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%.