Decades may have passed, but the night is young at Gallery Walk
- Mark Sabbatini
- 15 hours ago
- 4 min read
Crowds flock to downtown Juneau for traditional shopping, songs and socializing on Juneau’s first Friday in December
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
Hali Hall, 7, wants a Polaroid camera and a Gatorade water bottle for Christmas. Her grandfather wants a new roof on his house and a long winter’s nap.
But both were first spreading holiday cheer to others in the entrance of the Senate Building during the annual Gallery Walk in downtown Juneau on Friday evening.
Hali was offering a platter of shrimp to shoppers while standing next to her brother, Corbin, 9, who was holding a platter of sweets. Checking on them occasionally was their grandfather, Bruce Denton, who with his wife Sharon owns the building and has hosted the festivities inside since the 1980s.
"We usually get about 2,500 people," he said, as a few adding up toward that total wandered past into the main lobby. The four-story building includes a mall with artists’ galleries, retail and food shops, plus office space.
The youths serving food through the building are part of the long tradition, with members of the Juneau Ski Team helping out this year with rotating two-hour shifts.
All that organizing, along with his usual business, is highly time-consuming this time of year, which is why Denton said one of the items on his holiday list this year is "40 hours of sleep." But he’s also still finding time to do some work on his house — which given the season and wet weather also has a certain degree of urgency.
"I need to get a roof on our new house," he said.
A heavy-duty wish list was also offered by John Laskey as he took a few shrimp from the platter Hali offered him. He said he wants a $78,000 Gehl articulated loader to remove snow.
"I’m just tired of my old front-end loader," he said.
Outside, where occasional rain was falling, people bustling between shops along the streets also passed by vendor booths, groups of carolers, Alaska Native dancers, and costumed holiday characters. Inside the downtown Heritage Coffee cafe, Santa and Mrs. Claus (Dale Hudson and Carolyn Bouvier) posed for pictures with the help of a team of experienced elves and new recruits.
"They gave me an apron and said smile," said Rebecca DeJean, who moved to Juneau from Florida four years ago, when asked about the training necessary to officially join Santa’s workforce. "And so I started to smile."
DeJean said she’s come to previous Gallery Walks since moving to Juneau, but "more on the adult side.
"This is more like on the family-friendly side this time, the volunteer side," she said.
That aspect of Gallery Walk seems to have grown over the years, said Marianna Carpeneti, who was shopping for items with her daughter, Annetta, 5.
"I don't remember it being particularly kid-friendly, not necessarily specifically geared towards kids," she said, referring to earlier years while growing up in Juneau. "It feels like it's really geared towards kids nowadays."
Also, "it’s become bigger in the sense that more of the community is involved in it," Carpeneti said. "There's a drill team, the Native dancers that I don't remember from years ago. But the sense of community feels like it's there's a lot of momentum behind Gallery Walk."
The activities officially associated with Gallery Walk extend beyond the heart of downtown. Among the more than 50 participants were the Alaska State Library, Archives, and Museum offering exhibits, merchants and music; Perseverance Theatre debuting its "Buyer & Cellar" stage performance; and the Marie Drake Planetarium hosting an "Explore the Universe" evening. The annual event is organized by the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council in collaboration with the Downtown Business Association.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
