Feb 26 2008
Tid Bit Tuesday - FUR RONDY!
OK. Time for another weekly installment of “Only in Alaska will you see…..”
This week is Fur Rondy. Our events started on the 22nd and will run through the 2nd of March.
What is Fur Rondy? It’s the Fur Rendezvous, also known as “Fur Rondy,” Anchorage’s February festival. It’s filled with events like the weight pull. In this event, the dogs demonstrate their strength by hauling weighted sleds several yards. The weights can total 1,000 pounds or more.
Alaska’s fur trade isn’t what it was a generation or two ago, but Fur Rondy provided parade watchers with an opportunity to see folks who “shur nuff” looked like old-time trappers.
There are also parades, ice sculpting competitions, a carnival (a favorite of Em’s!), Cribbage tournaments, native music, horse drawn carriage rides (keep in mind this is all happening right in the middle of downtown Anchorage! Our biggest city in the state… FOR A WEEK!). We have crab races… The Crustacean 500. We have car races on ice and the newest edition of Rondy insanity… The running of the reindeer!
Here is a photo taken by Anchorage Daily News
And check out this link for a complete slideshow!
Soooo… are ya’ll convinced that we are just the craziest batch of folks in the northern hemisphere or what??? What can I say… I dig it here. What.. what does that say about me? hmmmmm… no comment!
You forgot to mention that you were once a dog musher and competed in the one-dog class at the Junior North American Sled Dog Race….but that’s a story for another day.
Oh! I still have my Fur Rondy buttons from the last 70s/early 80s! I will have to photograph them sometime. We used to live in Ft. Rich and then my parents lived in Eagle River. Miss it, and love getting this tidbit rememberings in your blog.