August 15, 2023 — Ninilchik’s annual Salmonfest transformed the small Kenai Peninsula town into a packed music hub this weekend, with big-name artists from around the country. Behind the stages, however, is the festival’s enduring message about Alaska salmon, and omnipresent anti-Pebble Mine activism.
Thousands of people attended Salmonfest this weekend to see performances like Old Crow Medicine Show, Sierra Ferrel and Sam Nelson of the pop rock outfit X Ambassadors.
But at the opposite corner of the Kenai Peninsula Fairgrounds in Ninilchik is an area known as the “causeway.” Here, dozens of fishing and environmental-related nonprofits line the pathway, from the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens Advisory Council, to the Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association and Juneau-based SalmonState. U.S. Congresswoman Mary Peltola, who built her platform on a pro-fish position, has a booth here too.
Founded in 2011, the music festival has always been a venue for salmon activism. Thomas Tilden was at Salmonfest with United Tribes of Bristol Bay, a 15-tribe consortium that advocates for clean water and against Pebble Mine.
“I believe we have a really sound claim as to why they shouldn’t open the Pebble Mine in the spawning grounds of not only the Nushagak River, but also the Kvichak River,” he said.