Chicken: Eggee & Friends

The sign entering Chicken describes it not as a town or city, but as a community. With a population around 25 — in the summer — that’s probably a good description. You’ve got to be hardy and self-reliant to live here. No sewer or other city services. The people generate their own electricity, provide their own water.

Tradition has it that the early miners who settled the area wanted to name their little community ptarmigan. But no one knew how to spell the word, so they settled on chicken, which is the name of which the bird is known in the north. The locals play up the name with all things chicken.

There are three businesses here — all geared towards tourists ... Chicken Gold Camp & Outpost; Downtown Chicken (which claims to be the original Chicken); and Town of Chicken. Each is privately owned and operated. Of the three, Town of Chicken was closed, so we only got to check out the other two.

The Chicken Gold Camp has the most famous of the three “chicken photo ops.” Eggee, as the giant sculpture is known, was built in Homer out of recycled school lockers, and transported 615 miles to Chicken by truck. We had hoped to get something to go for lunch from the bakery here, but they only had grilled sandwiches on the menu, so we made do with a brownie.

We didn’t spend much time at Town of Chicken, where we stopped later, because the old codger sitting outside the bar wasn’t welcoming. Too bad.

The businesses in Chicken have suffered tremendously during the pandemic ... especially since the border with Canada remains closed. The RVers that come through here — either in their rigs or their toads — are the bread and butter of these businesses. I fear they will have to wait another season before things pick up again.Read more