Homesteading, fishing and other subsistence practices are a way life for some Kenai Peninsula residents. So, Kenai's cultural center is displaying a broad exhibit about subsistence lifestyles.
One of the exhibit’s goals is to time it with the influx of dipnetters coming into the city. Cultural center coordinator Danielle Lopez-Stamm says that's fitting, because dipnetting is a modern-day subsistence practice.
“Fishing is at its peak right now," Lopez-Stamm said. "Everybody's out fishing, hunting, foraging, just doing all the things that they need to do to prep for winter, which is quickly approaching.”
Lopez-Stamm says that prep work for winter is what makes subsistence living in Alaska so unique. The lifestyle is rooted in Alaska Native culture and goes back thousands of years.
One of the display cases in the exhibit spotlights the ulu, a crescent-shaped knife that was first used by Inuit and Yup’ik people in Alaska. Lopez-Stamm says the style of knife is still popular today.
“They're very sharp, very perfect at fileting fish and skinning them exactly how you need it to be," Lopez-Stamm said. "So, it's just a really well-rounded tool.”
But subsistence living isn’t just about food. On the other side of the cultural center is a display about furtrapping. In it are several fur stretchers Lopez-Stamm says have never never been on view in a museum.
“These were used for stretching out the fur, prepping it, making it into clothing or whatever you were planning on using the fur for,” Lopez-Stamm said.
While furs were primarily used for warmth – some homesteaders used them as a fashion accessory. That’s evident by a sea otter coat on display, which was made by Kenai homesteader Peggy Arness for a local beauty pageant.
Also on view are tools from early Alaska homesteaders, a model of a wooden salmon trap and several ivory carvings of people fishing from bidarkas. That’s a traditional Alaska Native canoe covered with animal skin.
And like with many of the cultural center’s previous displays, Lopez-Stamm says it's important to highlight Alaska Native history because it’s a critical part of the Kenai Peninsula’s history. She says that’s especially true for subsistence practices.
“They were the first subsistence livers here, and many of them continue to do so," Lopez-Stamm said. "We obviously should highlight that.”
The Kenai Chamber’s exhibit on subsistence lifestyles will run through the end of the month.
