Unalaskans came together over food, arts and entertainment at the annual Heart of the Aleutians Festival on Saturday. Whether grabbing a burger or hot dog fresh off the grill, wandering the vendor stalls, or watching local dancers and lipsyncers perform, the town showed out in force. Albert Burnham, recreation manager at Unalaska’s Department of Parks, Culture and Recreation, estimates between 500 and 700 people attended this year’s block party.
“The festival this year went great,” Burnham said. “Many people are probably familiar with the fact that we had to move it inside last year because of the weather. So, it was really nice to see that the rain held off. It wasn't windy. It was a perfect day for folks to come out and enjoy it.”
Burnham said there were 41 vendor booths with local cuisines, crafts and hand-made wares, as well as information from regional nonprofits.
“I really feel like the community did a good job of coming together,” he said. “We saw a lot of kids playing the games down at Town Park and we gave a lot of fun prizes away, so we saw a lot of happy faces there. We also wrapped up the day with a few great performances by some of our local cultural dance groups.”
The festival has been taking place for at least fifteen years, according to Burnham. This year, it kicked off at noon, right after the high school cross-country running team’s first ever “slime run.”
As always, a number of contests were held during the six-hour event. NJ Tutiakoff won the PCR Mystery Prize Box. There were a number of winners drawn for the Kids Don’t Float prizes, too. In the Aquatics Center Summer Lap challenge, Owen Burnham and Grace Burnham won their respective races.
