This from the “News-Miner” -Sen. Albert Kookesh, who serves as co-chairman of the federation, noted the new Anchorage convention center heavily courted the federation, offering free space for the event. He also said the federation’s gatherings in Fairbanks struggled to attract people from more distant parts of the state — only a few people from the North Slope and the Aleutian Islands, for example, could attend.

“We were concerned about that,” Kookesh said by cell phone Monday.

Kookesh said the new Anchorage convention center is situated far better in the city — within a couple minutes’ walk from three or four hotels — than the Carlson Center, pointing to that fact as another major reason to hold next year’s gathering in Anchorage.