Fur Rondy Carnival

Keisha Marquez -Rios, Reporter

The Carnival is a part of the Fur Rondy Festival; it is an annual winter festival in Anchorage Alaska that starts in late February. Now, in 2016, it makes 81 years of how long the Festival has been around.  The carnival typically involves a public celebration and parade combining some elements of a circus, and public street party. The Festival marks the beginning of the end of winter and approaching the start of spring. In 2012 the Fur Rondy carnival was selected the number one winter carnival in the world by the national geographic traveler.

Steven Cancer, a 22-year-old, says he has come the past two years to the festival with his girlfriend. They love to come in warm fur coats. A lot of people say their favorite part about the carnival was the food.  “We always buy snacks first”, cancer stated.  Layle Laguer, a six year old, says her favorite snack is the caramel apples. Other snacks that they have at the Festival are Funnel cakes, popcorn, and cotton candy; they also have burgers, corn dogs, fries, many more and of course drink. Not too many people like eating before rides because they are afraid they might throw up.

    There are many fun rides at the Fur Rondy. One popular ride is the Rave. The Rave is a circular space where everyone stands as it spins at a fast pace and it pushes you back to a wall and you can’t really move. Another popular kid ride is the Clown Around. The Clown Around is a seat in the form of a clown that spins and as it turns a corner it shakes. “It surprised me because I didn’t know it would shake when it turned”, Laguer said. Although, those are some of the favorite rides there are definitely many more fun rides. The Apollo is known to be one of the most favorites. People usually go on the Apollo more than just once.

    Many people enjoy coming to the Carnival as a family. Patricia Serrano, mother of three says she loves coming with her kids, “They are always so full of energy and excited, they’re smiles are priceless.” Serrano says the first thing they do when they get to the carnival is buy snacks. They even go on the rides with their snacks. Their second favorite thing is the games because they get to win toys. The mother doesn’t like the games too much because of how expensive they are, “I swear the games are rigged.”

The Fur Rondy is full of many different activities there’s snow sculptures, and the Iditarod race and they even do fireworks and more. It’s a great place for families to come together.