A former Fort Seward tribal house and salmon bake attraction will be seeing some improvements.
Which events and public gatherings will continue to be held there isn’t clear.
A food service building used for the salmon bake for about 15 years will become a martial arts studio and catering kitchen, following a recent sale.
At 55 years old and with a sagging roof and floor, the adjacent replica tribal house needs replacing, but the project is lagging.
“We were trying to figure out if we could rebuild it for the (Alaska) sesquicentennial (in 2017) but we don’t know if we’ll be able to do it,” said Lee Heinmiller, president of Alaska Indian Arts, which owns the structure.
Jeff Butcher, who sold the food service building he inherited when he purchased the Hotel Halsingland in 2002, said he operated it with a salmon bake “off and on.” Without significant cruise ship traffic, the building was limited to “alternate uses,” he said.
Those included as a dinner site for the Kluane-Chilkat International Bike Relay, location of a Fourth of July local music festival and rental for weddings and other private gatherings.
“I think it has potential. Our primary business model is a hotel and restaurant. It really deserves somebody who could focus solely on it. As a person’s only business, you could give it the time and attention it needs,” Butcher said this week. “I didn’t want it to be turned into a two-bedroom house.”
Resident Gershon Cohen bought the building that he’ll be converting for year-round operation. He plans to add insulation and replace windows and doors. “There’s a lot of work the building needs.”
The front part of the building will serve as a martial arts studio operated by son-in-law Chorus Bishop. Daughter Sarah Cohen will operate the rear kitchen area for catering, Cohen said.
Cohen is negotiating a lease with AIA, which owns the property under the building. He said the boundaries of the property to be leased haven’t yet been decided.
“It will be great for the building to be used. It’s needed repairs but there wasn’t enough use to justify fixing it up. We intend to fix it up and make it nice,” Cohen said. With a new, year-round use, the building will bring some activity back to the Parade Grounds, he said.
AIA president Heinmiller said former hotelier Arne Olsson built the food service building in 1986.
A tour that combined the salmon bake and a performance of the Chilkat Dancers in the adjacent tribal house once served as many as 175 cruise passengers a night, and was used for smaller groups on lunchtime tours, Heinmiller said.
But Heinmiller, who managed the Dancers, said he doubted a salmon bake attraction would be financially feasible without large cruise ships docking regularly in Haines. “It’s hard to gear up for those kinds of numbers for a one-time shot.”
Also, he said, other salmon bakes have sprung up in the region. “It’s an experience people are looking for, but it’s available at a number of other places around.”
Heinmiller was asked whether the tribal house was still safe. “It needs a little help. It’s perfectly sound for being in there, but I don’t know if it’s sound if there’s five feet of snow on the roof,” he said.
Heinmiller said he hoped the pavilion area could still be used for events like weddings and the Fourth of July. “That would be the plan, if they have the kitchen intact and the barbecue pit, we could still have weddings there.”
Food service building owner Cohen said he kept some picnic tables and one of the tents previously used as shelters in the pavilion.“That would allow for small events. I don’t think there’s interest in catering larger events, but nothing’s set in stone.”
Butcher also said he was hopeful he might still be able to use the pavilion for the holiday music festival. “We’re getting our strategy together for that. I still think we have an opportunity down there.”
The Parade Grounds property is owned by AIA.