A little kelp with our friends

By Alaska Sea Grant | July 28, 2026
Two women hold sheets of cloth dyed blue with white kelp designs on them.
Alaska Sea Grant mariculture specialist Missy Good and state fellow Rachel French display their seaweed cyanotype bandanas. Photo by Jessica Whitney/Alaska Sea Grant.
Two paper plates hold rounds of italian bread spread with creamy toppings. A paper in the foreground reads, “Help us create the ultimate coastal ranch recipe.”
Taste testing was one of the offerings at the 2026 Kelpfest. Photo by Rachel French/Alaska Sea Grant.
Two men in Alaska Sea Grant aprons stands in a kitchen. One spreads a creamy topping onto a food in a casserole dish.
Spencer Serin of SCRC Consulting Inc. and Nick Mangini, of the Southwest Alaska Municipal Conference and Kodiak Island Sustainable Seaweed, prepare kelp lasagna for attendees of the kelp cooking class at the Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center. Photo by Jessica Whitney/Alaska Sea Grant.
A woman stands on rocks at the edge of the ocean, holding up a large blade of brown seaweed.
Lexa Meyer of Alaska Ocean Farms picks up a blade of Ribbon kelp, Alaria marginita, during a kelp scavenger hunt. Photo by Jessica Whitney/Alaska Sea Grant.
A woman stands behind a table preparing food. About a dozen people stand around it holding paper plates.
Alaska Sea Grant mariculture specialist Missy Good leads a kelp cooking class at the Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center. Photo by Jessica Whitney/Alaska Sea Grant.
Four bubbling jugs of water sit on a shelf. They are connected to each other and contain different-colored species in them: oysters, red seaweed, green seaweed and blue spherical biofilters.
An Integrated Multi-trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) display set up at Kelpfest by Alaska Sea Grant mariculture trainer and technician Arron Jones. IMTA is a method of sustainable aquaculture in which different species are raised and harvested together. Photo by Jessica Whitney/Alaska Sea Grant.
Two women carrying buckets walk through intertidal rocks covered with seaweed.
Alaska Sea Grant mariculture specialist Missy Good and state fellow Rachel French gather kelp for seaweed pressing and making seaweed cyanotypes. Photo by Jessica Whitney/Alaska Sea Grant.
Two women stand outdoors behind a griddle with large utensils and smile. A number of pierogies sit on the griddle.
(l to r) NOAA Hollings Scholar Allie Grasso and Angie Korabik of Prince William Sound Science Center serve up samples of “Pillar Mountain Pierogies.” The pierogies on offer were made with either kelp, sauerkraut, and apple or potato, bull kelp, and gouda. Photo by Jessica Whitney/Alaska Sea Grant.
A colorful array of kelp lie on a blue-green cloth.
Various forms of kelp dry on a piece of cloth, part of the process of making seaweed cyanotypes. Photo by Jessica Whitney/Alaska Sea Grant
A man in a black baseball hat and apron reading “Alaska Sea Grant” stands behind a table with assorted food items on it. Five people stand around it.
Nick Mangini, of the Southwest Alaska Municipal Conference and Kodiak Island Sustainable Seaweed, mans a table at a kelp potluck at the Kodiak Island Brewery. Photo by Rachel French/Alaska Sea Grant.

For a week in June, kelp was on people’s minds in Kodiak—and in many of their stomachs as well. Alaska Sea Grant was the main sponsor and organizer of the third annual Kodiak Kelp Festival, a weeklong celebration of all things seaweed.

Kelp Fest offered activities for all ages, from Seaweed Story Time at the Kodiak Public Library to a potluck and craft fair at Kodiak Island Brewery. Other events included touch tanks, trivia, science presentations, scavenger hunts, and live music at a close-out celebration. Kodiak businesses and restaurants offered kelp-themed items and specials all week, and people got to sample kelp at a taste test and prepare it in a sold-out cooking class.

“The class gave people an opportunity to see just how versatile kelp is,” said Alaska Sea Grant mariculture specialist Missy Good, who taught the class and was a lead in planning the festival. “We made seaweed salad, kelp fondue, kelp lasagna, and our own furikake seasonings. Then we sent everyone home with blanched and frozen kelp to keep experimenting on their own.”

Good said another festival favorite was the inaugural Kelp Craft Workshop, where participants made seaweed-inspired art. Attendees printed cyanotypes using locally collected seaweeds and created seaweed facial masks to take home. 

The festival was made possible through support from the Alaska Mariculture Cluster, the Kodiak Ocean Growers, and many local volunteers. “Mariculture is really taking off in Alaska, and events like Kelp Fest give us a chance to show what we have to offer,” Good said. “We’re very grateful to everyone who helped to make this event such a success.”

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