McKinley Fire slows tourism in Talkeetna

As the destructive McKinley Fire continues to burn south of Talkeetna, local shops and services are trying to get back to business as usual. Some, like Denali Dry Goods, saw a steep drop-off in the first few days of the fire. 

“We didn’t do any business, practically nothing at all, one day, and the second day a little more, and the third day, a little more. but it’s so slow now that we’re going to have a fire sale, the McKinley fire sale.”

Store owner Tom Waite put out a sign advertising a 20 percent off fire sale on Thursday, and said it’s helped drum up some more customers. But he still had to make changes to adjust to fewer tourists on Main Street.

“We had to lay off one person, that would be normally working for us, because there just isn’t enough business to pay her. So we’re doing it ourselves, because we don’t pay ourselves and that cuts our losses.”

For area lodgings, it’s been a mixed bag. Bill Rodwell, who owns and operates the Talkeetna Cabins, grappled with cancellations and changed itineraries in the first few days of the fire, alongside new reservations from people waylaid by the Parks Highway closure.

“Some left early, some just kept their plans and moved on through the fire, some folks called me from the Mile 71, waiting in line for two hours, and said, we just don’t really want to wait anymore, so we’re going to turn around and head somewhere else.”

Rodwell got stuck on the south side of the fire himself, after a drive to Anchorage on Sunday. He spent the night in Willow before driving through the fire zone to get back to Talkeetna on Monday.

“It was very moving to drive through there, so it put everything in perspective in terms of coming back into town, and losing a little bit of business ended up not being that big of a deal, compared to what folks are going through there.”

The Talkeetna Alaska Lodge also had reservations in flux, and was handling cancellations and rebooking on a case-by-case basis. General manager and vice president Ferdinando Salvador said the Lodge is back to normal occupancy as of Thursday.

And tourists are trickling back into downtown Talkeetna after the earlier fire delays. Australians Wendy and Steve Jarvis stuck to their cruise ship itinerary and made it to Talkeetna on Wednesday with minimal delays.

“We did a flight yesterday afternoon, as soon as we got off the train, and that wasn’t sure because if the fires or the smoke, but we managed to get that in and the smoke didn’t hold us up. We’ve helped the economy a bit, quite a bit actually. And continuing today, it’s a lovely place.”

With minimal wind in the forecast until the weekend, business owners and residents are continuing to watch the fire containment and highway status closely, for both their safety and their livelihoods