This year’s Juneau Public Market is expected to be the largest since before the COVID-19 pandemic turned it into a virtual event — an option shoppers not into Black Friday crowds will continue to have as well in a limited form.
The 41st annual market at Centennial Hall and the Juneau Arts and Culture Center between Friday and Sunday will also again coincide with the Indigenous Artists and Vendors Holiday Market at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall. While there isn’t a one-stop-shopping website for the latter, detailed profiles of what is expected to be about two dozen total vendors are being shared on the Facebook page of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska that hosts the event.
More than 175 vendors are expected at the Juneau Public Market, about half of them local, according to Peter Metcalfe, the event’s longtime organizer. Other vendors are from about 25 communities including a Dillingham couple that’s sold its crafts at the market for 15 years while visiting family here, a Gulf of Mexico diver/jeweler from Florida and former local Kodiak Coats maker Bridget Milligan making a return journey from Hawaii a decade after closing her store here.
Todd and Annie Fritze (left) talk to Cheryl Benson about fur products sold at the couple’s booth at the Juneau Public Market on Friday, Nov. 24, 2023, at Centennial Hall. The couple travels from Dillingham each year to spend Thanksgiving with family in Juneau sell items made from furs they trap. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)
Among the many familiar names of note at the public market are Chef Stef (the official chef for three governors including the current one) selling cookies, candy and other creations; painter MK MacNaughton’s works on items ranging from ornaments to puzzles; and Jon Lyman again showcasing bamboo fly rods he’s been making for 25 years.
The public market is scheduled from noon to 7 p.m. Friday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Admission is $10 (cash) to enter Centennial Hall, while admission to the JACC — which typically has a few dozen vendors — is free. Prize drawings are held during the three-day event at both locations, with people required to be present to win except for a handful of grand prizes.
A webpage for the “virtual public market” features a few dozen vendors with more being added as the event approaches and links to their websites, although not all of them are functional.
Vendors at the Indigenous market have also been spotlighted for weeks by Tlingit and Haida for the free event scheduled noon to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
Among this year’s participants are lifelong Juneau resident Andrew Tripp who specializes in engraved copper, gold and silver jewelry; local resident Mike Wilson offering devil’s club salve and tea, regalia shell buttons, beads, and abalone jewelry; Sandrenia Blue (Katasse) featuring traditional copper tinàas and other creations; and Jackie Leight, a Tlingit and Black artist with ties to Juneau and Texas, exhibiting polymer clay and bead jewelry.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
