Arctic Research Open House booth bags a crowd

By Alaska Sea Grant | May 27, 2026
A man in a blue top, orange baseball cap and black apron leans forward.
Alaska Sea Grant undergraduate assistant Jett Thompson helps out visitors. Photo by Tom Moran/Alaska Sea Grant.
A woman in a pink hat stands by a table squeezing an ink tube. The table is covered with seven colorful trays of ink, each with a little roller.
Tiffany Nicholson works at the ink table. Photo by Tom Moran/Alaska Sea Grant.
A girl in a pink jacket holds a stamp labeled “rockfish.” She is about to place it on a tote bag.
A visitor positions a rockfish stamp. Photo by Tom Moran/Alaska Sea Grant.
A row of tote bags sit on a table, several of them with fish and sea life stamped on them. A person prepares to place a sea star stamp on one of the bags.
The lineup of tote bags made for a colorful display. Photo by Tom Moran/Alaska Sea Grant.
A pair of blue canopies sit near a green lawn. About 20 people stand in line in front of them.
The booth had a long line most of the day. Photo by Tom Moran/Alaska Sea Grant.
A hand with a mini roller rolls blue ink onto a flat stamp shaped like a fish.
Tiffany Nicholson rolls blue ink to make a stamp. Photo by Tom Moran/Alaska Sea Grant.
A man in an orange baseball cap and a woman in a gray one stand behind a table. Both wear black aprons.
Alaska Sea Grant undergraduate assistant Jett Thompson and communications and publications manager Dawn Montano hand out stamps. Photo by Tom Moran/Alaska Sea Grant.
A metal bucket is filled with little plastic bags full of Swedish fish. Each one has an Alaska Sea Grant sticker on it.
The Alaska Sea Grant booth offered copious snacks, including some Swedish fish. Photo by Tom Moran/Alaska Sea Grant.
A logo of a bird flying in a circle is incised into concrete and chalked in in white. A person stands near it.
A NOAA logo outside the O’Neill Building on the UAF campus was chalked in for the event. Photo by Tom Moran/Alaska Sea Grant.
A tote bag sits on a table. On it are four block prints: a red salmon, green oyster, pink sea star and blue halibut.
Block prints of a salmon, oyster, sea star and halibut. Photo by Tom Moran/Alaska Sea Grant.
A woman stands behind a table with a blue Alaska Sea Grant tablecloth on it smiling. She holds a plastic square. Various shells and bones sit on the table. A man and a woman with a small child in a backpack look on.
UAF master’s student Riley O’Neil speaks to visitors about her sea otter research. Photo by Tom Moran/Alaska Sea Grant.

Visitors to Alaska Sea Grant’s booth at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Arctic Research Open House were left holding the bag. 

Attendees at the May 14 event block-printed images of fish and marine life onto reusable tote bags for them to keep. Alaska Sea Grant marketing and communication assistant Tiffany Nicholson came up with the idea as a way of promoting Alaska Sea Grant and sharing knowledge about marine life, while reducing the use of plastics that can impact aquatic ecosystems. Nicholson designed and hand-carved 10 stamps for the booth, which proved to be a wildly popular destination.

“The community response to this event was insane,” noted Nicholson. “Several people confirmed after the fact that our booth was by far the busiest, but ‘worth the wait.’”

The annual Arctic Research Open House welcomes members of the Fairbanks community to the UAF West Ridge to learn about research through fun activities and displays. This year’s event drew more than 660 people to take part in more than 30 activities. While Alaska Sea Grant has long participated in the open house, this was the first time the organization offered block printing on reusable bags.

Participants crafted about 125 bags. The visitors received informational cards about each species that was featured on a stamp, including salmon, bull kelp, Pacific halibut, sea stars, rockfish and Pacific oysters. Also UAF master’s student Riley O’Neil displayed a table of shells, skulls and other items related to her Alaska Sea Grant-supported research into sea otter prey.

“The whole reason to take part in the open house is to draw people in to learn more about Alaska Sea Grant and what we do,” noted Alaska Sea Grant communications and publications manager Dawn Montano. “We wanted to offer an interactive activity that also gave people an opportunity to learn something new, rather than just handing out brochures.”

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