The parade was an Alaskan classic - it started about 45 minutes after the scheduled time, and the Rondy volunteers trying to keep the waiting crowd from dancing in the street did not know which direction the parade would be coming from. Everyone was looking down the street both ways, asking each other which way it would be coming. Attention spans wore out pretty quickly, and people started dancing in the street to the 80's music blasting over the PA system. We were standing a couple yards from the reviewing stand, so we could hear the announcer, who admitted right up front that groups and floats would be arriving out of order and not in a timely fashion. When it did arrive though, it was nothing but comedy gold! The group pictured above is a bunch of people wearing various Imperial uniforms (Yes, that would be in the Star Wars sense) . We don't know why. There were also non-crazy things. For example, there was a considerable military presence, which makes sense considering the Army and Air Force bases that are right next to Anchorage. There were also 18 (we have photographic proof!) beauty queens - all in fur coats and riding and waving from convertibles or military vehicles. We have no idea where they all come from - different and competing pagents, they started alloting Miss America contestants by square miles, just random women who bought themselves sashes and crowns? No idea whatsoever, but it's fun to wonder!
After that we went to the Anchorage Museum, to experience the Bridgebuilders "Meet the World In Anchorage" festival. This was quite the hootenanny itself. Every ethnic group that has any kind of presence in Anchorage had a table and a presentation on its culture and language and so on. Some were extremely elaborate, such as the Korean table, which had posters about their culture and their alphabet, models of houses and ships typical of their land and a calligrapher on hand who would write things out for you. On the other hand, the Hawaiian table had a couple of leis on it. More than a few of the groups also fielded performance groups who did dances and that sort of thing. We only saw a few groups, but they were pretty good! You got a "Passport" at the door, which you were supposed to take around to all the tables and get stamped after you had heard their story and/or learned something. We did not do this, because most of the people getting them stamped were school kids - it had the look of a project they had to go through for credit from their social studies classes. It was really interesting seeing all the different kinds of people who live here - also the Bridgebuilders is a pretty cool group! They seek to promote cross-cultural understanding and other good stuff.
The groups got to write their own introductions - one example is the number 2 group, named the Number 2s. We also had the Sitka Skidmarks, and more along those lines. If that kind of humor appeals to you - and Art's family specializes in it - you will find this event a stone riot and I urge you to attend next year if at all possible. If you don't find that sort of thing funny, you probably couldn't be persuaded to stand in below-freezing weather and get snowed on to attend such an event for any consideration whatsoever.
We finished out the day with a wonderful display of fireworks. We watched from the top of a nearby parking garage, which gave us a spectacular view.
In tomorrow's post: Running of the Reindeer! If you are unfamiliar with this event, it is much like the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, only instead of bulls and drunk Spaniards, it is reindeer and drunk Alaskans. Also, it is much, much colder.
The third thing is that those dogs want to run! There are teams of guys holding them back, and they (the dogs) bark and jump like you wouldn't believe, just waiting to get running. This is why they can't be lined up next to each other. Once you see one team lined up and waiting to go, you can't even imagine the amount of chaos two of them next to each other would be. 