Elsewhere in the state, the 50th Anniversary of Alaska Statehood was celebrated last weekend. Wasilla's event was originally scheduled for last Saturday as well, which would have marked 50 years to the day since President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Alaska Statehood Act, but with daytime temperatures ranging from -20 to -30 F, the city decided to postpone one week until today - and then only if the temperature got above -10.
Anchorage went ahead on schedule with its celebration as did Eagle River, midway between here and there, where the temperature would have been about -30. Eagle River even staged a contest to see what dog could drag the heaviest loaded sled across the snow.
When I left my house just before 1:00 PM to meet Margie for lunch today, the temperature here was -27 (-33 C), but I had heard that it was much warmer "downtown." Sure enough, as I drove towards town, I watched the exterior temperature gauge in the new Escape rise and dip as I passed through different pockets of air, but overall it rose and when I reached Wasilla's Main Street it read "0" degrees.
A bit before 3:00 PM, I ventured over to the Celebration site, where the temperature was -3 and found a tiny group of people gathered around a large bonfire. Among them was little girl Olivia, pictured above, who came because her dad works with Parks and Recreation.
It was warm by the fire, and she seemed quite happy to be there.
The man putting his cell phone back into his pocket while talking to a constituent is attorney Verne Rupright, the new Mayor of Wasilla and the first man to hold the job in 12 years. Given that one of his female predecessors was Sarah Palin, many obvious questions arose in my mind, but I figure the poor man must field these questions 80 or 90 times a day, so I decided to give him a break and not ask them.
Another time, perhaps.
What we talked about in casual conversation was the location where we live. Our address is a Wasilla address. We say we live in Wasilla. We pay the same sales taxes to the City of Wasilla as does any Wasillan, but we get no services from the city because, technically, we are outside the city limits.
Many years back, on a hot summer day, I learned just how valuable those services could be. We were in the house when we heard the happy tune of a good humor truck coming down the road. "Daddy!" Lisa, who was still small, piped up excitedly, "can I have some money to buy ice cream?"
So I gave her a dollar or two. She ran out the door and pretty soon came back in again, carrying a large box of chocolate-covered ice cream bars, which were beginning to melt. Lisa said the ice cream lady had given them all to her, but was acting strangely. "I'm scared," she said.
The ice cream lady was still parked in the middle of the road, so I went out to investigate. As I drew near to her, I could see from the slump in her posture and the stupor in her red eyes that the ice cream lady was drunk. I tried to take her keys, but she drove off and crashed on the corner - the same corner where the chicken crossed the road and a pet dog mauled its owners pet rabbit nearly to death.
She was not hurt, but I could not let her drive away. I yanked the keys from the ignition of her good humor truck, which was high-centered on some rocks. Margie called the Wasilla police, but they refused to come. So we called the State Troopers, who had jurisdiction, but it took over an hour for them to arrive. I had to hold the drunken ice-cream lady as my prisoner for all that time.
Mayor Rupright assured me that he is working to improve the situation. Wasilla plans to annex my neighborhood, he said, as well as some other regions of Wasilla that lie beyond the official city limits.
"Your property taxes will go down by two mils and you will receive city services, including police protection," he told me.
See the bearded man standing at the far left in the background? That's Bert Hall, who used to be the director of the North Slope Borough Health Department, headquartered in Barrow. Back when I first knew him, he organized the first golf tournament in Barrow, as part of the city's annual spring festival, held in April.
That tournament commenced in temperatures that were in the mid -30's, so I know there are people here in Wasilla who know how to celebrate in true cold.
Plus, I can remember some pretty cold Iditarod Days, just as cold as last weekend, back when the real race used to start here. Nobody cared about the cold. People were out frolicking, spinning brodies on Wasilla lake in their trucks and cars, eating hotdogs and drinking soda pop.
Of course, by Iditarod time, there is real sun in the sky.
With the sun comes renewed energy. In fact, it comes in a great burst.
I counted 19 people standing in the vicinity of the fire and saw a few more through the open flap of a nearby tent. A handful of children played on the ice rink. It seemed like everyone that I spoke with had come in an official capacity, or was the companion of someone who had.
"It's cold," Mayor Rupright explained.
But it was warm standing by the bonfire. At least on one side. In fact, on one side, it was hot, while on the other side, a bit chilly. Not too bad. Just a bit chilly. And a celebrant could always turn around to warm up the chilled side.
And this is how 50 years of Alaska statehood was celebrated, one week late, right here in Wasilla, Alaska.
Sunday, January 11, 2009 at 11:34PM ;)
Damn! It's that time of year again - tax time. I know, because I spotted the Liberty Tax Man freezing at the side of the Parks Highway yesterday, just before I went to the Statehood Celebration. I took a picture quick, without looking through the viewfinder, then drove on. I don't know what he's got on under the Uncle Sam costume, but he has no protection for his ears. It's true, the temperature had warmed up dramatically from what it had been, to about zero degrees F (-18 c), but even at that temperature, one's ears will get cold sooner or later.;)
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