The Annual Bachelor Society Benefit Auction and Bachelor Ball takes place in the evening after the Wilderness Woman Contest.  Only single ladies over 21 and Society members are permitted to enter the auction room. The Bachelors spruce up and may even entertain in order to up the bidding. After all, it is for a good cause!

After the crowning of the Wilderness Woman, the bidding begins in earnest.  Winning bidders are awarded the undivided attention of their bachelors, at least for a drink and a dance at the Bachelor Ball.  After that, there are no promises, but there have been several marriages that began with the Bachelor Auction and Ball.

The Bachelor Ball is held at the Don Sheldon Memorial Hangar Performing Arts Center. All are welcome to attend to join in the festivities.

Proceeds benefit such organizations as the Talkeetna Bachelor Society Fund for Women in Crisis (administered by Sunshine Community Health Center), the Denali Arts Council, KTNA Community Radio, Sunshine Community Health Center and the Talkeetna Youth Hockey Association, Susitna Valley High School and Talkeetna Elementary School as well as other community needs and projects.

For more information about the Talkeetna Bachelor Society,
contact Loudon Wilson at 907-733-4709.

About the Talkeetna Bachelor Society, Inc.
The Society is a loosely organized non-profit social club whose members are single men of all ages living in Talkeetna and the surrounding area. As a non-profit organization, all proceeds from our various fund-raising activities go to worthy community needs. The Society tends to be somewhat dormant during the summer, when most of the members are involved in various summer jobs and keeps a pretty low profile during the rest of the year unless actively involved in planning some event.

During the winter up here, things can get downright dull. Combine that with the fact that the area population is relatively young overall and the unattached sector was weighted five to one in favor of the men at that time, you can see how the Talkeetna Bachelor Society might evolve. The Society started in 1981 when several of the bachelors were sitting in the Fairview Inn. Somebody had the idea that it might be possible to attract some companionship even in the dead of winter by having a bachelor auction and dance. To everyone's surprise, it worked! The Talkeetna Bachelor Society has somehow managed to survive the restless population and economic ups and downs. The Bachelor Auction and Ball has become an annual winter festival of sorts. The Wilderness Woman Contest was added in 1986 to select the lady who best exemplified the traits most desired by a Wilderness Man. It is all firmly tongue-in-cheek, of course, although the competition and prizes are real enough.

Society membership varies from year to year with anywhere from 20 to 50 local bachelors on the official rolls. Not all bachelors stay in or around Talkeetna all the time. Some work in Anchorage and some commute back and forth to mining sites and North Slope oil patch jobs. However, all have something to do with the local area or at least the upper Susitna Valley. Bachelors range in age from 21 to past 60. Educations include a cross-section all the way up to graduate degrees. Like most Alaskans, the majority is originally from Somewhere Else. They come from all walks of life, including mechanics, fireman, loggers, pilots, clerks, miners, guides, businessmen, geologists, teachers and more. A few bachelors just hang out in the area in a kind of far-north beach existence, taking odd jobs when they have to and generally enjoying things. The common theme is that everyone is here because they want to be, alternate lifestyles and all.

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