Smart Meetings

Ketchikan (Ketchikan Visitors Bureau) not only has full-time assistance available for meeting planners, is also has the interesting habit of bragging about the town’s annual rainfall.

Exceeding 150 inches (Southeast Alaska is technically classified as a “mid-latitudes rainforest”), it falls on a landscape that is probably the most lush you’ll ever see, with enough shades of green to make a leprechaun color blind. Ketchikan is also the place where it’s easiest to get in touch with Native traditions. The town hosts the best totem pole collections anywhere, at the Totem Heritage Center, Saxman and Totem Bight. Totem poles are not religious objects; they’re storytellers, memory carved into wood.

And, so, perhaps Ketchikan was the natural choice for the Bureau of Indian Affairs National Tribal Indian Reservation Roads Program Coordinating Committee that brought more than 75 people to town. “[The town] took the bull by the horns,” says Sam Thomas, who chaired the meeting. Along with local groups, the CVB “hosted a traditional dinner for us, had a welcome and reception for us; and for tribes that come from all over the country, it was big doings. They did a tremendous job.”

Thomas does note one other thing any planner should keep in mind about small-town Alaska: Especially in summer, “be careful preplanning exactly how much hotel space you’ll need.” In high season (generally May 15 through Labor Day), Alaska hotels regularly hit 100 percent occupancy.

For a venue that will keep your meeting memorable, Ketchikan offers the Ted Ferry Civic Center , a 4,500-square-foot site with a 1,500-square-foot stage. The ballroom can be divided into three smaller venues, each with full lighting and sound systems. As for the caterers, the kitchen is considered one of the best in Southeast Alaska. Back to Top

Getting There

Ketchikan, Juneau and Sitka are accessible via Alaska Airlines through Seattle.

OTHER ACCESS:
Towns in Southeast Alaska are also connected by the Alaska Marine Highway (akferry.com); the Alaska Railway (akrr.com) runs between Anchorage and Fairbanks.  

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Not To Be Missed

Discover How Much Splash 30 Tons Can Make.

Alaska has more coastline than the rest of the U.S. combined. A boat trip is the best way to see it all—and can make an interesting venue for meetings. From Anchorage, day trip to Resurrection Bay with Kenai Fjords Tours (alaskaheritagetours.com). Out of Juneau, Tracy Arm is the place to go, via Auk Nu (auknutours.com); from Ketchikan, Misty Fjords (mistyfjord.net); and from Valdez, Prince William Sound (stanstephenscruises.com). Any one of them offers glaciers, seals, otters and always a chance to watch a breaching humpback whale—60,000 pounds or so of animal leaping completely out of the water.

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