Marijuana store creates chasm in Alaska tourist town

The presence of a marijuana retail store hascaused a deep divide in thequirky tourist town of Talkeetna,Alaska, where hundreds ofvisitors roam the streets daily browsing in art galleries andsouvenir shops housed in historic cabins.

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Most of Talkeetna's stores line the two long blocks that make upits Main Street, where tourists,many who arrive in Alaska oncruise ships and are bused about two hours north from Anchorage, wander into storefronts like Nagley's General Store for ice cream orslip through its back door for a cold one at the West Rib Bar and Grill.

At Main Street's opposite end, near a river park where visitorssnap photos of the continent's largest mountain, is Talkeetna's newest venture into the tourism trade. The High Expedition Co. is a nod to the rich mountain climbing history of the eclectic community purported to be the inspiration for the 1990s television series "Northern Exposure."

Talkeetna's first marijuana retail store is causing a rift notseen in other tourist-dependent towns in this Libertarian-leaning state, where marijuana had a casual acceptance long before it became legal. But even here, like in many pot-legal states, some towns have opted out of sales, fearful it might invite crime and other evils.

In Talkeetna, some shop owners the ones who built amulti-million-dollar business from the steady stream of mountainclimbers who use Talkeetna as a staging point for treks up Denali say this one shop could ruin the tiny town's historic atmosphere and harm business like the eight or so stores that serve alcohol along Main Street could never do.

"I don't think he belongs in downtown Talkeetna," MeanderingMoose B&B owner Mike Stoltz said.

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'The sky hasn't fallen'

Joe McAneney co-owns the High Expedition Co., which opened inmid-May. "The sky hasn't fallen on Talkeetna, the sun is shining, and this is now the most photographed shop in town," he said.

Grabbing the attention of amateur shutterbugs is a small"Cannabis Purveyors" wooden sign on the store's deck.

McAneney has been working to open the shop nearly since the dayin 2014 that Alaska residents voted to legalize recreational marijuana.

He and a partner bought the cabin that was originally built for Ray Genet, an earlyTalkeetnaclimber and guide who died in 1979 on Mount Everest. McAneney worked with Genet's family and has incorporated a small museum dedicated to Genet and Talkeetna's climbing history. But even that association led to some disdain.

"Small towns in Alaska are harder than anywhere to break intoand sort of become accepted," McAneney said.

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Approved on a technicality

His store got its approval from the borough on a technicality when the assembly was writing regulations for marijuana businessesin unincorporated areas, like Talkeetna, and inadvertently omittedspecial land use districtslike the town's Main Street. Talkeetnahas no local governing body, only a non-voting community councilwhose sole power is sending recommendations to borough officials roughly 120 kilometresaway.

State regulators approved the store's permit on a 3-2 vote lastspring.

"There's people that are upset about it, but it's legal," saidSue Deyoe, the Talkeetna Historical Society and Museum's executive director.

Opposition mounted as the issue went before state regulators,where a stream of residents unsuccessfully called in to the Anchorage meeting to oppose the store's licence.

Among the biggest issue for critics is the lack of places fortourists to puff the marijuana they buy smoking pot in public is illegal, and that led to fears the nearby river park would becomethe place to partake.

Alaska State Troopers say there were no citations issued foranyone consuming marijuana in public inTalkeetnafrom April 1 to July 1, the same as last year.

But opponents argueTalkeetnais lawless, with the closesttrooper an hour away.

"What are we supposed to do?" askedStoltz,the bed and breakfast owner. "Are we going to take the law into ourown hands? Duct-tape him?"

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'Not catering to stoner tourists'

Stoltz said the very presence of a pot store will harm businessin the historic town, where residents make a year's living between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

"If we lose our tourism, we lose what Talkeetna is," he said.

"We're not catering to stoner tourists. To me, that's the conflictwith Joe."

Seeing a pot shop on Talkeetna's main drag didn't bother65-year-old Jeff White, visiting from the Louisville, Kentucky,
area. Talkeetna has the artsy feel of a tourist town in Colorado, whichalso has legal marijuana, he said.

"This goes with that vibe, and Ithink that's fine."

One resident dismisses the idea that the pot store is givingTalkeetna a black eye. But it is dividing the town, Christie Stoltz said, noting the chasm has reached her home. She's the daughter of Mike Stoltz, the B&B owner.

"I feel like it's generations the older generation versus theyounger generation," she said.

For some, marijuana was never an issue, the museum's Deyoe said, and it pales in comparison to a controversy last spring when the borough proposed levelling trees over an area about the size of eight football fields for an expanded parking lot for summer use.

"I think the community council got way more letters on that thanthey did in reaction to the marijuana shop," she said.