Anywhere Alaska Premiere

Submitted by Ann Dowdy
Phone: 907-474-1890
11/03/05

A new adventure-travel series, Anywhere, Alaska, premieres on public television stations throughout Alaska Wednesday, November 9 at 7 p.m. Produced by KUAC TV 9 in Fairbanks, the programs take viewers to destinations missing from any guide books.

Weaving fantastic footage with historical facts and whimsical commentary, the show offers a fresh look at travel opportunities in the last frontier. The first season of Anywhere, Alaska features attractions along the Richardson, Dalton, Parks and Marine Highways, as well as a journey into the heart of Denali National Park.

In the first episode, host Heather Taggard leads viewers down the Richardson Highway to sample the wares at Delta Meat and Sausage and explore the Black Rapids Lodge. Then, it’s off to the Arctic Man competition, a wild hybrid of ski and snow machine racing. The journey ends in Valdez with a guided heli-skiing trip and a scenic boat trip through Prince William Sound.

The second installment features host Chip Brookes following the Trans Alaska Pipeline along the Dalton Highway. The adventure takes him from Coldfoot Camp, once the center of pipeline construction, through the community of Wiseman and on to a tour of Prudhoe Bay and a dip in the Arctic Ocean. Along the way he visits with artists and scientists in their camps and hikes into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Next, Anywhere, Alaska hots Heather Taggard explores Denali, Alaska’s most famous tourism destination. She hikes into the National Park’s back country, samples the wares at the community’s new organic restaurant and then explores historic Talkeetna. The journey ends with a flight-seeing tour that stops at Denali Base camp, where climbers start their ascents of Denali.

In the season’s final episode, host Chip Brookes surveys the sights aboard Alaska’s Marine Highway System. Starting in Juneau with tours of the Governor’s Mansion and historic Treadwell Mine, he fishes for halibut and watches whales breach in Fredrick Sound. After kayaking and visiting totem carvers in Klawock, he participates in the Kake Dog Salmon Festival with its eclectic mix of Native ceremonies and picnic games.

Taggard and Brookes are both home grown hosts, as is series producer Aaron Elterman. All three are graduates of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Taggard is a freelance photgrapher and writer and co-owns Yahdii Media, a production company devoted to educational entertainment. Brookes attends the University of San Diego where he is pursuing his MFA in Dramatic Arts through the prestigious Old Globe Professional Actor Training Program. Aaron Elterman is a 1994 graduate of North Pole High School and found his way into television production through the Journalism Department at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. After graduating from UAF in 2002 he applied for a position at KUAC and is now a producer with KUAC TV and Alaska One in Fairbanks.

Anywhere, Alaska is funded in part by grants from the the Fairbanks Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Alaska Tourism Industry Association and the United States Department of Agriculture.

Additional information about Anywhere, Alaska and each episode can be found at www.alaskaone.org.