With a population of 4,000, Nome is a compact town, hemmed in by ice for 6 to 7 months out of the year. Visible are the Glue Pot hangout at left and the Sitnasuak Native Corporation headquarters. The Glue Pot, Nome's all-night hamburger hangout and pawn shop. Eskimo drummers march in Nome's Midnight Sun Festival parade June 19, 1999. For locals, the top feature of the Midnight Sun Festival is Sunday's Nome River Raft Race, a carefree event that begins at mile 13 of the Kougarok Road and ends near mile 8.
Top prize is a fur-lined honeybucket.
June 20, 1999. SW of Nome, aerial. View looking west from approximately 3,000 ft. altitude. A refuge for walrus, its last human habitation ended in the mid 1940's. From Nome, it often appears miraged.