Craig Loken gives a thumbs up as he and his daughter, Connie, sample oysters during an OysterFest kickoff party at the Hangar Ballroom on Wednesday. A new event sponsored by Haa Aaní, a Sealaska subsidiary, OysterFest will highlight Alaska-grown oysters and raise awareness about Alaska's expanding mariculture industry. It runs through Saturday.
Michael Penn / Juneau Empire
Craig Loken gives a thumbs up as he and his daughter, Connie, sample oysters during an OysterFest kickoff party at the Hangar Ballroom on Wednesday. A new event sponsored by Haa Aaní, a Sealaska subsidiary, OysterFest will highlight Alaska-grown oysters and raise awareness about Alaska's expanding mariculture industry. It runs through Saturday.
Photo: Taste test
Posted: June 8, 2012 - 12:04am
Comments (13)
Add commentAwesome event! And I must say
Awesome event! And I must say that the oyters at the hangar were incredible! The Diablo! Mmmmmm! This needs to be an annual event!
correction
Hey, just to clarify, this is Connie Loken from the picture and that is my dad, Craig Loken. My mom, Aral, is much better at being his wife. Luckily we're all good at eating oysters.
On another note, this was an incredible event, and my family I all had a great time!
Yum!
How can you order Alaska Oysters? I'm sorry I missed this event!
Havent missed it. It is also
Havent missed it. It is also going today and tomorrow, IF I dont eat them all. Better hurry.....They only brought in 30,000 oysters
Correction
Hi Connie,
Thanks for letting us know. I have corrected the copy so it reads correctly.
Thanks!
kpawsuh - excellent!
What's the cost? Do you get a sample plate of different oyster growers in the state? I'll have to head over after work!
Its $30 all you can eat.
Its $30 all you can eat. They have washington, Kake, and two or three growers from Yakutat. You can rotate around several different restaurants for their creations. Prospector yesterday had two baked one with bread crumbs, the other cheese and spinach. Zen had raw with a garlic sauce and one with black bean sauce. Zephyr had a table at the site next to Sealaska with raw and a balsamic rhubarb sauce. Baranof had a chowder/stew. Icy Point Lodge was grilling them with a little butter at the same site. The Sealaska crew was also shucking raw on site. The Hangar/Flight Deck/Twisted Fish were all together in the Hangar Ballroom. They had baked with parmesan and breadcrumbs, raw with berry granita, raw with sweet and sour sauce and wasabi, raw Diablo with saracha ice, and a chowder. For a $10 lift you can go up the tram too, but I didnt try it and didnt talk to anyone who had. All and and all, everyone did a good job, but the Hangar was excellent! Not sure if they have same recipes today or new ones but it runs from 11-7 so I went for lunch then went after work for dinner.
Loken
LOL Connie! I have known your parents for years and was a little freaked out... noticed this right away and immediately checked their FB pages :)
Will do it again next year!
Totally cool event. Initially I thought it was $30 for the whole weekend and was planning on stopping by all the restaurants over the next couple of days. Maybe next year they should have some sort of 3-day package...
Anyway, when I found out it was $30 for just one day, I tried to make a point to stop by all the places. I think I got my money's worth at the end!
Delicious! I was curious about the farming process, but the event wasn't set up so that I could listen to the presenters and eat the oysters at the same time.
Will do it again next year for sure!
yuk
I'm heavin' just looking at this picture.
More for us, gum. Swimmer, I
More for us, gum.
Swimmer, I did find out that its the same recipes today.
20, I totally agree. $50 for the weekend or something. I made it everywhere except the tram. Would have paced myself a bit more if I had all weekend. But for $30 a day, I'm getting my money's worth! I would have liked to see the presentations too and some of celebration. Wish it had been more weekend based.
kpawsuh - thanks
for the info! A friend gave me the schedule. I'm doing the Relay for Life tonight, so I'm not going to be able to see the A-Z lecture or the cooking demos, which would have been great. I will try to get to the Hangar tomorrow, and Zen sounds good too! Hopefully Kpawsuh won't have eaten them all by then...... :)
It's unfortunate that the Empire doesn't do a better job of reporting on community events BEFORE they happen, so people can plan to go. It's what a community newspaper should do, I try to read the calendar section often - but this is not the first or the second time I've only learned of an event the day after, when the picture finally hits the Empire.
As for the weekend - I'd do a $50 weekend pass too, if event coordinators are reading this blog - that way I could fit in the lecture and hit all the venues. Maybe have a card or bracelet where each venue is punched when you get there, if coordinators are worried about folks doubling back.
I hope the Oyster event happens again next year, I'll watch for it!
Oh Ratdroppins!
The good and the bad! 1st the bad...moved to the lower 48s and couldn't get there for the oysters (this time). The good.......I moved just a few miles from Quilcene, Washington on Hood Canal. I hope thats a clue to the quality and how many oysters I might have in my own front (beach) yard. I do miss the sanity of Alaska though. Oddly though, this article brought up a thought. Never thought about it before of how many events are held in hangers in Alaska. Peace! :)