For people able to focus on something other than recovering from a record flood earlier this week, one of Juneau’s hallmark events is underway as the three-day Golden North Salmon Derby launched for its 78th year on Friday morning.
Participants in the annual event, proceeds of which provide scholarships to local youths through the Territorial Sportsmen Scholarship Foundation, have until 6 p.m. Sunday to turn in their fish at three weighing stations. The stations at Amalga Harbor, Douglas Harbor and Auke Nu Cove are open from 7:30 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday.
Weather during the derby appears as if it will be fairly typical for Juneau following a heat wave the past few days.
“It looks like we’re gonna get some overcast, and then maybe some a little bit of light rain here and there, but nothing serious,” Shawn Hooton, co-chair of the derby, said Friday morning. “And the wind is fine, so I think we’re good.”
The first fish turned in Friday morning was a king salmon at Amalga Harbor, according to derby officials.
Some people who normally participate in the derby may instead be cleaning up from the record flooding of the Mendenhall River on Tuesday that damaged more than 100 homes, triggering a large-scale response effort by various government, nonprofit and private entities. The billions of gallons of water that spilled into the river from a glacial outburst flood from Suicide Basin also swept up trees and other debris, carrying them out into the channel where some boaters may pass through this weekend.
Hooton said the primary concern for derby participants is to watch for uprooted trees that may be in the water, similar to what happened during flooding before last year’s derby.
Participants must purchase derby tickets, which are $50 for adults and $10 for kids ages 6-12 years old. Tickets can be purchased online at www.goldennorthsalmonderby.com, or at Dehart’s Auke Bay Store, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Western Auto Marine.
As usual, a multitude of cash and other prizes are being offered to people catching the largest (and 78th largest) fish, as well as drawings for derby ticket holders and people turning in scholarship fish. The awards ceremony for the derby is scheduled at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Juneau Moose Lodge 700 at 8335 Airport Blvd.
More than $2 million dollars in scholarships have been awarded to more than 330 Juneau youths during the previous derbies, according to the foundation. Hooton said typically more than 200 volunteers are involved in the derby, including members of the city’s docks and harbors department, employees with Alaska Glacier Seafoods, and others.
More information and official rules for the derby are available at goldennorthsalmonderby.com.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
