In Western Alaska, there’s no such thing as last-minute holiday preparation. With Thanksgiving around the corner, hundreds of turkeys have already taken flight across the Bering Strait…in bush planes, that is.
Adam Martinson manages cargo at Bering Air in Nome. He said they and other local airlines like Ravn take tons of turkeys to surrounding villages, and that’s no exaggeration.
“I would say it depends on the village, but some of the bigger villages will get 450 to 500 pounds of turkeys and all the fixings,” said Martinson.
And if you combine the food flown between Thanksgiving and Christmas, that estimation is even higher.
“A rough estimate and probably a low estimate would be, I’d say, 5,000 pounds for us at Bering Air,” said Martinson.
But that’s just routine operation in our region, where holiday feasts are ordered early and travel many miles before appearing on plates in front of friends and family.
Frances Ozenna, who works at Little Diomede’s IRA, said this year they ordered four turkeys and four hams from a grocery store in Nome. She placed the order on October 31, though they usually order in September or early October due to unpredictable weather. A tribal council member traveled to Nome to pick up the poultry and toted it back to Diomede via helicopter from Wales.
In Gambell, they just received their Thanksgiving order on Monday: Twenty 10-12 pound turkeys and dry goods for the community feast. In Gambell, that’s a roughly four thousand dollar order—plus pies that are still on the way, and reindeer donated from Savoonga—that will feed about 500 people. Last year their delivery arrived too late, so now they’re allowing more time for transit.
And that’s the most important precaution you can take, according to Dan Scholten, who works in the meat department at Hanson’s grocery store. For years, he’s managed holiday orders in Nome and surrounding villages.
“Two seasons ago we had one village was fog bound, weather bound, for seven days with no flights,” said Scholten. “So they barely got their food in 24 to 48 hours before needing it, so it’s good to plan ahead.”
Scholten said he remembers one Thanksgiving when the person scheduled to pick up a large order of turkeys became sick, so Scholten drove the birds to the airport himself so they would arrive to their final destination on time.
And those large orders are only a small fraction of turkeys sold at Hanson’s during the holidays.
“I would say 75% at least are individual families,” said Scholten.
With about five hundred and 80 turkeys on hand, Scholten said he’s able to fill the massive stockroom freezer three times…but it’s amazing how they (almost literally) fly off the shelves.
If you haven’t gotten your bird yet, with just about a week before Thanksgiving, Scholten says it’s a good idea to buy it soon. He suggests thawing it for three to four days at under 40 degrees, or if you’re tight on time, you can thaw a turkey overnight in lukewarm water, making sure to turn it about halfway through.
