Alaskan Towns Promised Varied Holiday Fetes
ONLY PALMER HAS
NO DEFINITE PLAN
FOR CELEBRATION
Palmer may not have a formal
Fourth of July program of its
own planned, but Valley resi
dents will have a wide choice of
holiday functions, which they
may attend.
Neighbor cities on either side
of Palmer have planned the day’s
program to include residents of
the town. Wasilla will commence
an afternoon of celebration at its
baseball field at noon on Tues
day. Among the events scheduled
on the outdoor list of activities is
a softball game between Wasilla’si
VFW team and Palmer’s Ameri-|
can Legion squad.
In Anchorage, the American
Legion has planned a day-long
program of sports events, con
tests, a baseball game and a pa
rade. Valley folk are invited to
come early to Anchorage and
spend the day. Both Anchorage
and Wasilla celebrations will con-,
elude with a dance.
In Palmer, there will be a priv
ately - sponsored dance at the
Butte Hall on the evening of the
Fourth. During the day, the
Barry resort at Finger Lake has
invited all Valley residents to
participate in a free barbecue
there. ' j
Meanwhile, as Palmer makes no
plans to celebrate, full-scale plans
were announced by a number of
other tpwns and cities in Alaska, ;
Here’s how the rest of Alaska
will be celebrating the national
holiday:
Juneau
A four-day holiday celebration,
at which King and Queen Juneau
will reign, is planned for the.
Fourth at the capitol city. The
event opens with a coronation
ball Saturday evening, when the
selected king, whose identity will
be a closely-guarded secret, will;
be named.
Juneau’s queen will be chosen j
on the basis of beauty and popu
larity, and will be elected by ■
popular ballot. However the king i
will be picked by a secret com- j
mittee of three businessmen. His;
qualifications? He must be a 20- j
year resident of Alaska, a 10-year j
resident of Juneau, and have!
been outstanding in community!
service during that residence.
Rain will be no damper on Ju-j
neau’s celebration, for mayor
Waino Hendrickson has arranged.’
for the use of a warehouse at the'
city’s waterfront, in which to set
up rides and concessions.
There will be two night dis-1
plays of fireworks, in addition to
rockets which will be fired dur-|
ing daylight hours.
Teen-agers plan a square dance
demonstration in front of their,
club, as their part of the holiday!
celebration.
Kodiak
I
A giant parade and a carnival
at the Community Center will
highlight Kodiak’s annual Fourth
of July celebration. Other events
on the day-long program, which
opens with the parade at 10 a.m.,
include the traditional base-to-j
town marathon, outboard motor;
boat races, and a lavish display of
works.
Kodiak residents will crowd
their celebration into the Fourth
proper. Festivities culminate with
free dancing at the Community
Center, following the fireworks
display.
Seward
Seward’s historic marathon, the
highlight of that city’s Fourth of
July celebration each year, began
as a wager, probably in 1916 or
1917. The story goes that a Sew
ard groceryman offered to bet
that Mt. Marathon could be
climbed, with the runner return
ing to his point of beginning, in
an hour. Other Seward business
men thought differently.
A clerk in the groceryman’s
store offered to try the climb,
and he made the round-trip in one
hour and 20 minutes.
Later records on the race have
not been carefully kept, and it
is not certain what is the all
time record for the climb and re- j
I S
turn. However the men who won
in earlier years, were rugged, the
record shows. One winner, Max
Shellabarger, took the marathon
crown one Fourth afternoon, and
went on to win a boxing match
by a knockout later that evening.
Other winners of other years have
come to Anchorage, immediately
after the Mt. Marathon climb,
and have taken the honors in the
annual Anchorage run.
Ralph Hatch has won the race
for the past four years. His rec
ord has been progressively poorer
each year, indicating, so old
timers say, that the face of the
mountain is changing, with the
climb becoming more difficult
each year.
Although the race is open to
anyone who is physically able to
compete, it has never been won
by other than a Seward resident.
Mr. Hatch will try again for his
fifth victory, in next Tuesday’s
re-running of the event.
Fairbanks
A four-day “Days of ’98” cele
bration will mark the Fourth of
July in Fairbanks. Bearded and
costumed sourdoughs will walk
the streets of Fairbanks for those
four days—all others will suffer
at the hands of the vigilante com
mittee.
The celebration will be built
around gold-mining and will in
clude gold-panning contests, hard
rock drilling contests and other
appropriate competitive events. A
mid-way will be set up, to run
the full four days of the cele
bration.
SCHOOL PLANS—
(Continued From Page 1)
Mr. Zahradnicek said he hoped
that plans would be available to
prospective bidders by the end
of next week. One set of the
plans will be filed at the school
office, and contractors may ex
amine them there.
3 More Teachers
Named to Staff
Of Palmer School
Several new appointments t<
the teaching staff of Palme
School were announced this wee!
by superintendent William T
Zahradnicek. The new Palme
teachers include:
Joe Hudock of Palmer, wh
will teach mathematics and sc;
ence courses in Palmer Higr
School next term.
Miss Judith Chilton of Thiel
River Falls, Mont., who has beer
offered a position in the junior
high school level.
Deward Millsap of Glendale
Calif., who has been accepted as
principal of the elementary school
Contracts have been offered tc
the three, but had not yet be
accepted at press-time.
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