Dancers at the Alaska Native Heritage Center bless a newly crafted totem pole on Sunday, Oct 22, 2023.
“Come and see the mountains and the brown bears — and come explore and discover and go on the glaciers and look at the berries,” says Edenshaw, reciting the typical travel industry pitch that she says needs to be updated. “What about the Indigenous experience? Our people have been here for 10,000 years, in some cases even longer than that.”
“I think it really sparks a light and really sparks that pride in who they are, so it helps us to preserve our cultural identity.” “We need to get the data. We need to know how many jobs it creates. We need to know the economic impact through a cultural tourism lens,” said Edenshaw. “And the truth is, this has never happened in Alaska.”