As coastal Alaska braces for the 2017 salmon fishing season, folks in the Naknek-King Salmon area are also gearing up for the Bristol Bay Fish Expo, an event aimed at boosting the local economy by making adequate child care a reality.
“People don’t take jobs in Naknek because there is no child care,” said Katie Copps-Wilson, a physician assistant and mother of three, whose husband is a boat builder and commercial fisherman.
Since March of 2016, Copps-Wilson and Naknek film producer Sharon Thompson have been working to put in place a childcare facility to serve the Naknek-King Salmon area.
“I can’t go back to work because there is no child care,” Copps-Wilson said. “People are moving out of our community because there is no child care.”
Last fall the Bristol Bay Borough gave the fledging group of childcare promotors an $80,000 grant, which they used to put together a business plan and set up a facility for childcare. Now the group needs to raise $13,000 to pay staff.
They are hoping that a lot of that funding will come from fees from vendor and other events at the first Bristol Bay Fish Expo in Naknek, set for June 9-10 at the Bristol Bay Borough School.
Plans for the two-day fish expo include a fashion show, raffles, door prizes and special presentations honoring old time area cannery workers and an update on the Little Angels Childcare Academy, which will be the recipient of all proceeds from the event. Presenters will include Norm Van Vactor, president and chief executive officer of the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corp.; commercial harvester Melanie Brown, of Stand for Salmon; plus speakers from Camai Community Health Center and Nomar, a Homer company that makes brailer bags.
An invitation on the Bristol Bay Fish Expo webpage on Facebook describes the even as “an opportunity for local and outside businesses, fishermen, processors, regional associations, artists, and government agencies to come together before the season to talk fish, advertise, recruit, sell product, celebrate salmon, and simply get to know each other.”
For more information contact Copps-Wilson at bristolbayfishexpo@gmail.com
