Fur Rondy Preparation Celebration Coming Soon (2012)

Downtown streets will be closed Thursday at 5 p.m.

Tools

By Lauren Maxwell
Bio | Email

Story Created: Feb 22, 2012 at 6:49 PM AKDT

Story Updated: Feb 21, 2013 at 9:27 AM AKDT

ANCHORAGE - Alaska’s most popular winter carnival is getting ready to kick off on Friday.

The carnival rides in Downtown Anchorage are almost set up. They’ll be open for the young and young at heart starting this Friday at 1 p.m.

If you are a fan of the snow sculptures you can see them taking shape right now. The artists are already at work on their giant blocks of snow, at the Ship Creek location.

Almost all the Rondy events will benefit from this year’s big snowfall – the Fur Championship Sled Dog Races especially. Organizers said conditions on the sprint course are the best in several years. 24 teams will compete in the three-day event that starts at noon on Fourth Avenue.

Fourth Avenue is also the starting line for what’s become one of Rondy’s most popular events.
The Running of the Reindeer is back, but this year it will be held on the last weekend of Rondy immediately after the ceremonial start of the Iditarod.

Starting Thursday at 5 p.m. there will be several closed roads downtown, to prepare for the festival. For details on road closures, click here.

For a full list of Fur Rondy events click here.
 
This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.