Teller celebrates its 20th Teller Cultural Festival

The Teller Cultural Festival marked its 20th anniversary this year and the round number comes with a sad connotation: the long time organizer Cora Ablowaluk is stepping back, seeking a successor who would carry on the torch.
The first festival was held in 2004, but due to the COVID pandemic, there were a few years that the gathering could not be held. Ablowaluk remembered the genesis of the festival being that the James Isabell School in Teller was brand new and the principal at the time wanted to host a big event. Thus, the Teller Cultural Festival was born, organized by Ablowaluk and Charlene Isabell at the time.
The dance festival brings together dance groups from the region, albeit, due to funding constraints many could not attend. A new group called Ilakus, formed by Brian Muktoyuk in Anchorage, was last minute able to attend as NSEDC Teller representative Joe Garnie arranged for funding for airline tickets.
This year, dance groups from Brevig Mission, Savoonga, King Island dancers from Nome, the Nome St. Lawrence Island dance group, Diomede and Anchorage attended. The festival began on Friday and lasted until Sunday morning, around 7 a.m., interrupted by a few hours of sleep, breakfast and potlucks.
For Cora Ablowaluk, the festival is a connection with people from the region. “I think it brings lots of people together, lots of different cultures. You know, we’re not all the same,” she said. “It’s sharing those songs and dances, and getting to visit with people.” In the big picture, she said, the visiting, sharing of songs and dances, is what the festival is all about. It’s inconceivable that this would go away. While no one has stepped up to fill Ablowaluk’s shoes so far, she said she would help the next person to figure out the budget, coordinate the volunteers and line up sponsors for food, prizes and some travel money. “I’ll help them. I’ll guide them. I’ll teach them. But I can’t be here every minute of the whole weekend,” she said.
She added that Teller no longer has regular dance practices as integral dancers and drummers have either died or have moved away. But she sure tries kindles the fire in kids who seem to have a knack for drumming. She purchased two drums for two boys. One boy, she said, had a drum but it fell apart. He then proceeded to take a stick and banged on everything he could find to emulate drumming. “Every time I stepped outside the house, I could hear him singing and beating on something,” she said.
Throughout the festival, Ablowaluk’s contributions were celebrated and she was honored with gifts from the dance groups. Next year, she hopes, she’ll be sitting in the bleachers, enjoying the festival and going home to bed when she wants to instead of staying up for three days, making sure that everybody is fed, that the school gym is set up, that the school is cleaned up after hundreds of people came through that weekend. But one would never guess that she hadn’t slept in days, as she smiled at the grand finale in the wee hours of Sunday morning, bringing out more food and bringing the 20th Teller Cultural Festival to a close.