Load limits begin. A winter's worth of trash appears along every road and moose trail. On the first Saturday in May, the whole town turns out for clean-up day. Starting at 8 a.m., men, women, and children fill up trash bags and set them at the side of the road. At 2 p.m. the garbage trucks start picking up full bags.
Local businesses donate the bags and whatever else is needed to make clean-up day a success.
Children impatiently wait for the last day of school. The University of Alaska Fairbanks graduates another class of students. The first tour buses traverse the town. Camera-studded tourists gawk at the sights. Cyclists invade the bike paths while the snowmobiles are stowed for the summer.