Tourism

A Juneau marshmallow maker is seeking community support to turn his hobby into a small business before the tourist season begins.

Jason Puckett says he’s never had much of a sweet tooth, but admits to always having an appreciation for marshmallows.

“It wasn’t overly sweet. It’s just the consistency and the flavor and the feel in your mouth and it’s just something that is unique,” he says.

The former Marine and father of three grew tired of store-bought marshmallows with the added chemicals and preservatives. He decided one day to try making them from scratch. Ten years later, he’s nailed down a simple recipe that’s in high demand among friends and co-workers. Several of them encouraged Puckett to try expanding his hobby into a business.

Recently, he set-up shop in the rented kitchen space of Chez Alaska Cooking School and began producing about 20 pounds of chocolate-covered marshmallows each week.

Puckett’s operation is a one-man show requiring much attention to detail. He hand cuts each marshmallow with a trowel — purchased at a hardware store — then delicately plops them into a swirling pool of melted chocolate. After extracting them, he slabs on a final layer of chocolate with a mini-BBQ basting brush.

It takes Puckett up to four hours to make a batch of marshmallows, which can conflict with the kitchen school’s busy schedule. He recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $2,500 for the first deposit on his own small kitchen space. Puckett’s already collected about $1,000 and says he’s been impressed by the flurry of community support.

“Everybody wants to help you in Juneau if you’re a new business starting out,” Puckett says. “So I’ve had a lot of people try to mentor me and help me along with my business.”

Alaskan Fudge Co. manager Phil Wheeler has been giving Puckett pointers on how to launch his business. Wheeler sells Puckett’s marshmallows in his store and describes them as a standout addition to his candy palette.

“It wasn’t exactly what I expected it to be. It’s a lot fluffier and softer than what I thought it would be,” Wheeler says. “I didn’t think something like that would dip in chocolate like the way it does.”

Wheeler says he’s seen many candy businesses come and go over the years. He says developing a regular clientele is key for surviving in the capital city.

“I don’t know if there’s room for more than a few candy stores here in town or anywhere in Southeast Alaska,” Wheeler says.

Puckett says he’s confident his marshmallows will attract business year round. He plans to broaden his products to include chocolates bars, peanut butter cups and pumpkin spice-flavored marshmallows.

“It’s really important to diversify and have a lot of different areas where you can do your business so you’re not just pigeonholed in one area,” Puckett says.

Puckett hopes to work in his own kitchen before the tourism season kicks-off next month. He’ll be accepting donations until March 26.

The Juneau Assembly has approved new enforcement measures designed to cut down on “hawking” — an aggressive form of commercial sidewalk solicitation also called “barking.”

Juneau police say the practice is on the rise, especially during the summer tourist season.

Lt. Kris Sell says downtown patrol officers will be working with local businesses this year to identify and stop hawking.

“Last year was when we saw what appeared to be our first professional barker, brought in from out of town — very good and very aggressive — and he was cited twice,” Sell told the Juneau Assembly last night. “And (he) did comment that it’s just a cost of doing business as long as he didn’t have to go to court.”

The previous penalty for hawking was a flat $150 fine no matter how many times a person was cited. The updated punishment includes a $150 fine for a first offense; a $300 fine for a second offense in a two-year period; and a mandatory court appearance for a third offense in two years.

Sell says JPD did one undercover sting targeting barkers last year, and she promised more this summer.

Kristy Chhabria is a South Franklin Street store owner, who says hawking is common in other tourist destinations. But she says the visitors who come to Alaska are looking for a different experience.

“Not to toot our own horn, but because we don’t do the barking and the hawking, it’s actually helped us,” Chhabria said. “Customers will come back after walking down and say, ‘We just love you. You guys aren’t out there harassing us.'”

The Assembly unanimously approved the new more strict hawking enforcement measures at its meeting last night. Some Assembly members commented that they wished the penalties could be even stronger.

Auke Bay plan approved, Assembly backs Medicaid expansion

The Juneau Assembly adopted the Auke Bay Area Plan last night, adding it to the city’s Comprehensive Plan. The plan was developed by the city’s Community Development Department and a committee made up of Auke Bay stakeholders. It’s aimed at promoting responsible growth in the area, which includes a small business district and the University of Alaska Southeast campus.

The Assembly also approved a resolution calling on the Alaska Legislature to expand Medicaid in the state. Gov. Bill Walker’s administration supports Medicaid expansion, but it’s being blocked by Republican state lawmakers. The resolution says approximately 2,400 Juneau residents would get health insurance through expansion. It also says expanding Medicaid will bring new federal dollars to Alaska and create jobs.

The U.S. Forest Service is holding a public meeting tonight to discuss a proposed fee increase at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center starting with the 2016 tourist season.

Not only is the agency looking to raise the fee for the visitor center itself, but for the first time it wants to charge people for the use of some nearby trails.

Visitor center director John Neary says it would be the first cost increase at the facility since 1999, and would help offset federal budget cuts.

“What Congress allocates us is in rapid decline,” Neary says. “My budget – the Congressionally-allocated portion – has dropped 50 percent in just the last couple of years, not to mention previous drops.”

Under the proposal, the visitor center entry fee would go from $3 to $5, and a new $5 fee would be charged to use the Photo Point Trail, the Steep Creek Trail, the viewing pavilion, bus shelter and restrooms.

Other areas near the Mendenhall Glacier, including the Nugget Falls Trail, the Trail of Time and the East and West Glacier Trails would continue to be free. Seasonal passes would cost $10 and the fees would be waived during the tourism off season.

While reaction on some message boards has been largely negative since the proposal was announced last month, Neary says the written comments he’s received have been 2-to-1 in favor of the increase.

“I’m aware that there’s a significant amount of people that have concerns,” he says. “I’m not hearing from them by email. So that is the official way to comment is by email, by letter or by phone call directly to us.”

Or, he says, you can go to tonight’s meeting at the visitor center from 5 to 7 p.m.

The comment period lasts through Jan. 30. After that, the agency will consider all of the comments and make a final decision later this year.

One of the reasons Giono Barrett moved to Alaska almost seven years ago was because the state already has pretty lax marijuana laws. The 1975 Ravin v. Alaska ruling by the state Supreme Court allows residents to possess a small amount of pot for personal use. Barrett, a 33-year-old Minnesota native, says he’s already growing marijuana with his brother in a house they share in Juneau.

“Right now, it’s six plants. I’m sticking to the guidelines Alaska has stated,” he says.

And he insists it’s all for personal use.

“I really don’t want to get in trouble,” he says.

But Barrett says he is looking forward to the day he can legally sell pot. In November, Alaska voters approved recreational marijuana for people 21 and older. The new law doesn’t take effect until next month, and after that it’ll take another nine months for the state to enact regulations governing commercial retail and grow operations. Still, Barrett and his brother have signed on to a reality TV show chronicling their operation.

He’s not currently working, and says they’re putting all their efforts into expanding what they grow now. Eventually, he says, they want an outdoor cannabis farm to supply retailers around the state. They’d offer tours to capitalize on Juneau’s visitor industry and help others grow marijuana, something he says they already do now.

“You can grow cannabis. It is a weed, it’ll grow,” Barrett says. “But it’s really hard to grow in a quality form.”

But the Juneau Assembly plans to pump the brakes on Barrett’s dream grow operation. Two ordinances on Monday’s Assembly agenda would restrict – at least temporarily – legal pot in the capital city. The first is a 12-month moratorium on land use permits for marijuana-related businesses. The second would add toking up to the city’s ban on indoor smoking in workplaces.

“Right now in Juneau you can have a greenhouse with a retail sales counter in any type of neighborhood in town,” says Juneau Assemblyman Jesse Kiehl.

“So, think about quiet little residential neighborhoods where we don’t allow bars and liquor stores,” Kiehl says. “You would be able to come in and get a permit to open up a marijuana greenhouse and retail sales counter there.”

The city’s law department tells the Assembly that any permits granted now would likely be grandfathered if restrictions were adopted later. Kiehl says the moratorium is intended to give the city time to figure out where and when pot-related businesses should be allowed to operate. It would expire before the state starts to issue business licenses for legal marijuana enterprises, and it’s not a blanket ban on sales like a proposal before the Anchorage Assembly last month.

Kiehl himself supported the ballot measure legalizing recreational marijuana.

“Voters in the state of Alaska passed this initiative,” he says. “Voters in Juneau voted for it by a very strong margin. And what the people voted to do, I think, the Assembly now needs to implement.”

He does think the 12-month moratorium might be longer than the city needs to figure out its zoning issues, and says if that’s the case he’d support a shorter timeline.

As for extending the city’s indoor smoking ban to include pot, Kiehl says he’s not interested in seeing Juneau overrun by hash bars. But mostly, he says, the measure is designed to protect the health of employees.

“Some people just need a job,” Kiehl says. “And your job shouldn’t come with a contact buzz.”

The Assembly will take public comment before voting on the measures. Even though he says he understands the desire to be cautious, Barrett plans to speak against the moratorium.

“We don’t want to send a message to other communities, and say ‘Hey, you can just stall this out,'” Barrett says. “The message here needs to be that we need to keep moving forward, and we can work through all this stuff.”

He says potential marijuana entrepreneurs want to work within the rules established by the city. But the longer it takes to set up those rules, the more uncertainty it creates.

Juneau is one of the 20 most travel-worthy state capitals, according to an ongoing online voting contest by USA Today.

As of Friday, the city was in second place behind Carson City, Nev. The contest started Dec. 9 and ends Jan. 5 at 8 a.m. Alaska time.

Nancy Woizeschke is the president and CEO of the Juneau Convention and Visitors Bureau. She says that Juneau has consistently been in the top 3 since the poll opened.

“We think that anything that puts us at the top of any such list like this is gonna be beneficial to us,” Woizeschke says.

Woizeschke says it’s difficult to measure how publicity impacts tourism in Juneau. She says the results of this contest may end up on JCVB tourism materials.

USA Today asked travel writers David Scott, Kay Scott and Larry Bleiberg to pick the initial list of travel-worthy capitals.

The Scotts have visited Juneau twice and say a number of things make it a special place.

“There aren’t too many capitals that have glaciers right outside of town,” Kay Scott says.

The Scotts are surprised that Carson City, as a small city, was leading the poll but speculate that capitals getting the most votes are supported by dedicated locals. Woizeschke says the employees at JCVB are diligently voting every day and encourage Juneau residents to do the same.

This isn’t the first time Juneau has been recognized as a travel destination. Last year, Eaglecrest was runner up in Powder Magazine’s Ski Town Throwdown and the TODAY Show came out to the Mendenhall Glacier this summer.

You can vote here.

A former Sealaska executive is the new head of a Sitka-based, small cruise line.

Russell Dick left his job as president and CEO of Haa Aaní in September. The Sealaska subsidiary promotes regional business development.

Dick is now CEO of Alaskan Dream Cruises, a four-year-old company offering tours to Southeast ports not visited by larger lines.

He takes over as the company makes plans to add a fourth ship:

“The Chichagof Dream, which we expect to have in Sitka within the next couple weeks and do some refurbishment of that vessel and have it into the itinerary rotation in 2016,” he says.

Alaskan Dream Cruises is owned by the same Sitka family that operates the Allen Marine boat-building company. It also owns Allen Marine Tours, which offers wildlife-watching and sight-seeing day cruises.

With Dick gone, Sealaska has named Ed Davis as interim director of Haa Aaní. He’s served as its operations manager.

Alaskan Dream Cruises is a small line, operating three ships with a total of about 150 beds on board. Dick says the new ship will boost that number by 30 percent.

Dick is board president of Huna Totem Corp., which owns Icy Strait Point, a renovated cannery, zipline and excursion center.

“I expect that we’ll be exploring a number of different ports. And Icy Strait Point, of course, should be one of them, given the infrastructure that’s established out there,” he says. “It has nothing to do with my connection to it as much as it does with guest satisfaction and experience, and giving them the full breadth of experience they can get in Southeast Alaska.”

The Allen family also recently purchased the Windham Bay Lodge about 65 miles southeast of Juneau. Dick says it will become a destination for Alaskan Dream Cruises.

Also, Alaskan Dream Cruises recently named Peter Butz as operations manager. He’s been an executive at Lindblad Expeditions, which also offers small-ship tours in Southeast.