I flew in on the midday flight this Saturday to do some work with the Legislature. Beautiful view of the Mendenhall Glacier coming in.<\/p>\n
The friendly cab driver on the way downtown told me “You are in luck, today is the Maritime Fair and there will be lots of activities on the docks today.<\/p>\n
After checking in to my hotel I went to the fair. Upon arrival I witnessed a really nice scene. Lots of people, locals, tourists, folks from the Coast Guard and even the sailors from a U.S. Navy ship. Everyone having a good time, buying local crafts and food, and listening to live music.<\/p>\n
I only saw one unfortunate incident. As I walked by the booth soliciting signatures for an initiative against the cruise industry and bearing signs “No Tourists on Saturday,” I overheard a small group of tourists asking: “Does that mean you don’t want us here?”<\/p>\n
“No, we didn’t mean that,” was the answer.<\/p>\n
“Well, it is Saturday and we are here, does that mean we are not welcome here?”<\/p>\n
“It really isn’t about the tourists,” was the answer.<\/p>\n
“What do you mean? We are tourists and we are here.” “We can only say that we are from Georgia and if you came there you would be welcome.”<\/p>\n
I appreciated their attempt to leave things on a positive note. At the same time it made me sad to think that this is not the Alaska I know and grew up with.<\/p>\n
Paul Fuhs<\/p>\n
Anchorage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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