Alaskan M(oo)sings: Fur Rondy: An Amazing Saturday! (02-25-2023)

Synopsis:
Pancakes
Parade
Sled Dog Race - Start
Yeti Dogs
Fur Auction
Sled Dog Race - Finish
Talent Show Competition - Preliminaries
Outhouse Race
Snow Sculptures
Fireworks Party at the Bridge
Snow Sculptures
Aurora Hunt

Thursday BB and I went over our list of Fur Rondy 'must' events and noted them on our calendar. Saturday, which became today, is jammed packed with events we want to see.

Our day starts with a pancake breakfast at the Pioneers of Anchorage Pancake Feed located at Pioneer Hall. Breakfast menu is coffee, juice, 3 good sized fluffy pancakes and a slice of ham. Servers wear pioneer period clothing. Across from us is a woman who was born in Alaska and lived here her whole life. She shows us her many Fur Rondy pins. We tell each other our plans for the day. She is also going to watch the Grand Parade and be at the Fireworks Party at the Bridge tonight with 5 of her friends.

Breakfast over, we leave to find a good spot to watch the Fur Rondy Grand Parade. Pioneer Hall is located at 6th and F which is on the parade route. The parade starts at 10:30. We are on 6th Street at 10:00 expecting to find people lining the street. No, they aren't. We verify we are on 6th Street. We claim a bench at the corner of 6th and E. Police officers are also on the corner. I ask an officer which direction the parade will come. She explains the route and tells me I am in a good spot. I take a selfie with her and she gives me a sticker! People begin showing up a few minutes after my conversation with the police officer. Several families with children are near us. It is fun to see the children's reactions to the parade participants. A group of young people near us hollowed our seats in a snow bank so they could watch sitting down!

I predict the Officer and I will meet again tomorrow at Goose Lake! (Refer to post Fur Rondy: Open World Championship Sled Dog Race).

BB on the bench waiting for the parade to start.

Seymour walks by as we wait!

The parade has everything you want a parade to have; marching bands, clowns, princesses (the complete Fur Rondy royalty participated in the parade), antique cars, antique tractors, horses, fat bikes, boy and girl scouts and more.

Fur Rondy King and Queen Regent.

Antique Cars.

Antique Tractor

Parade over, we head to the sled dog race that starts at noon. See post Fur Rondy: Open World Championship Sled Dog Race, to read about our adventures at the races.

If you know us you know that nephew/son John collects hot dogs. When John was here in August we went to Yeti Dogs. BB and I have been back since then. Yeti Dogs is at the Sled Dog Race so we stop in to say Hello and get a hot dog.

The Alaska Trappers Association Fur Auction is one of the original Fur Rondy events. The Auction interests me even though I don't plan to buy any furs. The only auctions I've been to are the silent type. For some reason a live auction intimidates me. And it's furs. Shopping for furs has just never been on my radar. Anyway, we think it will be interesting so head over to check it out. We watch as beaver, mink, otter, ermine, coyote, wolf and lynx furs are auctioned off. We keep our hands in our pockets so we won't buy anything by mistake.

We did end up making a purchase; not a fur at the auction but an antler from a nearby vendor. Our new nephew-in-law expressed an interest in moose antlers. BB saw some, asked him if he wanted her to get them for him and he said yes!

Great Alaska Talent Competition Preliminaries have been going on all afternoon at the Downtown Bear Paw Bar and Grill. We drop in to watch some of the talent and rest our feet. To be honest, we enjoyed the talent but mainly wanted to sit, rest our feet and take a breather.

Re-energized, we head for the Outhouse Races. Teams build creative, odd themed outhouses, put them on skis and then race to push and pull them around a half block course. This event was our only disappoint of the day. The crowds were so dense that we could not see the racers. We thought getting there 15 minutes early was enough time to find a spot to watch. Wrong.

We check on the progress of the snow sculptures on the way to the Fireworks Party at the Bridge. More about this in the Snow Sculpture post.

We have been looking forward to the Fireworks Extravaganza Party at the Bridge. The theme is the Roaring Twenties. Many, but not all and not us, dressed the theme. There are women wearing flapper dresses and fancy, feathered hats. Men wear 3 piece suits with wide labels and high rise, cuffed trousers. First order of business is finding an empty table. By the time we work our way past the ticket takers most tables are full or have at least one person occupying it and saving the seats for friends. We see the woman from the pancake breakfast holding a table for 6. We see a table for 4 with 2 empty seats. The other 2 are occupied by a couple, Logan and Kristan. They share their table with us. Festivities include food and drink, music and a silent auction. The food is good; chicken salad, cucumber and herbed cheese and smoked salmon finger sandwiches, stuffed mushrooms, deviled eggs, chicken wings and artichoke dip. We mention to our tablemates that we watched the Parade this morning. Logan tells us they rode in a boat in the parade. We tell them we waved at them. They tell us they remembered us (HA!). Logan is in a bidding war over a hat. He eventually wins. We move outdoors for the fireworks. Which are spectacular!