Northwest Arctic Trade Fair

Traditional dances are an important part of Qatnut celebrations. NPS/DEANNA OCHS

Cape Krusenstern National Monument’s enabling legislation includes preserving and interpreting historic Native cultures in cooperation with Alaska Natives.

One of the more meaningful ways they accomplish this goal is by collaborating with local tribal organizations and Native Corporations to organize Qatnut, the Northwest Arctic Trade Fair, held in Kotzebue. The biennial event brings the widely dispersed Inuit people together to reconnect and share their proud heritage. Activities include traditional dancing, drumming, athletic competitions, sharing of regional foods and, of course, trading goods and knowledge.

“Celebrating Through Changes,” was this year’s theme. While many of those changes, such as global warming and migration patterns of subsistence animals, have made life more challenging, others have been positive. According to Maija Luken, Superintendent of Western Arctic Parklands, the revitalization of dance and the return of trade to Kotzebue, after being nearly absent for decades, are some of those positive changes.