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Golden Days Parade Final Part.

This is the last day of sharing pictures from last weekends parade.  I hope you are enjoying these.  I always enjoy seeing the part of the parade to the front of our float as they move off in action.  The funniest part of the whole parade was when the Zamboni stopped dead and it took several minutes and a bunch of people to get it pushed off to the side.  They finally got it started after our float passed by.

Zamboni up close

Zamboni off to the left of the picture.

The Zamboni is representing Chena Hot Springs which is a resort area bout 25 miles out side of town.  They raise their own veggies using the geothermal energy.  This is also a great spot to view the aurora while swimming in the heated pool at night.

Below is the float from the Alaska University Productions.  The lady practicing in it did some great work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Trapeze Artist

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everts Air Freight Company

Above is the famous Everts plane representing Everts Air Freight service which hauls all matter of freight to all the surrounding villages. Below is the afternoon tea from the seniors who live by Santa Claus.
 According to the sign carried by one of the guys riding the float next to us "Seniors Rock!"  This group came from North Pole with Santa.

Seniors from the North Pole

 This picture shows a roller skate that is part of the roller derby entry.

The Roller Derby Roller Skate

And of course what parade is complete without Santa Claus even in the month of July.  He came over from North Pole and rode on a truck pulled train.  We were number 53 and he was number 55 in the line-up.

Santa Claus from North Pole

Golden Days Parade Part 2

More pictures from the parade that took place on July 23, 2016 in Fairbanks, Alaska.  All the pictures were taken before the parade actually starts.  I grabbed a few pictures to entertain everyone and the first one for today is of the band and their float. 

Fairbanks Community Band

The community band is made up of all volunteers from all walks of life.  They have played in the parade for many, many, years and is lots of fun.

Water Safety

 Notice the traditionally Alaskan Way that the water safety message is given to the audience.  I think that might the moose found off at the knotty shop which sells wooden items hand made

Brewery and Hockey

The above picture shows two groups.  If you look carefully in the back to the left you will spot the entry from HooDoo Brewery a place that I'm told makes a good beer.  To the right towards the back is the mascot for the hockey team.

A boat from the Regatta.

 Many of the groups and floats in the parade represent a group in town, support a political candidate, or might even represent a business in town. It doesn't matter, everyone gets in on it.

One Group

I'm not sure who the above group is because they were still organizing when I snapped the picture.  I grabbed it because I love the colored balloons.

The Science Center

This science center had people marching along side of it with clear plastic umbrellas and legs streaming off which reminded me of jelly fish.  I think they were letting people know they are in town.

The Shriners

What parade is complete without the Shriners in their mini cars puttering down the parade route.  The staging area was divided into two parts.  The pedestrian and dance groups and the cars/trucks.  We were parked between the old time trucks and Santa Claus.

Old Tractors

This is a picture of an old army tractor with trailer.  We had fun watching the old man use a hand crank to start the engine so he could head out with the others.  It took him a couple tries but he made it.  Tomorrow, I'll share what happened to the Zamboni.

Golden Days Parade Part 1.

Chena River at Flood Stage

I told you in an earlier post (yesterday) that the ragatta had been postponed for a week due to higher water levels than normal in the river.  The river is actually quite high.   This was taken on Saturday morning, July 23, 2016 on my way over to the parade line-up.

I played with the community band.  Since its always a mess over there, I parked about a block away from the starting point and had to walk over but it gave me a good look at how high the river was.  I've never seen it that bad.  The water had overflowed, covering the grass at various points along the route.  Unfortunately the Rubber Ducky Race has also been postponed and the other boat race was totally cancelled. 

Me, in costume

As I said, the idea of the parade is to celebrate gold being discovered in the area which lead to Fairbanks being founded.  The whole celebration began back in the 1950's and has really expanded to what it is today.  So getting into the spirit of things, I wore one of my numerous costumes to help create a fun atmosphere.  I'll admit, I was the only one who did not wear the band outfit but I think I had more fun!

I had someone take the picture of me because I was headed home into a nasty rain storm so I did not want to try to take it in the rain.  Even construction was shut down.

Back to the parade.  I'll be sharing photos with you over the next couple of days because there is so much to see that I can't do it in just one day!  All floats are truck beds or four wheelers (ATVs) that have been decorated in some way.

The parade always starts off with the Army band.  Several of our members marched with them instead of playing with us.  So on to the pictures and a bit about them.

The Army Band - Waiting around for the parade.

This is the Alaskan Version of The Beverly Hill Billies

The above car has been in the parade for as long as I can remember.  The man who owned this died and now his daughter drives it.  She brings it out anytime there is an event to remind people of the early settlers who came up to Alaska.  Just for your information, many people came up during the depression to farm in an area north of Anchorage.  Problem is that they couldn't do it in the same way as they did in the lower 48  so the government wrote a pamphlet on the topic.  

Some of the sports teams in town enter groups and floats.  Below is the entry from the Fairbanks Curling Club.  The stone is built on a four wheeler aka ATV.  

The Rock from the Curling Club

 

The Rolling Jail

The rolling jail is a fund raiser run by the Chamber of Commerce where you can arrange to have someone arrested for a small fee or you can purchase a get out of jail card so that you cannot be arrested.  They have it covered both ways.  The mobile jail is only out during Golden Days so if you come up looking for it at any other time of the year, you won't see it.

The Rubber Ducky

 Finally for today is the Rubber Ducky from the Rubber Ducky Race.  This huge duck is released into the Chena River with a hundred or two small rubber duckies who float down the river to see which one crosses the finish line first.  The number on the duck tells who won the money in the pot.  It is a fund raiser, not gambling and its all done in good fun.

Tomorrow, I'll share more with you.

When Is A Race, Not Really A Race?

Its that time of year again where Fairbanks, Alaska has been celebrating the discovery of Gold by Felix Pedro back in the early 1900's.  The chamber of commerce sponsors a street fair, a parade, a rubber ducky race, entertainment, a moving jail, and a regatta.  Unfortunately, the regatta had to be postponed at least one week due to the river being at its highest all year and it is currently under a flood warning.

The regatta is one of those crazy things that Alaskan's do after a long winter.  The regatta is a boating event but it is not a race.  It is a celebration of floating creativity that celebrates all that is gold.

The rules are interesting in that you may have an engine but you cannot use it.  All people mus have a properly approved life jacket and if there are children on the boat there must be at least one adult with them.

The boats, well I guess you could call them that, are sometimes already made paddle boards or Kayaks but others have allowed their creative side to emerge and they decorate the rubber dingys and turn them into a work of art.

This is such a crazy event that they give out four awards.  One is for the creation that has the best use of the Golden Days Theme.  Another is for the boat with the best Alaskan Ingenuity which may include the use of duck tape and tarps.  The third is for the one that is the Least Seaworthy.  It can leak, have holes, or barely be above water but it must cross the finish line. They do ask people trying for this category to have a set of dry clothing to change into before accepting the award.  The last award is for Judges Choice which means they are looking for the most creative boat.

If you are interested in what the creations look like, you can check out the website to see some from previous years.  I don't have pictures because its usually on the Sunday and I do not usually head into town on Sunday's especially as I'm packing to leave town. So I've listed two sites that have pictures you can checkout to see how creative people get.

1. http://susanstevenson.com/blog/2015/07/golden-days-red-green-regatta-2015/  The pictures are down toward the bottom.

2. These are from the 2012 and are via one of the local stations.  https://www.flickr.com/photos/kuac-fm-tv/sets/72157630773573416/

Golden Days!!

Fairbanks, Alaska was founded back in 1901 when a gentleman built a trading post on the south side of the Chena River but it was when Felix Pedro discovered gold that things took off.  Although gold was discovered by an Italian, the owner of the trading post convinced people to name the town after Charles Fairbanks, the senator from Indiana.  By 1903, the town had incorporated.

Every year, the city celebrates the discovery of gold.  Gold was discovered outside the city but the city actually ended up where it is because the man who built the trading post had had a disagreement with the captain of the boat and the captain dumped him there......LOL.

There is actually a series of monuments to honor and celebrate the founding of the city outside of town, past Fox, on the way to the Missle launching facility.

Felix Pedro was only one of thousands who came north looking for gold.  As one field petered out, they moved further north and west, looking for the next big strike.  Turns out gold is plentiful in the area and has kept the city going.  It is still being mined today.

Picture of Felix Pedro

Information on the area gold mining.

Information on Felix Pedro

More on gold mining.

Originally, the Tanana Valley Railroad was run by two steam engines.  The interesting fact is that both engines are still in service.  One is in Fairbanks, owned and run by the local railroad club while the other can be found in Michigan.