Photo by Megan Pacer/Peninsula Clarion Residents of Heritage Place enjoy a meal duirng the annual Return of the Salmon event Friday, May 20, 2016, at Heritage Place in Soldotna, Alaska.

Photo by Megan Pacer/Peninsula Clarion Residents of Heritage Place enjoy a meal duirng the annual Return of the Salmon event Friday, May 20, 2016, at Heritage Place in Soldotna, Alaska.

Heritage Place serves salmon to celebrate salmon

The line for fresh barbecued salmon snaked out the cafeteria door and down the brightly decorated hallway of Heritage Place in Soldotna on Friday.

The assisted living center’s residents along with friends, family, staff and community volunteers were eagerly awaiting an elaborate spread cooked up for this year’s Return of the Salmon Celebration. Now in its 15th year, Return of the Salmon serves up a reason for the community at large to visit Heritage Place residents.

“You know how fishing kind of connects everyone,” said Audrey Wahback, activities coordinator at the assisted living center. “So in that way it’s like the celebration of … how eating and fishing and all that brings all of our community together.”

Since those who live at Heritage Place can’t all go out on trips at once, it’s nice to be able to bring their friends, family and the public to them once a year, Wahback said.

“It’s really important because here with the residents, we can bring that celebration part of it here when they can’t go out,” she said. “We can’t get everybody out. We do field trips … but we only get six in (the vehicle) at a time, and so this is a way we can open up our home and be hospitable and have everyone come here, and really be a part of the community like they always have been.”

Other senior centers in the area are also invited to the celebration, Wahback said. Coordinated in part by the Soldotna Rotary Club and its volunteers, the event also features face paining, a meal including barbecued salmon and other fish, and a large wheel detailing the life cycle of salmon from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, she said.

The residents worked for several weeks to make the colorful fish that lined Heritage Place’s walls, as well as the jams and hand-made wreaths they contributed to a silent auction, Wahback said. The auction will raise funds to help support those with Alzheimer’s disease, she said.

Sandi Crawford, administrator and director of nursing for Heritage Place, said the event is pretty traditional and has maintained its staple features for years. One of those features is live music by Susan Biggs and Jack Wills, who entertained throughout the shared meal.

“It’s just a community gathering and I think the history of it was just, you know, the fish come in and the people come into town, and it’s kind of symbolic of that,” Crawford said.

Reach Megan Pacer at megan.pacer@peninsulaclarion.com.

Photo by Megan Pacer/Peninsula Clarion Susan Biggs and Jack Wills perform for an audience of Heritage Place residents, staff, family and friends during this year's Return of the Salmon event Friday, May 20, 2016 at Heritage Place in Soldotna, Alaska.

Photo by Megan Pacer/Peninsula Clarion Susan Biggs and Jack Wills perform for an audience of Heritage Place residents, staff, family and friends during this year’s Return of the Salmon event Friday, May 20, 2016 at Heritage Place in Soldotna, Alaska.

More in News

Members of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education meet on Monday, Dec. 4, 2023, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
New school board group will study 4-day school week

The group will meet regularly until next July, when committee members will present their findings to the full board

Members of the Kenai/Soldotna Fish and Game Advisory Committee raise hands to vote in favor of a proposal during a meeting at Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association in Kenai, Alaska, on Monday, Nov. 20, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Advisory committee supports protections for lake trout and king salmon

Advisory committee recommendations will be weighed by the State Board of Fisheries alongside public testimony as they deliberate on each proposal

The Kenai Peninsula College Main Entrance on Aug. 18, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Inside the Iditarod

Showcase to feature stories from champion, event photographer

Paul Gebhardt is photographed on March 24, 1996. (M. Scott Moon/Peninsula Clarion)
Kasilof musher dies at 67

Paul Gebhardt was a 21-time participant in the Iditarod

Santa Claus hugs Paul Cook during Christmas in the Park festivities at Soldotna Creek Park in Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Soldotna brings holiday cheer

Christmas in the Park drew hundreds to meet Santa Claus, go on sleigh rides, sip hot cocoa and listen to music

From left: Rep. Ben Carpenter, Sen. Jesse Bjorkman and Rep. Justin Ruffridge discuss their priorities regarding education during a work session with members of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District on Monday, Dec. 4, 2023 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
School funding, accountability dominate school board work session with lawmakers

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, Rep. Ben Carpenter and Rep. Justin Ruffridge joined the board for a work session in Soldotna

Snow coats an eroding bluff near the mouth of the Kenai River on Friday, March 3, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai accepting bids on bluff stabilization project

The announcement means that contractors can start submitting their proposals for how they’d complete the work and how much it would cost to do so

A stack of the Seward Journal is pictured. The town’s only daily newspaper published its last edition Nov. 27. (Photo via Seward Journal Facebook page)
‘A thing of the past’

Seward Journal calls it quits after struggle to keep newspaper afloat

Tim Navarre and Dana Cannava discuss a preliminary Soldotna route for the Kahtnu Area Transit with Planner Bryant Wright at the Challenger Learning Center of Alaska in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Getting people where they need to go

Plans for Kenaitze Indian Tribe’s Kahtnu Area Transit move forward

Most Read