Going back in time

One resident recalls this is what the town looked like before tourism became the driving economic force. “This is a peek back into the ‘80s of Talkeetna,” said Serena Berkowitz. “People are going to lose money. It’s going to be a bad, bad summer.”

Along with oil and fishing, tourism is a pillar of Alaska’s economy, accounting for about $2.8 billion in direct visitor spending, according to a state-commissioned 2017 report. One of 10 jobs result from the tourism industry, it said.

Many Talkeetna businesses, and employees, make their yearly income between May and September.

“March and April is our point of lowest cash flow,” said Sassan Mossanen, the founding partner of Denali Brewing Co., which is off the main highway between Anchorage and Fairbanks. It also operates a brewpub restaurant on Talkeetna’s Main Street.

By April, most businesses had made it six months with little or negative cash flow. That’s when the coronavirus pandemic took hold as events began being canceled.

Denali’s climbing season had already been called off, meaning hundreds of climbers who descend on Talkeetna before making their way to base camp didn’t arrive. By May, all of the larger cruise ship companies had postponed or canceled their season.

“Roughly about 30 to 40% of our draft business in the summer is gone,” Mossanen said. “On the retail front, that number is probably closer to 40 or 50%.”

The brewery switched gears and made sanitizer to help buffer the downturn, but a handful of people were still laid off.

The businesses that make most of their money over the summer may not be able to build up cash reserves to make it through the winter.

Talkeetna has long been rumored to be the inspiration for the town of Cicely, Alaska, on the 1990s TV show “Northern Exposure.”

“Normally when we are talking about summer business, we have an influx of people,” said Berkowitz, a full-time clerk at Nagley’s General Store, where the resident cat was the town’s mayor until dying a few years ago. “It is a situation to where we will see bus after bus after bus, day in and day out.”

In a normal year, Berkowitz bounces between two registers almost nonstop when she’s not scooping ice cream and making espressos. “I found myself having gaps where I’m not really doing something or I have to go find something to do, which is weird for this sort of time of year,” she said.