The centerpiece events are the World Championship Sled Dog Races, which are run over three days. Network telecasts are pre-empted for live coverage of the races that draw teams from throughout Alaska, the Canadian Yukon and Scandinavia. Much of this street was destroyed during the 1964 Good Friday earthquake, the most powerful ever recorded in North America. Back then, trappers and miners would emerge from the wilderness and meet once a year to trade, talk and compete in skills used to survive. Several hundred people wearing every type of fur imaginable bid on pelts from animals such as fox, wolf, wolverine and beaver.
Prices can run as high as several hundred dollars each.
Proceeds for the auction benefit the Alaska Trappers Association. There was one solitary protester pacing the sidewalk outside the festival grounds during the auction. A daily crowd favorite is the blanket toss, hosted by a gregarious Inupiaq named Greg Nosthine. Volunteers are gathered from the crowd to grab an edge of the walrus skin. After some brief instructions and a demonstration, participants are tossed about 10 feet into the air.