Golden Days Parade

Saturday was the Golden Days parade celebrating the discovery of gold in the Fairbanks area. The celebration begins on Wednesday with can-can dancers and games at Pioneer Park (we had baseball and missed out). There are various activities through the week and it all wraps up Saturday with the parade and Sunday with the Red Green River Regatta (missed that one, too, due to football, but Emily boated with her dad).

The weather was warm, but it was very smoky from a nearby fire. Elijah walked in the parade with his football team. By the time it was done he and I had huge headaches from the smoke.

The parade route is a mile long and is packed with people on both sides the whole way.

Some of the Golden Heart Dancers.

The Red Hackle Bag Pipe Band. You may remember seeing them in my post on our Ester 4th of July parade.

The Arctic Warrior Band.

This is the winner of the Felix Pedro look-alike contest. Felix, an Italian, found the first gold in Fairbanks in 1898.

UAF Nanooks Mascots. Oh, I think they go by the Alaska Nanooks now hence the Big A on the front of the jersey.

Some of the sheep following the Future Farmers of America float.

This giant Nanook is what the hockey team skates out of onto the ice for introductions. The arena is darkened with lots of smoke, lights and loud music.

During the week of the Golden Days Celebration there are two "jails" that travel around town arresting people. You can purchase a warrant and have your boss thrown in jail. They then have to pay to get out.

This is a float full of past Golden Heart Dancers.

A parade isn't complete without a visit from Smokey the Bear.

I had thought about walking with our four puppies with this group, but bagged the idea to be a spectator.

Olivia's munching on candy and Lucas is really kickin' back. Nick was with us, too, but for some reason I didn't take his photo.

There is a rubber duckie race in the Chena River held as a big fundraiser. Thousands of yellow ducks are dropped off the Wendell Street Bridge to float down to a net. Since I haven't had a phone call I am going to assume I did not win $10,000 or any of the other prizes. :( I missed the actual "race". The babies were beat from the heat and smoke and went home with their brothers. I went with my hubby to the Aleyska equipment auction. (A perfect waste of a good Saturday afternoon!! At least we got to spend some time together!).

These girls are on the Roller Derby team. Yes, we have roller derby in Alaska. I did not go watch the debut performance against the team from Anchorage, but from the article in the paper it seems people are thrilled about it.

Here comes Elijah's team. Elijah's head is behind the right shoulder of the boy in the mismatched jersey.

I think Pretty Boy Floyd needs a haircut.

I bet there were a dozen tractors in the parade. Some were restored to perfect condition.

There were dozens of more floats, hundreds of karate kickers and dancers, a bunch of dogs and one horse....the parade was the longest I can remember in a long time. I think it took about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to get by us. It was a great day for a parade.