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Discover the heartbeat of Juneau's cultural and community landscape with 'Capital Chat.' This series explores the vibrant world of the community, arts, and dynamic cultural and social events happening in Alaska's Capital City. Tune in to 'Capital Chat' for your essential guide to the pulse of our community, where every story is an adventure and every voice matters.
K I n y Juno. Cliff Doom is here. Good morning. Thank you for being with us this morning. '8 20 seven.
Speaker 1:So proud to have with us Kelly Perez. Kelly, good to see you, my friend. Good
Speaker 2:morning. How are you?
Speaker 1:Excellent. Eightieth annual Golden North Salmon Derby to talk about what's coming up this year. We're only literally a few weeks away. Can't wait for that. And and your involvement not only here at this radio station fifty plus years, but, the entire Derby is dedicated to you this, this year, which is congratulations.
Speaker 1:That's just weird, isn't it? It's weird. Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's, it's, it's overwhelming for me because it's not, you know, it's not that's not something you pursue. And to be thought of in the idea that I'm contributing or have contributed to this Derby to the likes that the Bartonist family have or the Summerville family have, and I could go on with other names, the Beeson family, etcetera, that's that's gratifying to say the least, the very least.
Speaker 1:Best favorites, if you can pick one, and I know it's a hard question, memory of one of the Salmon Derby's past.
Speaker 2:Okay. I'll tease you a little bit, and I think everybody will remember this. But I'll tease you a little bit because one of the episodes for your fish stories for Derby weekend will give a lot more detail on this. But Maggie Hall, in in short, just to drop a name and people who people who have followed the Derby over the years will remember Maggie as the $100,000 winner.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:But it's it's the interesting part of that is how that story unfolded. We knew she had a special fish because it was a tagged year, or a tagged salmon for a special year of the Derby. We knew it was tagged. We knew it was going to be worth something above and beyond. We didn't know it was gonna be worth a $100,000, and it was the the how all that transpired that that got real interesting.
Speaker 2:Wow. It involved an overnight and a lot of waiting.
Speaker 1:So, what's fun and you mentioned, fish story. So what we're doing this year for our doc to doc coverage, on all the radio stations, but we're adding some docutainment to to what's happening.
Speaker 2:Well put.
Speaker 1:Just the lore of, you know, this thing started, what, 1947, 1948? Somewhere back there.
Speaker 2:Right. Yeah. Eighty years. Do the math.
Speaker 1:Lots of stories to share. We'll be doing that throughout the weekend, and we're bringing a Super Bowl theme to this year's broadcast, calling it the the salmon bowl. The salmon bowl. So it's gonna have that kind of flavor to it all weekend long. So for, the the Salmon Derby coming up and folks that maybe haven't experienced, maybe they're new new to Juneau, they've they've, arrived here in the last year or so and and getting getting getting used to all the wonderful things you can see and do as part of our community.
Speaker 1:What do you want people to know?
Speaker 2:If you've never experienced it before and you do like to fish and have a means of getting, you know, out on the water and and getting a chance to fish, go for it because it's an experience like nothing else I know of. And I know Seward's got the Silver Derby, and I know there are other derbies scattered around not only this state but other states. But there's something very special about the Golden North Salmon Derby, and it it has to do with Southeast Alaska. It has to do with whales. It has to do with calm water.
Speaker 2:It has to do with opportunities to catch big fish, little fish, and in between fish, and it has to do, frankly, with with helping your fellow man. If I can throw a plug in here for territorial sportsman Yeah. Eightieth year this year. And here's what I'd here's what I'd like to sink home whether you it's a first time derby for you or your eightieth derby. This is about putting some scholarship money into a fund to get people through a college education.
Speaker 2:And let me explain where we are with that real fast. Two weeks ago or within the past two weeks, and you might have heard me say this on k I n y because I think I used it during the noon hour or maybe Wednesday of last week. But I had a story come across from the Associated Press that says there are, and I'm quoting as best I can remember, millions and millions of American adults over the age of 60 still paying off their student loans. Yeah. Now let that sink in a little bit.
Speaker 2:Millions and millions of American adults past the age of 60 still paying off student loans. That's what that scholarship fund is about. So whether you catch something you know, if it's illegal to obtain fish by fish and game regulations, you know, resist the urge to take it home. Drop it off as a scholarship fish, or if it's big enough, certainly weigh the fish in for prizes and so forth. But get it to the territorial sportsman so they in turn can get it to the packer, get some money out of it, and stack up a few more bucks for that scholarship fund.
Speaker 1:Great idea. Yeah. So, Kelly, thank you for for the decades of service, for being part of our family, of course, for being the anchor of of this group of radio stations and for the dedication of the, Golden North Salmon Derby, on your behalf this year. We're so proud of you. Thank you for coming in and sharing the stories.
Speaker 2:No worries. No worries. And I'll have a few more stories for you over Derby weekend too.
Speaker 1:I will see you then. Thanks.