Group honors former Girdwood resident by improving Forest Fair stage

By Emma Kramer

Turnagain News contributing writer

(Photo courtesy of Emma Kramer)

Family members of former Girdwood resident Dusty Green stand in front of the’Forest Fair ol Hoppin Barley Stage after being given a heartfelt upgrade with volunteer hours from Girdwood volunteer craftsmen.

In that late night of remembrance, an idea was born. Kurtis Kramer, one of Dusty’s longtime friends, began to  formulate a plan:  Build a new beer garden stage in Dusty’s honor.

That idea came to fruition in May when seven huge spruce trees from the Toadstool neighborhood–felled by Kurtis and milled in Girdwood with the help of Brian Veatch, Wayne Dye, and Tim Knutson’s boom truck. The beautiful, locally-milled lumber became the newest of the memorial structures in our community’s park. 

The stage’s handsome, rustic design came from local carpenters Andy Hoyt & Dick Gillings. Other Girdwood craftsmen joining the build were Kevin Fiedler, Dave Canal, Craig Schubert, Kevin Smith, Gabe Gioffrey, Jimmy Pikul, Luke Rehm, Tom Swanson, Patrick Doran and Ben Zollinger. 

Another wonderful Girdwood Forest Fair has come and gone! Thank you to all the Forest Fairies, volunteers and EMTs on duty that helped make the event a safe and fun affair!

Some of you may have noticed a new stage in the beer garden. The ‘ol Hoppin Barley Stage was given a heartfelt upgrade with volunteer hours from Girdwood craftsmen using area trees. 

A year ago, July 3, on the final day of Forest Fair, local backcountry snowboard guru and long time Girdwood resident Dusty Green crashed on his bike late at night succumbing to his injuries. Although Dusty wore his helmet for all his adventures, both snow and dirt, that night he did not. 

Following his passing last year, his friends and family organized a celebration of life at the Sitzmark with help from so many wonderful Girdwoodians. Photon Band members came from various places in the Lower 48 and Alaska to play, just like they’d done for local Girdwood Laundromall owner Danny Pfister. 

Former Girdwood resident Dusty Green stands in the Alaska mountain range.  He passed away in 2022 and was honored by a group of volunteers with an improved stage project used during annual Forest Fair festivals.

Jeremy Cerutti created an amazing mountain scape with rough cut lumber, a grinder, and a vision. The sunny weather during the build weekend and Forest Fair felt like warm rays of Dusty’s blessing, and offered comfort to his family as they visited for the weekend.

As a resident since 1999, I’ve known many wonderful residents that have passed, sometimes in tragic events like Dusty’s. We have the Marlow Pavilion which helps us remember the sudden loss in that family, the Scott & Wesley branch library, named for the two boys killed before we had a bike path. We have the Nissman Pavilion for Jeff, and now the Sladen Mohl Memorial Baseball field. The Girdwood Forest Fair Park is such a wonderful center of community love and energy. 

As we added Dusty’s stage to this community heart center, we talked about other ways to remember those we have lost. Ideas surfaced like making new beer garden benches with name plates or carved memorials, or carving into the wooden bar tops (like the engravings at the former restaurant/bar Max’s and now seen at the Tourist Trap). 

Most importantly, we know this community supports all of us who have lost loved ones, and they can all be remembered in truly organic, Girdwood ways. One amazing idea someone shared with me was to have metal pieces, like Tibetan singing bowls in the forest, that may be in memory of someone and, when raindrops hit, tones echo in the woods. 

Our community has held celebrations of life and even torchlight parades for lost loved ones. This year was the second year of the Dusty Green Memorial Portage Float, organized by Scott Swift with Swift Water Adventures. Selita Rios prepared a delicious spread of food for everyone on the float, and stories were told nonstop. 

Over his 30-plus years in Girdwood, Dusty had been a heli-ski guide for CPG, he’d worked at the Musky, Spoonline, the Dive, Seven Glaciers, Alyeska hotel banquets, the Pond, the Aurora as well as at the Tsaina Lodge in Valdez, The Potato in McCarthy and Crush Bistro in Anchorage. 

He worked to live, and he lived well! Dusty traveled the world mountaineering, snowboarding, hiking and biking, but always came back to Girdwood for powder days and friends. This southern boy raised in Alabama and born in Iowa, was more at home in the mountains than many. His average day was someone else’s extreme adventure. For his 50th birthday, just a few years before he died, Dusty solo kayaked across the Turnagain Arm to hike Pyramid mountain, snowboard down it and kayak back to Girdwood. 

He was an inspiration and one of a kind. Live Like Dusty