For this local food stand, the Alaska State Fair is a whole lot of work and a massive opportunity

Buffy Meyer and her hubby Brady Hayden holding a freshly rolled umiak astatine nan Alaska State Fair Grounds successful in Palmer connected Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024. (Ava White/Alaska Public Media)

Buffy Meyer mixed food successful a ample guidelines mixer successful a nutrient motortruck astatine nan fairgrounds successful Palmer. The blend will beryllium stuffed into umiak, or, what Meyer calls an “Alaskan jalapeno popper.”

“It’s half a jalapeno blanched, stuffed pinch nan 3 food blend, wrapped pinch a bladed filet of seasoned salmon, astir a 4th lb of seasoned salmon connected that, past nan bacon, and grilling it, truthful it’s a batch of prep,” Meyer said.

Meyer owns Fish On! Camp Grill pinch her husband, Brady Hayden. It’s their 11th twelvemonth operating astatine nan Alaska State Fair, and they’re engaged preparing section nutrient to waste to thousands of Alaskans erstwhile nan adjacent opens successful conscionable a fewer days. 

For nan couple, nan adjacent is simply a monolithic business opportunity.

Meyer is Inupiaq and nan businesses paper features Alaska Native inspired dishes for illustration grilled king crab legs, salmon bratwurst and cheesecake stuffed fry bread. The mates sources seafood from Rollman Family Fisheries and Norton Sound Seafood Products.

During nan fair, Meyer and Hayden estimate they’ll waste so much nutrient that they’ll gain astatine slightest half of their yearly revenue. It utilized to beryllium a higher percent earlier they started doing much catering and different events. 

“The adjacent was beautiful overmuch nan majority,” Meyer said. “The adjacent was astir apt 80%,” Hayden added. “This twelvemonth truthful far, it mightiness beryllium astir 50-50,” said Meyer.

It’s a akin communicative for different businesses. Alaska State Fair CEO Jeff Curtis said galore booths make a “significant chunk” of their yearly gross during nan event. 

He said astir of nan 75 nutrient vendors, for illustration Fish On!, don’t person a storefront. They’re fair-exclusive, and group travel backmost each twelvemonth to eat astatine nan stands again.

He said adjacent organizers purpose to supply a divers culinary landscape.

“We want these vendors to beryllium successful, and don’t want them to compete amongst each different excessively much, that they connection thing unique, and that’s bully for nan adjacent goer and bully for nan vendor,” Curtis said. 

Curtis said there’s an extended database of nutrient vendors vying for a spot astatine nan fair.

Meyer claimed her spot astir a decade ago. She said she heard nan adjacent was willing successful opening a salmon cook booth. She put successful a proposal, and was chosen. 

Hayden built the booth space, by The Gathering Place. He said he commonly hears astir group who travel to nan adjacent specifically for their food. Last year, he said they served complete 25,000 customers, and he thinks it’ll beryllium moreover busier this year. 

With each that demand, he said, it’s important to enactment focused. 

“You can’t fto it eat you up successful this stress, because if you fto nan accent get you, past everything starts going wrong. So you conscionable gotta focus. I conscionable gotta attraction connected my grill, grilling fish, grilling this, finishing that, and don’t look astatine nan statement and conscionable spell arsenic accelerated arsenic you can,” said Hayden.

Buffy Meyer’s niece is helping rotation hundreds of umiak successful Palmer connected Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024. (Ava White/Alaska Public Media)

To support prices down, Meyer and Hayden bargain salmon full and process it themselves. Meyer estimates she goes done 5 1000 pounds of food during nan fair.

“The salmon, it’s fresh, consecutive from nan fisherman, and we get those nan time they drawback it, and filet them all, return retired each nan pin bones,” Meyer said. “It is decidedly a agelong labour of love.”

Outside nan nutrient truck, their nieces are seasoning salmon filets and rolling them into umiaks. And later, Meyer will commencement making a assortment of sauces, including their pineapple rhubarb habanero mustard that tops their salmon bratwurst.

Then, of course, there’s nan fry bread. The mates says their mornings commencement early during nan fair.

“I get nan yeast rising, that’s for nan fry bread. We do commencement activating yeast early successful nan greeting and past getting nan fry breadstuff mixed starting to rise,” Meyer said.

Hayden said nan champion portion of nan adjacent is introducing their nutrient to those visiting Alaska.

“We’re conscionable very blessed connected what Fish On! Camp Grill has become. It’s our work to support it successful nan stature that it is,” said Hayden.

Beyond nan fair, Hayden and Meyer are working to get their seafood chowder, salmon bratwurst and herb blend wholesale, and expect them to beryllium connected market shop shelves by August 2025. The adjacent runs done Sept. 2.