The Barrow Community

Barrow is the largest community in the top third of Alaska, with over 4,500 full-time residents. Approximately 65% of the residents are of Native Eskimo or Inupiat origin with the remaining percentage drawn from across the rest of the globe.

First time visitors are surprised to see a large populations of Korean and Philippine-Americans in town or to overhear Spanish being spoken in the grocery store. Barrow has had a reputation for being both the "richest" and/or the most "expensive" city in Alaska, as development from North Slope oil fields has inflated the cost of life here. While not as aggressive as years past, a popular stop on the tourist route is the local supermarket, AC Stuaqpak, where a gallon of milk runs just about $7.50, a loaf of bread sells for $3.50 and donuts sell for over a dollar each.

Barrow has moved from a hunting and barter system to a full cash economy. One of the largest buildings in the downtown area is the bank (a branch of the Wells Fargo chain) and there are three automatic teller bank machines around town for convenience. Barrow supports three comfortable hotels and seven eateries including the famous Pepe's North of the Border Mexican Restaurant. Its owner, Fran Tate, is not only a well-known philanthropist, jazz enthusiast, and host of "Jazz Below Zero" on KBRW every Saturday afternoon for the past twenty years, but has also been featured on 'The Tonight Show' and in the Wall Street Journal for bringing a little of the food from down south way up north. Fran also maintains records for the local chapter of the Polar Bear Club, which takes a quick swim (a VERY quick swim) each year in the Chukchi Sea part of the Arctic Ocean.

Very few of the local residences are without indoor plumbing facilities. The Barrow Utilitor System is quite unique in Bush Alaska where 3.3 miles of underground walkthrough utilidor serves a majority of Barrow Residents with the rest served with direct bury piping. Barrow Utilities and Electric Co-op also operates the water treatment plant with water quality far exceeding current and proposed future water qualities standards. Barrow is home to Samuel Simmonds Memorial Hospital; a well-established search and rescue unit and public safety department; an ultra-new U.S. Post Office, Ilisagvik College (a two-year institution); a very modern School District whose facilities include a full gym and a swimming pool; the Inupiat Heritage Center and Tuzzy Library, indoor unheated ice skating and roller skating rinks, and a community recreational center.

Many visitors in the wintertime come to view the amazing northern lights display seen almost every clear night directly overhead. While Barrow has become a "modern" community with two radio stations run by KBRW, direct satellite broadcasting and a sixty-channel cable system, access to the internet, and other electronic conveniences, life in Barrow stays fiercely connected to its roots. It is not unusual to see an Inupiat mother carrying her child on her back inside a colorful, handmade parka, everyone in line at the bank giving way to an elder, offices to clear out during whaling season, or supplies being ferried across town on dog sled.

Barrow is a place unlike the rest of the United States, it s a place all its own.