By Ken Smith
Turnagain Times
It’s coming down to the wire for Forest Fair to secure a permit for camping on Heritage Land Bank (HLB) land for this year’s fair July 3, 4 and 5.
On April 28, an ordinance waiving municipal code, authorizing issuance of a land use permit to the Girdwood Forest Fair Committee for camping on HLB lands was introduced to the Anchorage Assembly.
The Assembly will vote on the ordinance May 12 during the public hearing portion of the Assembly’s agenda, which begins at 6 p.m.
“The Forest Fair will happen,” said Tommy O’Malley, who has been the Fair’s main spokesman and political representative. “I’ve been guaranteeing it.”
If O’Malley is correct, and the Assembly votes in favor of a waiver, then camping will be permitted on a designated area recently cleared around Karolius Drive.
O’Malley said there is about 500 campsites at that location. Campers will be charged $25 per person per night.
Initially the Fair Committee planned on providing around 1,500 campsites, but that was predicated on securing use of an island on city property in Glacier Creek. But, as part of the terms of conditions for the land use permit, the HLB is not allowing camping on any islands.
The municipality is the largest landowner in the Girdwood Valley, and basically owns most of the non-private lands not held either by the state or federal government. It’s also the only land available for camping.
The city owns land in the center of Girdwood between Alyeska Highway and Ruane Road, and California and Glacier Creeks in Section 17, T10N, R2E, Seward Meridian, managed by HLB.
Before a permit is granted, the HLB is mandating a lengthy list of conditions that Forest Fair must meet.
Last year’s fair was cancelled due to security concerns over camping on the island at Glacier Creek, which had an estimated 2,000 campers. The campsite became a giant party of excessive drinking and illegal drug use. Girdwood Fire Dept. personnel were fearful for their safety when entering the island. Fire Chief Bill Chadwick Chief, publicly spoke out against it this year, and said campers personally threatened him with assault during the fair two years ago. He also stressed the importance of emergency vehicles being able to respond to the island, which is not accessible right now.
As Forest Fair enters its 34th year, the main goal is to bring it back to being a family friendly event. In order to quell concerns over security and rowdy campers, fair officials hired a security firm, Securitas USA, and will increase patrols of the camping area to 24 hours a day. Camping will be allowed for two days during the fair (Friday and Saturday).
O’Malley said despite scaling back the campsite numbers, there should be enough money generated from campers to cover the cost for security, which is around $30,000 this year. At previous fairs, security costs were between $7,000 and $10,000.
Of more concern to O’Malley than the cost of security is one of the conditions requested by the HLB to pay a security and clean up deposit of $5,000; the deposit would be refunded if the fairgrounds are cleaned up satisfactorily within 30 days of the fair.
“We’ve always cleaned up before,” O’Malley said. “We’ve always got good marks for cleaning up afterwards. We want to have money to pay for local non-profits like the Girl Scouts and Challenge Alaska.”
Another condition on the HLB list that has raised some eyebrows is that the Forest Fair Committee show proof that they have requested retail stores in the area to stop all sales of alcohol by 6 p.m. each evening.
There are three retail outlets selling alcohol in Girdwood: the Crow Creek Mercantile in downtown, the liquor store at the Tesoro Mall, and the Sundry Shop at the Hotel Alyeska.
“The HLB doesn’t really expect that to happen,” O’Malley said. “But we’ll write the letter and turn it in. It’s another hoop we have to jump through. I don’t expect it to happen, we don’t think anybody does. It’s a matter of the state liquor law, and we can’t change it.”
There are many other terms that must be met for the land use permit to be issued—18 in total. They include, but are not limited to: No alcohol, no campfires, no burn barrels, no use of any islands for any activities or use, tent camping shall be contained within one discrete fenced area designated by HLB permit, signage shall be provided by Forest Fair Committee to enforce the permit conditions, all costs, including but not limited to, setup, shut down and cleanup and satisfaction of all Girdwood Parks Permit requirements will be exclusively the Girdwood Forest Fair’s costs, and all cleanup is responsibility of the Forest Fair Committee including impacted areas not specifically designated by permit.
Despite the many list of conditions, O’Malley is undeterred and optimistic.
“I don’t know if we can meet all of the conditions, but nothing is a deal breaker,” he said. “It’s all stuff we can do.”
He said the bottom line is that everybody is supportive of Forest Fair, the mayor, the Manager of HLB, Bill Mehner, and Jennifer Johnston.
But he admits, it’s vital to have control of the campgrounds to make this year’s fair a safe and fun family event.
“We’ll have controlled camping,” O’Malley said. “If they give us the waiver then we’ll have control over the woods.”