It was a cold and rainy weekend, but Cordovans still came to the Orca Cannery’s old warehouse to hear live music!
Were you there at the first Salmon Jam? For more than 15 years now, Cordovans have been coming together to celebrate music, salmon and art.
I wonder if Steve Ranney and others who were the brains behind that first event, knew what they had started, and if Melani Towle and Linden O’Toole knew their name for the celebration would stick.
I’m glad I was there to hear all the local musicians play and that Lisa West from KCHU
public radio was there as well. The constructors of the large, paper mache creation of the festival’s mascot, Twanda, the fish, moved away the next year, but Lisa West got Cordova Arts, where I was president at the time, to join KCHU in keeping it going.
We wanted to offer Cordova’s talented musicians a platform for playing and Lisa took it to another level, inviting the Domino Kings, to headline. Then we began to invite Alaskan bands to headline the show, including Sweating Honey, Zydecohos, Beer Money, Big Fat Buddha, and Bobby Walker & the Roadsters.
There were the years we were at Orca Adventure Lodge and then we took it to the ski hill and put the stage on flatbed trucks covered with tarps. Susie Herschleb tie-dyed those first Twanda T-shirts and I would BBQ fresh salmon for the crowd!
Kate Morse, then with the Prince William Sound Science Center, was the brains behind mixing salmon educational activities with the music. Kristin Carpenter, coordinator of Alaska Salmon Runs, blended the annual road races into the weekend line-up.
We purchased the ‘Big Tent’, which almost blew away one year, but did not, thanks to Amy Lindsey!
The Salmon Jam began to take shape as a real music festival.
Remember the Alaska Department of Fish & Game’s mobile aquatic classroom, artists like Ray Troll, beading with Patience Faulkner, workshops with headline bands?
Festival partners expanded to include the city of Cordova, Copper River Watershed Project, Cordova District Fishermen United, Cordova Chamber, Prince William Sound Science Center and the U.S. Forest Service.
This festival has always been driven by volunteers, now numbering more than 200 people, and led by my sister, Marita Kleissler, who come together each year to cook, haul, entertain and much more.
I’m passionate about the arts and I’m glad this town is passionate about music and salmon. I think the Salmon Jam is a perfect expression of that! I hope to see you on the hill, July 14-15! The show starts at 6 p.m., and at 10 p.m. our special anniversary headline band, the Lowdown Brass Band, from Chicago, will be rocking the crowd.
All photos accompanying this article are courtesy of Alyssa Kleissler and Linden O’Toole
