Anchorage Fur Rendezvous
The Anchorage Fur Rendezvous, often referred to as "Rondy," is a ten-day winter festival celebrated in Anchorage, Alaska, starting on the second Friday of February. This vibrant event has evolved from its modest origins in 1936 to become one of Alaska's largest annual celebrations. A key attraction is the World’s Championship Sled Dog Races, which features skilled mushers and their teams from Alaska and beyond competing in exhilarating heats. Over the years, the festival has included a variety of activities such as parades, traditional dances, the crowning of a Fur Rendezvous queen, beard-judging contests, and numerous athletic competitions, including basketball and judo tournaments. While initially focused on the fur trade, as suggested by its name, the event today showcases a broader array of cultural and recreational activities. The Anchorage Fur Rendezvous is often likened to a northern Mardi Gras, reflecting its festive spirit and community involvement. Managed by Greater Anchorage, Inc. since 1955, the festival has significantly grown in duration and scope, highlighting not just Alaskan traditions but also a celebration of the winter season.
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Anchorage Fur Rendezvous
Anchorage Fur Rendezvous
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The Anchorage Fur Rendezvous, a ten-day community-wide celebration that begins on the second Friday of every February in Anchorage, Alaska, grew from obscure beginnings to become one of Alaska's biggest events. The highlight of the Rendezvous, nicknamed the “Rondy,” continues to be the annual World's Championship Sled Dog Races, which are run in three heats. Other attractions over the years have included parades, miners and trappers balls, the coronation of a Fur Rendezvous queen, beard-judging contests, selection of a king and queen regent from the ranks of long-time Alaskan residents, Eskimo dances and blanket tosses, and vaudeville performances.
The World's Championship Sled Dog Races draw mushers and their teams of huskies, malamutes, and other dog breeds from Alaska, many parts of Canada, and as far away as New England. (Dr. Roland Lombard of Wayland, Massachusetts, scored upset victories over local mushers to become the world champion sled dog racer in 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971, and 1974.) The Rondy also features other athletic events, which have included the All-Alaska Basketball Classic, the All-Alaska Judo Tournament, the Curling Bonspiel, the Alaska Table Tennis Championships, the World's Championship Cross-Country Snowmobile Race, the State Indoor Rifle Championship, a cross-country ski trek, snowshoe racing, auto racing, hockey, and weight lifting. There have also been less athletic events such as chess tournaments, bridge tournaments, and photography contests.
Often referred to as the Mardi Gras of the North, the Anchorage Fur Rendezvous had its inception in 1936. In 1937 it acquired its present name from the trappers' custom of bringing fur pelts to town for sale. Fur and fur products, much emphasized in the first years of the Rendezvous, receive far less attention today. Variously managed in its early years by civic groups, fraternal and service organizations, special committees, and the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, the Fur Rendezvous came under the sponsorship of Greater Anchorage, Inc., when the nonprofit organization was founded in 1955. Under the supervision of the GAI, the originally modest Rendezvous expanded from being a three-day event to its modern duration of ten days in length.