FAIRBANKS — Denali National Park and Preserve’s entrance area facilities opened Wednesday for the summer visitor season, despite some lingering snow cover.

KUAC reports the popular sled dog demonstrations also were scheduled to begin that day, though park spokeswoman Kris Fister said officials were trying to remove snow from the track used for the demonstrations.

Bidding was modest in the state’s May 8 Cook Inlet areawide lease sale, held every spring.

Twenty-eight lease tracts were sold with high bids of $419,840 offered by six bidder groups, state Oil and Gas Division Director Bill Barron said.

Hilcorp Energy dominated the bidding, mostly for onshore tracts on the Kenai Peninsula near areas where Hilcorp is operating existing gas wells.

From upscale white tablecloth restaurants to take-out sandwich shops, Homer’s creative chefs have been crafting a cuisine that, for lack of a better term, could simply be called Homer Style. It’s a food culture distinguished by an emphasis on wild seafood and locally grown vegetables, many from local high-tunnel greenhouses, mixed with a variety of styles from fusion to French.

Small businesses and small, as in “young,” business owners are the driving force behind Lemonade Day, a national event that occurs Saturday. Joining the million kids in 100 cities across the nation, Homer’s participants are not only smart-minded when it comes to developing their businesses, but are warmhearted when it comes to their earnings.