Roadtrippin’ 2023: Magpie’s on the Fly

VALDEZ, Alaska (KTUU) - When Alaska’s News Source agreed to meet the owner of Magpie’s on the Fly for an interview about the restaurant, Maggie Nylund showed up with a red and golden colored couch, two red chairs, a small table and four glasses of the brightest pink champagne.

She set up her own scene on the dried, lifeless grasses on the flats at Old Valdez. She sat down upon the couch with her perfect brown bouffant hairdo, fur coat and Sorel women’s winter boots. Behind a black oil tanker hovered in the water, and men in trucks searched the grasses for treasures left behind by the 1974 earthquake.

“Cheers,” Nylund said as she took a sip of her champagne.

Nyland is an artist. She creates delicious foods, cultivates creatives and stages space for performing arts including vaudeville shows. She describes her business as a place where you “connect through food, art and entertainment.”

Magpie’s on the Fly is famous for its scones, cinnamon rolls and sandwiches. This year Nylund hopes you’ll also visit for the Fish Fry Fridays and charcuterie boards while different musical groups perform. She’ll also be selling craft beer and wines, as well as meals and snacks made from local ingredients.

“You get this very rural haute experience,” Nylund said about Magpie’s on the Fly. “Where it’s culture and tea, real cups and glasses amongst handmade and refurbished atmospheres.”

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