Ketchikan has a creative, artistic atmosphere and offers some excellent shopping. Creek Street has several galleries where you can pick up an original piece, whether it’s a small, hand-carved totem pole, a beautiful painting or photograph, or a hand-woven cedar bark basket. There are multiple jewelry shops, many of them selling pretty silver earrings and necklaces made with blue mother-of-pearl or items made from locally sourced jade.
For a luxury gift or souvenir, look out for items made from qiviut, the ultra-soft fleece of the musk ox. If you want to take some salmon home, it’s available smoked, canned, as a spread, or as jerky. Finally, curved ulu knives, traditionally made by the Inuit, are a popular buy. Just remember that a purchase like this would have to travel home in your checked luggage.
To make sure you buy authentic Alaskan goods, be sure to look for the easily-recognizable official “Made in Alaska” symbol. You’ll also find the well-known “Silver Hand” emblem on many items, signifying that they were handcrafted by an Alaskan Native.
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