Moose Dropping Festival

Talkeetna Alaska

The Parade

The Moose Dropping Festival in Talkeetna, Alaska is an annual event to raise money for the local library. The event is the highlight of the summer season in this small town about 150 miles of Anchorage. The town is known for being the home base for airplane trips to nearby Mount McKinley and Denali Park. Moose droppings are a common sight in this area. The dried droppings were used by natives for fuel and are painted & made into ornamental pins sold to raise funds. The number on the pin has a duplicate which is put into a large netting. This is dropped at 5 p.m. the day of the parade over a large bullseye painted in the parking lot of the VFW. The number closest to the bullseye wins - and there are several other winners - even a booby prize for the one farthest away.

We stayed about 2 1/2 days in Talkeetna the weekend of the festival. Our Santa Barbara friends, Ellwood and Karen Schapansky spend the summers in Talkeetna. They like the laid-back atmosphere. Ellwood rides his bike everywhere. The spur-road that leaves the highway ends in Talkeetna. We attended a pancake breakfast at the VFW Lodge, then attended the parade. Following the parade we went to the fundraising lemonade stand that Karen and the Schapansky granddaughters had. The lemons (which are over $1 each in Alaska) were carried from Santa Barbara by Silvio and Mary. Fortunately, only a few spoiled on the journey.

In the late afternoon, thunderstorms arose, so the "moose drop" dropping was held a bit early (hence, no pictures). We didn't win anything, but the festival was great fun. We also gathered as a group for dinner & breakfast before we departed back to Anchorage for our return flight to the "lower 48."

The Moose Dropping Festival Parade is unique in that it is the only 2-way festival in the world (that anyone knows about). The parade runs about 5 blocks, then turns around and returns back the way it came. There are usually a few fun changes on the return.

We had a lot of fun. There are a lot of individualists in the area. Here are a few pictures of the parade, some of the characters and the lemonade stand. Pictures of the parade returning are on another link.