At a college party in Midgeville, Ga., seven years ago, a friend of Robert Butker’s introduced him to Courtney Hunt. Later, through the same friend, Butker met Mike Vondette, co-owner of the Gold Rush Brewing tourist attraction in Skagway.
Those introductions proved fateful. Butker and Hunt are engaged to be married. Butker, who coaches the Haines Dolphins, also works for Vondette at Gold Rush Brewing. Hunt teaches at Chilkat Valley Preschool.
Butker, 26, and Hunt, 27, grew up within five miles of each other in Atlanta but didn’t meet until at a college. They began dating a week after meeting.
Butker earned a degree in marketing, with a focus in management and finance. But he didn’t find satisfying work in Georgia. Hunt earned a master’s degree in early childhood education and worked two years as a lead pre-K teacher in Atlanta. The couple drifted apart.
Butker was open to an adventure when Vondette was seeking a new head brewer at Gold Rush. Plus, the local waste company needed someone to help overhaul landfill operations.
Butker grew up immersed in brewing culture, including brewing in college. He also had experience in environmentally-friendly planning. He was offered a full-time, two-part job: head brewer in Skagway for the summer, landfill consultant for winter.
In his two seasons with Community Waste Solutions, the landfill’s score on state inspections rose from 32 out of 100 to 96. Butker worked to establish the composting and single-stream recycling systems, address drainage issues and generally tidy up the site.
“That was a big accomplishment. It was very difficult, but I had a lot of fun,” he said in a recent interview. Learning about the community while making a positive difference in it made the job enjoyable, he said.
Through a chance conversation, parents of local swimmers learned Butker had seven years of experience as a swim coach. Haines Dolphins board members decided they could work with his scheduled two-month trip to Georgia. Now the swim team keeps him busy and connected to the community.
“I like seeing progress and seeing growth in what I put my time, energy and sweat into. When you’re working with kids you really do see that,” Butker said. “It’s not one of those jobs that you can flip on autopilot and go. I’ve had plenty of those jobs and I hate them. I like the jobs that challenge me, and this definitely challenges me.”
During a visit to Georgia, Butker and Hunt decided to give their relationship another try. After her second year teaching, Hunt also wanted something different.
“I was ready to take a brain break, and in spite of all of my family telling me how crazy I was, I decided to move to Alaska to join with Robert in Skagway,” Hunt said. She took a job as a tour guide with Klondike Gold Fields, part of the same company as Gold Rush Brewing.
Butker has coached the Dolphins for three years. Hunt is an assistant at the preschool and will be leading a new program there in January. This summer she’d like to stick around Haines and get involved with a summer camp.
Small-town living combined with outdoor recreation and music opportunities make Haines an appealing place to be, they said.
Hunt is a singer and lifetime performer, a veteran of college choirs and rock bands. She sings at “open mic” events downtown and performed at the Holly Jolly Christmas Follies. She and Butker both are feeling ready to start settling in somewhere and start using their education.
In the new year, Hunt will offer a “preschool enrichment” program she developed, focusing on reading and writing instruction. In Atlanta, five of her 15 students entered kindergarten knowing how to read.
“You can really see those lightbulbs come on when they get something. I think children really derive pleasure from learning and it makes me enjoy it,” she said.
Butker said he’s ready to move on from brewing beer and root beer for tourists. His summer brewer job has been a great learning experience, he said, but it’s not the ultimate dream.
“Ever since I was in middle school I’ve wanted to own a restaurant with a little brew pub attached to it,” Butker said.
The couple has talked a lot about starting a brew pub, but thinks it probably isn’t possible to do in Haines. Whether they will stay depends on finding more sustainable work.
“We love what we do but it really is not paying the bills,” Butker said. “I personally get a lot of grief from my family for staying here and I think it would be less if we could go visit them more than once per year.”
Butker is confident that with his brewery connections down south he could easily land a brewer’s assistant job in Colorado, North Carolina or Washington, where there’s also a market for highly-qualified teachers.
But for now they’re staying put. “It’s hard to break away from Haines,” Hunt said. “It sinks its teeth in ya (and) keeps you around.”