We got to experience our first Fur Rendevous (Fur Rondy for short). It is not clear what the purpose of the Fur Rondy actually is...except for an excuse to party. That's reason enough for us. It is an excuse to get out of the house to celebrate the eventual coming of spring while there is still enough snow around to play in. It has been a 75 year-long tradition and it more and more strange every year. Everyone puts on their best furs and showcases them around town - makes for some great people watching.
Our first activity was snow-shoe softball. A co-worker of Ryan's put together a team and was short a few players, so we filled in. As hard as playing softball in 12 inches of snow (in snow-shoes) sounds...it is much harder than you would think. It was a 1-pitch tournament, so that helped keep things moving. A nice hit to the outfield took a keen eye to spot the ball, because you had to root around in the snow for the ball.
After snow-shoe softball, we headed downtown for the outhouse races. These are also a long-standing Rondy tradition. There are 2 classes, traditional and unlimited. The traditional races are shown below - "occupied" single story sleds with a hole, a roll, and some reading material. The unlimited class allows for some more creativity, but you still have to have the basic ingredients.
The team names are pretty creative. There were names like the "Poo Pushers" (pictured below), the "Charmin-iers," "Flying Duck Farts," "Cool Runs" ( a spoof on the Jamaican bobsled team), "Double-dooties," and several other #1 in the #2 business related names.
Another Alaskan first...fireworks in the snow!
There is a 3-day dogsled sprint that is a warm-up for the Iditarod, which starts next week. There were about 20 dog teams this year. Each day they took off from downtown and made a 20 mile loop around town. It only took about an hour for the teams to complete the loop, so needless to say they, they were moving along pretty fast. Most teams had 10 to 12 dogs.
We got to see the famous Hobo Jim play at Anchorage's newest concert venue. It was a another first for us (and Hobo Jim), the venue failed to get their liquor license in time for the show...so it was a non-alcoholic event. It was still a great show.
At the carnival grounds there is an annual fur auction. When we got there they were auctioning off grizzly bear hides. The hides were selling for $500 - $2000. Notice the other bidders in the crowd....
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