The first Peksulineq Festival was held in spring, 1994. The Alutiiq village of Tatitlek, Alaska was still recovering from the Exxon Valdez oil spill. This, as well as influence from western culture and many other factors, was causing a decline in the practice and preservation of the Tatitlek Alutiiq culture.

When a student asked to learn more about Tatitlek songs and culture, Tatitlek Community School teachers, the Tatitlek IRA Council and members of the community began working together to teach the youth about their culture. The ideas grew from creating a few lessons on Alaska Native culture to something much bigger: the school would devote a week to classes that celebrate and teach the Chugach Alutiiq culture.

Volunteer instructors, students and chaperones were invited from throughout the Chugach region to participate. From the first year onward, classes were created at three levels for primary school, middle school and high school students. This helped students learn about their culture at their own skill level.

Each year a new emerging leader is appointed as the committee director and takes the lead in event planning and organization. This has provided the community with a generation of new leaders who are working to not only preserve their culture, but to also practice and pass the knowledge to the next generations, the true goal of the Peksulineq Festival.