Where Birds, Culture, and Community Converge: The Yakutat Tern Festival Returns for Its 15th Year
Contributed by Mary Glaves, Yakutat Nature Society
The 15th Annual Yakutat Tern Festival returns May 28-31, 2026. There are some places in Alaska that you don’t just visit, you experience them. Yakutat is one of those places.
Each spring, as seabirds return to the coast and the days begin to stretch longer, Yakutat becomes the gathering place for something special: the Yakutat Tern Festival. Now in its 15th year, the festival has grown into one of Southeast Alaska’s most unique celebrations of birds, culture, and community—and I’ve come to see it as much more than a “festival.” It’s an invitation.
Getting to Yakutat takes intention. There are no roads connecting it to the rest of the state. You arrive by plane or boat, and when you do, you immediately feel the difference. The pace shifts. The noise drops away. What’s left is a place defined by wild landscapes, deep cultural roots, and a community that shows up for each other.
The Yakutat Tern Festival was originally started as a small, community-driven effort to celebrate the natural and cultural resources of the area while supporting the local economy during the shoulder season between fish runs. That spirit is still very much alive today. While the festival has grown in reach and recognition, it hasn’t lost its grounding.
At the heart of the festival is the Aleutian tern, a striking seabird that nests in significant numbers along Yakutat’s Blacksand Spit. Scientists are still working to understand population declines in this species, which makes Yakutat an especially important place to see and learn about them. Watching these birds in their habitat—trundling over the ocean, hovering and diving while calling across the wind—is something that sticks with you.
But the festival is not just for birders. Over the course of the four-day festival, Yakutat becomes a hub of activity. There are led birding outings, Hubbard Glacier tours, and hands-on workshops, youth programs that get kids outside and curious, and the same for adults. There are guest speakers and conservation discussions that connect local observations to larger conversations about birds and the wide world they inhabit.
And then there are the moments that aren’t on a schedule—shared meals, conversations that stretch long into the evening, and stories passed between friends old and new.
One of the most meaningful aspects of the festival, in my experience, is the way it centers culture alongside ecology. Cultural programming, dance, art, and storytelling woven throughout. This isn’t something added on—it’s foundational. It reflects a living relationship with the land and waters that define this place and the cultural roots in Yakutat.
Behind it all is the Yakutat Nature Society, a small but deeply committed organization that has taken on the role of stewarding and growing the festival. Formed in 2020, the Society emerged out of a need to create a sustainable structure for the event and to expand its impact beyond a single weekend.
The Yakutat Nature Society focuses on connecting people to the region’s wildlife and habitats through education, outreach, and shared experiences. The festival is one expression of that mission.
It’s in the experience of watching birds migrate across oceans and return to the same stretch of coastline each year. It’s in the old-growth forests that provide habitat and stability. It’s in the knowledge held by communities who have lived with and learned from these systems for generations.
Being in Yakutat during the festival makes those connections tangible. It also highlights something important for the future of rural Alaska: the role of thoughtful, community driven tourism. Events like the Tern Festival bring people to Yakutat in a way that supports local businesses, creates opportunities for cultural exchange, and reinforces the value of keeping landscapes intact.
For me, the Yakutat Tern Festival stands out because it feels real. There’s no pretense or overproduction. Just a genuine coming together of people who care about this place, whether they’ve lived there their whole lives or are experiencing it for the first time.
If you make the trip, you’ll likely come for the birds. But you’ll leave with something more; a deeper understanding of how people, place, and wildlife are connected in Southeast Alaska.
And maybe, like me, you’ll find yourself wanting to return.
You can learn more and register for this year’s Tern Festival at: yakutatnature.org
Mary came to Yakutat in 2016 as a Student Conservation Association (SCA) intern, and soon after, found herself coordinating the annual Yakutat Tern Festival. This will be Mary’s 10th year coordinating, and her fifth year as the Secretary of Yakutat Nature Society. She currently resides in Juneau, AK.