my parked truck in my driveway". He stated he's had to look for the driver of vehicles blocking his driveway and was forced to build a new access. 

"I have two driveways now," Carmody wrote. "This isn't directly [Creekbend's] fault but damn can't there just be a little more accountability?"

Creekbend has donated to local services and programs such as fire fighting, the Hope School and the Wagon Run, wrote Jeannine Stafford-Jabaay, and many in the community are grateful.

But Frank Gwartney, whose property abuts Creekbend's, said in an interview parked cars lining both sides of the street would hamper the ability of a fire truck to get through. 

"It's a goddamn Woodstock almost every weekend," Gwartney said, adding "some of the bands are worse than others."

Gwartney, who has lived in Hope off and on since the late 40s, said conversations he's had with Thomas about the noise level, traffic and public inebriation have had no effect. 

"It's exploitation," Gwartney said. "They love a place and want to capitalize on it."

Reauthorization of Creekbend's alcohol license will be discussed during the state's Alcohol and Marijuana Control Board which meets April 14 in Nome.