{"id":113113,"date":"2025-02-27T10:16:40","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T10:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/american-history\/americanstudies-february-27-2025-alaskastudying-nenana-ice-classic\/"},"modified":"2025-02-27T10:16:40","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T10:16:40","slug":"americanstudies-february-27-2025-alaskastudying-nenana-ice-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=113113","title":{"rendered":"AmericanStudies: February 27, 2025: AlaskaStudying: Nenana Ice Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

[100
\nyears ago this week<\/a>, Calvin Coolidge designated Alaska\u2019s Glacier Bay a
\nNational Monument<\/a>. So this week I\u2019ll AmericanStudy that beautiful spot and
\nother Alaskan places, people, and stories!]<\/p>\n

On what a
\nunique Alaskan tradition tells us about both Alaska and tradition.<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>annual contest<\/span><\/a> in which
\nparticipants bet on the exact day and time that ice will break up on the Tanana
\nRiver near the small community of <\/span>Nenana,
\nAlaska<\/span><\/a> developed in a <\/span>few
\ndistinct stages<\/span><\/a>. It started very informally in 1906, with six locals forming a
\nbetting pool and the winner getting treated to a couple drinks at the local
\nbar. It was revived a decade later in 1916 on a larger but still local scale,
\nwith railroad workers and other Nenana residents buying tickets at Jimmy Duke\u2019s
\nRoadhouse. And when the word was spread by railroad workers across the region,
\nthe 1917 contest was opened to all residents of both the Alaska and Yukon
\nterritories. That 1917 contest is the one that the <\/span>official website<\/span><\/a>
\nhighlights as the contest\u2019s genuine origin point, and it has been run every
\nyear since, with the original betting pool of $800 reaching nearly half a
\nmillion dollars in some recent years (and over $200,000 in <\/span>the 2023
\nedition<\/span><\/a>). The technology involved in determining the precise moment when
\nthe ice breaks up has also evolved significantly over that century, as this <\/span>local news
\nstory<\/span><\/a> details. <\/span><\/p>\n

One of the
\nmost important but complicated things for any AmericanStudier to try to wrap
\ntheir head around is just how big and multi-part this nation of ours is, with
\nevery state featuring some pretty distinct layers and contexts that have helped
\nshape its identity and community and that it contributes to the whole of the
\nU.S. as a result. I believe that\u2019s genuinely true for every state, but as I
\ndiscovered during my one visit to Alaska in the summer of 2005, I\u2019d say Alaska
\nis one of the most distinct and unique of all 50 states (perhaps <\/span>only
\nrivalled<\/span><\/a> by the one territory which <\/span>gained
\nstatehood later<\/span><\/a>, Hawai\u2019i). Part of Alaska\u2019s uniqueness is unquestionably due to
\nits natural landscapes, an environment utterly different from anywhere else in
\nthe United States and one primarily defined by ice (although I\u2019m sad to think
\nabout how <\/span>much that
\nhas changed<\/span><\/a> in recent years). And part is due to the way in which a great
\ndeal of the territory and state have been constituted by migratory communities,
\nboth individuals and broader cohorts like railroad workers (all, of course,
\nalongside <\/span>Alaska\u2019s
\nindigenous communities<\/span><\/a>). We can see all those layers to Alaska\u2019s
\nstory and identity in the Nenana Ice Classic, both its existence and how it
\nevolved to become the annual tradition it remains.<\/span><\/p>\n

This whole
\nblog series<\/a> focused on such distinctive local traditions, but I hope it also
\noffered windows to consider the overarching concept of tradition and how it is
\ncreated, how it evolves, and how it works in a society (all topics about which
\nI learned a great deal from one of my favorite scholarly books, <\/span>Michael
\nKammen\u2019s Mystic Chords of Memory<\/i><\/span><\/a>). In the
\ncase of the Nenana Ice Classic in particular, I\u2019d say that we can see how a
\ntradition can be at once quite genuinely connected to key aspects of its local
\ncommunity (as I argued above) and yet thoroughly constructed over time,
\nconstructions driven as likely always by a combination of more cynical factors
\nlike tourism and capitalism and more sentimental ones like fun and community
\npride. One thing I try really hard not to be is the kind of scholar who leans
\nso far into the cynicism or even the analysis that I lose sight of those latter
\nfactors, and so I\u2019ll end this post with something I\u2019d say for each and every
\nentry in the series: I\u2019d love the chance to be at an event like the Nenana Ice
\nClassic, preferably with my sons and other loved ones, and to enjoy this unique
\ntradition for all that it is.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last
\nAlaskaStudying tomorrow,<\/span><\/p>\n

Ben<\/span><\/p>\n

PS. What
\ndo you think? Alaska contexts you\u2019d share?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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