Tacos on Top of the World
Deborah J. Myers
special to AgeVenture News Service
Seventy-two-year-old Fran Tate (photo below) not only works 12-hour days managing the Mexican restaurant she founded, but she does it in one of the most hostile environments on earth: above the Arctic Circle on Point Barrow, Alaska. When her engineering job dried up, she was offered a comfortable desk job, but instead, she chose to stay and win over a town that hated her, start an improbable business, and beat the odds to become one of the town’s best-loved residents. Read on.
Twenty-two years ago, engineer Fran Tate worked in Barrow, Alaska, an oil boomtown 300 miles above the Arctic Circle. When her job ended, she refused the company’s offer of a desk job in Anchorage and remained in the town accessible only by plane.
"I wanted to be moving around, not sitting behind a desk," she chuckles. Tate, then in her 50s, wanted to open Pepe’s North of the Border Mexican Restaurant. Eleven Anchorage banks denied her a loan. She self-funded until flat broke.
Days before opening, she wrote hot checks equaling $11,000.00 for last-minute supplies. The gamble worked; Pepe’s paid back the money within a week. Although Barrow residents initially mocked her efforts, she won them over with community involvement such as funding New Year’s Eve fireworks (July’s sun doesn’t set), heading the Polar Bear Club, distributing Easter candy in a bunny suit and hosting a local radio program.
Pepe’s tourist patrons take home small gifts and anyone who signs the guest book receives one of the 7,000 personally signed Christmas cards Tate sends annually. Now in her 70s, Tate still works 16 hours days. "The people up here are different," Tate says. "I can try all my crazy ideas."
Barrow Area Information: AgeVenture News
Point Barrow, Alaska can be found 11 miles north of Barrow, Alaska which is the northern most community in the United States. Between May and August it's daylight 24 hours a day. Between November and January it's dark 24 hours a day. Temperatures range from the high 70's during summer and 50 below zero in the winter. By the way, if you're interested in visiting the Barrow area, be sure to visit the Barrow Observatory (photo above). Established in 1973, this outpost is near sea level just east of Barrow, Alaska. The facility is manned year around by 2 scientists who often commute to work in winter on snow machines. With that kind of weather, hot Mexican food should be very popular. "Pepes North of the Border" is located in Barrow, Alaska. Zip code: 99723. Want to call ahead for reservations? (907) 852-8200. Say, "Hello" to Fran when you get there.
Photo Credits:
Observatory photo: Bob Stone, Climate Monitoring & Diagnostics Lab, Boulder, Colorado.
Fran Tate photo: Deborah J. Myers, Longmont, Colorado.
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