Ice Park Family Fun

The unusually cold weather we have been having serves only one good purpose, it means the George Horner Ice Art Park can stay open for another week. The park was scheduled to close on March 25th, but will stay open due to below-normal temperatures.

The park is always a good time for both children and adults. From the slippery slides, Fred Meyer maze, to the ice sculptures themselves, the park is always a family fun event.

The massive ice sculptures are magnificent already, but seen by night with the colored-lights propped up behind them, they are gorgeous. After spending a great amount of time on the slides with my children, we ventured through the trails to scope out the sculptures. Both me and my husband Jacob’s favorite ones were the gigantic sculptures, particularly the one titled Prickly Perception. This masterpiece had an eerie leopard about to pounce on an ever ready porcupine. My 6-year-old daughter’s favorite was a single-block ice sculpture of a butterfly. My 2-year-old son couldn’t quite capture the beauty of the art, but he seemed to get a kick out of pulling his blue plastic sled through the narrow trails causing passerby’s to stumble if they got too close.

After walking through the trails, we warmed up with hot cocoa. Ready for another round of fun, we played on the spinning ice and posed with walruses and polar bears. To top off the night, Jacob and my daughter, Kahlia, ice skated in the rink while my son slid around in his Sorel’s. We spent a good four hours reveling in the park and thanks to the many pictures taken, we'll get to remember our last year spent living in Fairbanks.

Easy Taco Casserole

Make your own Eskimo ice cream

Extreme coorespondent Tony Pacheco visited a Akutaq-making workshop at the Festival of Native Arts where volunteer Kelsey Wallace demonstrates her Alaska style homemade "ice cream" process.

Akutaq, Ice Cream of the North

The first two days of the 39^th Annual Festival of Native Arts begin with morning and afternoon workshops. 

Volunteers conduct workshops and teach arts and crafts, traditional Native dances and languages, and Akutaq making. 

Akutaq is more commonly known as Eskimo ice cream.

            The Akutaq workshop is run by Native Alaskan student volunteer Kelsey Wallace who, prior to the class had little experience making Akutaq herself, “I’ve made it maybe six times but my mom always made it and it’s my turn to take over.”

            Interacting with the audience, Kelsey asked how much of each ingredient to use and an onlooker called out, “Guestimate!”  It might have seemed like a joke and was greeted with laughs but Kelsey and the other volunteers confirmed that much of the recipe is subject to guestimation. The recipe is unique to each village and likely to each household.

First person: Henry VI, part II

The floor creaked under the weight of each member as they stretched and prepared for the 4:00 p.m. reading of Shakespeare at the Empress Theatre. The middle of the room is lit with Christmas lights that are hung in such a way that they resemble a spider with many legs. About six tables with mismatched chairs create an arch around the big empty room. Each table also had mismatched table cloths which closely resembled loud drapes. The only thing that matched were the dim banker lamps with green shades. The room could easily hold 200+ people, yet only six people in Fairbanks made the time to read Henry VI part II.

First person: Merchant of Memories

I drove East on Airport Way, at 3:40 AM on Tuesday.  There was no traffic and the stop lights all gave me a “green”, until I reached Cushman Ave.  Just a few more blocks and then I would arrive at the Empress Theater just before the top of the hour.

I was about to embark on a journey that took me back 45 years.  The objective was to read “The Merchant of Venice” by William Shakespeare.