Beach Party and 4th of July

Hey Rune - here is someone who has your taste in haircuts!



As I've said before, Juneau really celebrates the fourth of July! Its a several-day event in normal years and this year it was combined with a celebration of statehood.

In this year's parade, a float with some of the same princesses from 50 years ago drove down Egan Drive. Along with the marching band, antique cars, fire engines, Veterans for peace - you name it - they were there (ho, everyone except for the governor). And the candy that was thrown or passed out - every kid walked away with a grocery bag full!


And then there was the beach party and games at Savikko park - always a hit with foot races, gunny sack races, dog frisbee throw, lots of food booths, face painting, tailgate barbeques and more.

In year's past the sand castle building competition has not amounted to much. I think with the incredible weather we've been having the inspiration (or desire to be at the beach) was increased and there were some very finely crafted piles of sand around.

This was probably my favorite:


and for my nephew:


This one was fun - there were hidden toys where communities would be located, for example, Ketchikan had a little crab placed at the proper place.


After riding our bikes downtown to watch the parade in Juneau, then coming back to Douglas for another parade, hot dogs at the firehouse, watching the races, cheering on the speed racing SoapBox Derby kids and the fireworks from the night before, we were glad to spend a quiet night at home.

Statehood Fireworks

There was a tiny little blurb in the "Around Town" section of the Sunday Juneau Empire and I don't think Tim believed me until we arrived at the new high school's parking lot and saw others gathering, but it truly was the Statehood Fireworks Display! As often happens, the show started out pretty slow and with snow falling for most of the day and during the show I'm sure there were some difficulties keeping things dry. But finally after a few single bursts the real show began and it was a good one.

There's nothing like standing out in 20 degree weather to enjoy the warm, happy feeling of fireworks, well, ok, maybe standing out at minus 30 below is a little more dramatic!





Santa put a Statehood Almanac under the tripod tree so be warned that you're going to get some facts from it through the year!

Alaska entered the union on Jan 3, 1959 as the 49th state with a population of about 225,000, of which almost a quarter of the residents were Alaska Natives. As of the book publish date the population is 691,354 and about 17% being Alaska Natives. In 1959, the federal government owned 100% of the lands and in 2000 the feds owned 65%, state 25%, private 1% and Alaska Native Corporation Land 10%.

Cappy Independence Day!

So who would have thought that the real celebration for the 4th of July is actually on the 3rd! It all started about 6 pm when people started to gather along the beaches getting their bonfires set up. The big fireworks display was scheduled for 11:59 pm. Whoever sponsored it (probably the City and Borough of Juneau or CBJ) set it up on a barge that they moved in after the cruise ships left town. There were at least 5 big ships in today. They normally leave town around 10 but tonight they all started heading out of town around 7. Not sure why, you'd think they would want to stay around for the show!



Here you see Cappy and the beach fires that were set off along the beach on the Douglas Island side. We had groups on either side of us providing quite a show of extensive "wow" power. I don't know what the explosives are all called but these folks didn't just have sparklers. I did find a couple of lighters in our GD drawer so we flicked those a few times.

At about 11:30 there was a 10-15 minutes display of high flying sparks from someone down the beach from us. It was something. And then almost exactly at 11:59 the real show began. It was quite impressive - but then I'm easily pleased if I can be outside watching a fireworks show and not have to be wearing my bunny boots and face mask. Ok, it was starting to sprinkle so I did have a baseball cap and my anorak on. But I wasn't wearing wool socks and long underwear!



There are two parade tomorrow and a whole slew of events taking place down at Sandy beach so I'm sure we'll be adding more as the holiday progresses!


We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it. ~William Faulkner