By Rob Stapleton
Alaska Journal of Commerce

The recent visit by Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to the state has not only turned the spotlight on Alaska, but also has boosted the event and media sectors.

With rallies in Fairbanks on Sept. 10 and Anchorage on Sept. 13, both planned by the McCain-Palin campaign and executed in short timeframes, the background work by businesses, volunteers and media meant some round-the-clock work.

Businesses contacted by the Republican Party to organize and host the events are reluctant to talk about who they hired and how much money was spent on Palin's homecoming rallies. But the fact can't be ignored that they were expensive.

Officials and advance people with the McCain-Palin campaign did not return calls for this story. Officials with the Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center also did not respond to calls.

But John Butzke, of Talking Circle Productions in Anchorage, spent days working the events for ABC's 20/20, the Associated Press, Inside Edition, Extra and other television productions covering the Palin visit.

“This has to have been an economic boost to the media industry here,” said Butzke. “I had to hire crew hands to help me with my work, that cost me $30,000 in labor. Not to mention the $1,000 an hour for satellite feed times for three days, 24 hours a day that Channel 2 was charging.”

Local businesses, like Sadler Business Park that owns a hangar and office facility at the Fairbanks International Airport provided an 18,000-square-foot hangar for Palin's welcome home rally in Fairbanks.

“We really wanted to do it right, to put Fairbanks and Alaska on the map,” said Bob Hawkins, president of Alaska Aerofuel, the company that works in the hangar.

Hawkins said Republican Party volunteers did most of the work setting up, making signs and later on the clean up, so the Fairbanks event was more of a community effort.

“No one really benefited financially from this here in Fairbanks,” said Hawkins.

“It was really a labor of love, we wanted to do something for Sarah because she is trying to help Alaska out,” said Jerry Sadler, owner and manager of Sadler's Business Park.

According to Sadler and Hawkins, their support had nothing to do with politics. “This wasn't a Republican- or Democratic-interest event. It was to help the people get to see and hear Palin, our governor,” said Hawkins.

Alaska Aerofuel is a full-service operator specializing in executive aviation travel and aircraft.

The Fairbanks rally was a success, but came with a lot of hard work, according to Sadler.

“We heard about the rally on Saturday and met with the organizers on Sunday,” said Hawkins.

The hangar was decked out with bleachers, lights, loud speakers and multiple Internet and electrical hook-ups for the media.

The hangar was draped with American flags from Auto Trim Design and a huge sign saying “Welcome Home Sarah.”

When the blue and white Embraer 190, owned by Jet Blue, complete with the McCain-Palin emblem on the fuselage, pulled up to the hangar, the crowd of 3,000 went wild, waving signs and yelling, “Go Sarah! Go Sarah!”

“The lighting in Fairbanks for the event had to come from Anchorage,” said Butzke. “Creative Light and Sound drove the equipment up in one day, did the Fairbanks set-up, and drove back the next to do a two-day set-up in Anchorage. The Fairbanks portion of that had to cost at least $60,000.”

The owner of Creative Light and Sound, Dan Hemme, says the only thing worse than a political rally is a rock concert.

“With all the haste and last-minute set up and break down and travel we had about 12 people working from Saturday night, when we got the job, until the following Saturday, non-stop,” said Hemme. “This was like a rock concert without the music, same bleachers, stage, sound system and lighting. This was a lot of work but we are used to it.”

The Anchorage rally, while not attended as well, was equally as glitzy and also set up by Hemme's Anchorage-based company.

The set up at the new Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center in Downtown Anchorage required that police close two streets to the venue, done at the request of the U.S. Secret Service.

Hemme said the Anchorage rally for Sarah Palin was originally planned for Palmer, but that was scuttled by the Secret Service because of security issues.

“There isn't much difference between this and the rock shows with the exception of the Secret Service, everything had to be approved by them, and that added an extra work to the set ups,” Hemme said.

Rob Stapleton can be reached at rob.stapleton@alaskajournal.com">rob.stapleton@alaskajournal.com.