Excitement In Bethel Alaska

TACO BELL AND BETHEL, AK

Bethel is not a large city by any stretch of the imagination, but may be about the third largest in Alaska after Anchorage and Fairbanks.  I don’t know the size but am guessing maybe 10 or 15 thousand.  They got their first Subway some time ago, and somehow a rumor got started about Taco Bell opening up in Bethel – and that is all it was a rumor.  Bethel was all excited about being a “’two’ fast food town”.  We were told it made national news in case you remember, so the day we were in Bethel Taco Bell decided to fly in a food van and drop it in town with a helicopter and give free Tacos to everyone there.  I’m sure they wanted some good PR exposure too.  Travis flew some of the executives out from Anchorage for the occasion.  We saw the helicopter fly the truck in and there were lines formed for hours before to each get a free taco – it appeared the whole town was there.  It was fun to watch, but we weren’t interested in standing in line for hours to get a free taco.  What excitement for a town in the tundra.  ROGER