Welcome to the Ester "Ministry" of Community Enterprise, or EMCE.

This site is Ester's Buy Local support site. You can find links and information here about Ester goods and services, everything from artwork to plumbing, lettuce to web design. At right are broad groupings of business types to be found in the Ester area. Click on any header to be taken to a page with details about businesses that fit in that area. Links in individual business descriptions will open a new window to that business's website. Businesses may be cross-listed if they offer more than one type of service or product.

The news and announcements page provides information on our latest activiities and publicity opportunities.

It's easy to join the EMCE!

For news articles and other information on Ester commerce, please go to our press page.

For information on Alaska businesses throughout the state, visit BuyAlaska. Your suppport of local business helps you, your neighbors, and Alaska's economy.

Note that this is a work in progress; additional features, such as a search engine, will be added later.

Ester Community Market

Come see what the businesses of Ester have to offer! The market is held weekly during the summer on Thursday evenings at the Ester Community Park. If you are a business owner and would like to participate in the Ester market, please read our guidelines.

Art, graphic design, textile design, studios, and galleries

Ester is home to artists and designers of many types: fine arts, graphic and product designers, studio artists, gallery proprietors, ceramicists, textile artists, jewelers, glassworkers, and more.

Builders, construction, earthwork, and trades

Carpenters, electricians, architects, plumbers, pipefitters, mechanics: Ester is filled with people who know how to create useful things and fix things that are broken.

Education, research, and nonprofits

Ester is a tight-knit community with active community organizations; its residents are interested in the world around them and have contacts worldwide.

Manufacturers, shopkeepers, and supplies

Several small businesses in the Ester area offer foodstuffs, supplies, cosmetics, and other sundries, some in bulk and some retail.

Miners, engineers, farmers, and foresters

Founded in 1903, Ester exists because of the gold in its streams. Mining and other natural resource-based industries built the village more than a century ago, and keep operating today. Agriculture and other renewable resource-based enterprises help it flourish.

Music, entertainment, dining, and recreation

Professional musicians, dancers, actors, local saloons, restaurants, game guides: entertainment comes in many guises.

Publishers, journalists, writers, editors, and poets

The publishing hotbed of the Interior, there are almost as many publishers, editors, and writers in Ester as there are artists.

Photos by C.P. McRoy © 2004.