People here love to celebrate. They love to eat and grill out and get together. Fourth of July was made for them. They gets kicked off with the parade at 10am. This is Very early for the people here. They like to stay out late with the Midnight Sun and wake up when they feel like it. There is really no need to claim a spot considering that there are only 3,200 people in town and the route is a couple miles long. I got there a little early though just in case. On my way there, everybody was greeting me with Happy Fourth, Happy Fourth. We never really say that a lot in Alabama I don’t think. There’s always Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Have a great Fourth of July, but no Happy Fourth. The parade was fun. It is led by the fire department and Coast Guard. (Why does the computer consider sentences written in passive instead of active voice grammatically incorrect? Anyone?)
Then most of the big companies around here sponsor floats and their candidates for Miss Arctic Circle ride on the floats.
This is my friend Stephanie's son Spencer. Note his very traditional socks and flipflops.
This girl had a plane on her float.
These are the winners from last year.
After the parade, my friend Mila and I got free ice cream bars at the fire station then made our way to the fairgrounds.
We walked around to scope everything out. The parks services folks were out with this really cool activity. They should how the Eskimos use to build stone men to help heard the caribou. They are called Inuksuk. I guess it’s kind of like a scarecrow. The caribou would run away from them thinking it was a man and run right to the actual men waiting to hunt them. I tried to make a little one.
Then Mila, Elaine, and I made a big one.
See his arms and head. We even gave him a hat.
Then we went over to the stage to watch the presentation of the contestants for Miss Arctic Circle and Miss Teen Arctic Circle. They spent a long time describing their amazing coats (Parkas), mittens, and boots (Mukluks). They were made of squirrel, muskrat, Ugruk (seal), caribou, and wolf.
Some of the mittens were actual wolf heads!
All the heavy lifting from making our Inuksuk made me a little peckish, so after the pageant, I decided on a Caribou Bratwurst. It was really good. You can’t beat a really good hotdog on the Fourth of July.
They had some traditional dancing. See the big drums the men are playing. All the dances tell stories of hunting, boating, berry picking, and life.
This elder still likes to bust a move, too.
Next were the foot races. They had men’s and women’s divisions in every age bracket from 2-3 year olds to 70+. When they got to the 20-29 year old women, there was only one girl standing out there, and there were prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. So, I told my friend Judith to take my picture while I ran. I am extremely slow. Like really. But I thought, “If it’s just me against her, at least I’ll get second.” Then right before she said go, three more ladies walked up. Good grief.
I am next to the girl in the green. See my face. This girl on the end in the grey is the one that went down.
I ended up getting fourth out of five, because one lady face planted halfway down the path. But, I tried.
Then there was tug of war. There was the adult round then the kids round. They split the teams by fresh water and salt water. The salt-water people are those from places like Kotzebue, Kivalina, and Point Hope. Fresh water people are those from inland like Kobuk and Shugnak. Fresh water dominated.
At this point, we decided to introduce my friend Mila to the Funnel cake. She is from Peru and has lived in Kotzebue for a little over a year. Her husband has lived here for 25 years, and they met when he was vacationing in Peru. I believe I started an addiction. She was all about the Funnel Cake.
After that we watched the Beautiful Baby Contest. A lot of the babies were dressed in traditional parkas and atukluks.
This baby was my favorite. He has a spear so we can hunt some whale. He even has his war face on! His grandma (nana) works with me. It's said nah-nah. Grandma in Inupiat.
This little one's mom works with me, too.
Atukluks are like hoodies with big pockets and a skirt. Some are fleece lined. The ones with skirts are for when the ladies would be out in the tundra and need to go to the bathroom. There are no trees to squat behind like in Alabama, so the skirt was definitely necessary. Look back at the dancing elder. She has one on. People here where them whenever, not just during traditional stuff.
Then came the lip-sync contest. Some people had clearly practiced and were very good. Others were not as practiced and much more shy. It was funny though.
These twins did Teach Me How to Dougy. That were the runners-up last year and did pretty well again.
This crew did N'sync.
Taylor Swift, of course. This girl won last year and took home the grand prize again this year.
And, Call Me Maybe.
By evening I was tired, and my face was pretty toasty. It was a really fun day though.
What about the fireworks? All these activities and no fireworks? Did you fall asleep before they started?
That was a good guess, but no.
Think about it guys. Midnight Sun. It is light outside all night, so you can’t see fireworks very well. They have a huge fireworks show out on the ice for New Year’s Eve, but the 4th is fireless.
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