Located on a 3-mile-long spit, Kotzebue is the commercial center for a 43,000-square-mile area of northwestern Alaska, which includes 10 villages with an over 80 percent Eskimo population. Front Street is lined with fishing boats and fish drying on racks in the traditional Eskimo way. Although not billed as a tourist attraction, visitors can see North Tent City, an active traditional fish camp that is set up each year to dry and smoke the season's catch


Other cultural attractions include the Kotzebue and NANA museums, local history and cultural films available through the park service, the Senior Center Cultural Center and the Eskimo Olympics. These traditional Native games include the knuckle hop, blanket toss, greased pole walk, high kick and finger pulling contests.