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!

The Table Decorations.

Our Fireworks Glasses.

The Fireworks.

Logan wearing his new hat.

Us with Logan and Kristan.

Since we are out late we decided to go Aurora hunting on the way home.  No luck. 

An awesome day!

Sal

Fur Rondy: Open World Championship Sled Dog Race (02 - 24 to 26 - 2023)

The Fur Rendezvous Open World Championship Sled Dog Race has been held each year since 1946.  This year 17 mushers from Alaska, Canada, the lower 48 and Germany are competing for the $55,000 purse.  This is a sprint race over three days.  Teams run the same 26 mile route three days in a row.  The team with the fastest combined times wins the race.

Mushers draw bib numbers ahead of the first day's race.  On Race Day 1 the Teams leave the Start at 2 minute intervals based upon the order of the bib draw.  On Days 2 and 3 of the race the start order is determined by the previous day's finishing time.  The slowest Teams leave first followed at two minute intervals by the next faster Team.  This makes for an exciting race from the midpoint on as the Teams pass each other as they head for home.

Dogs that compete in this race are superb athletes.  These dogs have a unique combination of speed and endurance and a mind capable of navigating urban streets and trails.  These dogs can reach up to 20 MPH!   During this race the teams encounter culverts and footbridges.  They run on city streets and trails. They ignore crowds and loose dogs.  These dogs are able to successfully pass tough  physical and mental challenges. 

Race Day 1 BB and I are at the Start to see the Teams off. The dogs are excited!  We hear them barking from several blocks away!  Mushers and volunteers work hard to hold the dogs back.  Teams are lined up several blocks from the Start.  Teams waiting to start are attached to a snow machine to keep them in place.  Teams at the Start line are held in place by 4 Firemen!  BB and I see all 17 teams off.

A Team at the Starting Line.

Firemen holding the sled to keep the dogs behind the Start line.

A Team races down 4th .Avenue

On Race Day 2  we see the Teams Start and Finish.  We go for the bird's eye view today and watch the Start from the 3rd deck of a parking garage.  It removes us from the excitement and energy of the crowd; however, allows us a better view of the Teams.   

Looking for a spot to watch the Teams cross the Finish line we see open seats on the bleachers.  The bleachers are right by the Finish line.  We have a good view of the Teams coming down 4th Avenue to the Finish.

It's exciting when a Teams runs by.

More exciting when two go by!

On Race Day 3 I am at Goose Lake.  I want to see the Teams on the course.  The Teams go by Goose Lake twice.  Outbound they pass by between 10 and 15 minutes after starting.  Inbound they pass by about an hour  to an hour and 20 minutes after starting.  When I arrive at Goose Lake the only people there are me, the race workers and a police officer.  They tell me the best place to watch, when to expect the first team and what their  responsibilities are.  One worker is there to record each Team's time as they go by.  The other is there to keep spectators off the course.  The police officer is there to do police stuff.  As we talk the officer begins to look familiar.  I asked her if we talked at the parade yesterday and she said Yes.  I am standing by a curve in the trail.  It is fun to watch the dogs and sleds race abound the curve.

I was so tickled that the officer remembered me.

Going Out.

Coming Back.

Sal

Fur Rondy: Snow Sculpture Championship (02-18-2023 - 02-26-2023)

BB and I went to the Snow Sculpture event for the first time the early afternoon of Day 2.  We wanted to see what the snow blocks looked like before the sculptors started carving.  We ended up going 5 times to check progress.  

Great pictures of the sculptures are included with this article in The Anchorage Daily News.

Everyone starts with an 8 foot square of packed snow.

Most teams hadn't made much progress when we visited the first day. 

It turns out that we talked with the same three sculptors during our visits.  These three recognized us and always said hello when they saw us.  They also were willing to answer questions about snow sculpting, Fur Rondy and general advice on what to do in Alaska.

 

Team: Snow Cats  Title:  Mr. Whoo.

Snow Cats came in second place in the family division.  On our first visit we were lucky to meet a woman on the team.  She explained how they use several of the tools. It was interesting to hear that the reason for the wall behind Mr. Whoo was to protect him from the sun.  She also said they would probably be here working on him all night before judging because of the detail work; doing it too early risks it getting harmed by the weather.

This is how Mr. Whoo looked when we first saw him.

Explaining how they know how to transfer the design to the big block of snow.

Showing us how the tools work.

Mr Whoo finished.  Ready for judging.

Team:  Here Comes Trouble     Title: Moose Meadow

If you know me you know why this is one of my favorites!  The sculptor told us he wanted his design to include elements of the Fur Rondy Pin; hence the moose theme.    He also told us this was his 10th year competing.  He said he learned a lot since his first year.  The tools he brought to his first competition were serving spoons, ice cream scopes and other kitchen utensils.  He said he thought, 'Snow, what else would one use?"  Now he knows to bring heavy duty tools.

What it looked like when we first saw it.

With the Designer and Sculptor.

Pictures from additional visits.

Finished Moose Meadow ready for judging.

Team:  Snow Walker       Title:  Who's Got Who

Yet another person willing to answer questions and share knowledge.  He told us a good time to watch the sculptors working was in the evening.   We did come down two evenings and noticed more teams were working then.  One evening was after the fireworks and before heading out to see Northern Lights. Once he found out we were going Aurora Hunting he told us websites he used to obtain Aurora forecasts and had suggestions for places to go in Anchorage to view the.  He made a point of telling us he had seen us several times and was glad we were enjoying the event.  We didn't mention the afternoon we held our breath and watched in trepidation as he climbed a ladder carrying a very heavy and large (20"X 20"X 20") block of snow.  We watched as he slowly made his way to the top of the ladder and carefully set  the block on the ladder's top only to have it fall to the ground and break as he transferred it to the top of his sculpture. He took it well; no cussing or loud words were heard.  We turned away before he saw us.  He recovered.  The block was to become part of the whale's tale.  He pieced it back together.  Can't tell he had any mishaps when you see the finished sculpture.

Snow Walker standing on his Block.

Finished and ready for judging.

The teams have been working!

Sal