Anchorage Fur Rendezvous (redirected from Fur Rendezvous Festival)

Anchorage Fur Rendezvous

Begins on the second Friday in February

The Anchorage Fur Rendezvous, also called the Rondy and sometimes the Mardi Gras of the North, is a 10-day city-wide celebration held in Anchorage, Alaska. The Rondy has its origins in the days when fur trappers, joined by miners, capped off a season of trapping by carousing in Anchorage; this annual rendezvous was formalized as a winter carnival in 1936.
Highlighting the celebration is the World Championship Sled Dog Race, a 75-mile race run in three 25-mile legs on three successive days, starting and ending in Anchorage. Contestants come from throughout the United States. Among the scores of other events and exhibits are parades, the Miners and Trappers Ball, Eskimo blanket tossing, Eskimo dances, a snowshoe baseball game, wristwrestling matches, and performances of an old-time melodrama. Special Alaskan foods sold include sourdough pancakes.
See also Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race

CONTACTS:
Greater Anchorage, Inc.
400 D St., Ste. 200
Anchorage, AK 99501
907-274-1177; fax: 907-277-2199
www.furrondy.net

SOURCES:
AmerBkDays-2000, p. 138