Wind Songs: Juneau Maritime Festival

Today I spent the day downtown working at the First Annual Juneau Martitime Festival:

Weather-wise it was an unbelieavably warm, sunny and beautiful day, and the event was packed with both Juneauites and cruiseship tourists.

For the first time holding this event it was an outstanding success. The event was all kinds of coolness.

It included booths manned by non-profits and businesses, water safety organizations providing hands-on displays, tours of fishing, coast guard and private water vessels, food vendors, and entertainment that ranged from bagpipes to folk singers and rock singers to native dancers.

There were events staged for both kids and adults. All of it was free.

And those in attendance included cruiseship tourists wearing ear muffs and parkas all the way to homegrown teenage girls wearing sleeveless tops, shorts and flip flops.

Lots of big Alaskan dogs. Lots of young parents hauling babies in 3-wheeled running strollers and all manner of front and back packs.

People sitting on retaining walls and along the boardwalk, sitting and lying on the grass, standing and wandering. All in all a day of sunshine, good feelings and good neighborly entertainment. The most feel-good mass outdoor event that I can remember ever being a part of.

I truthfully would have much rather been hiking on a trail somewhere or biking Out the Road on such an amazingly wonderful weekend day, but if I had to be working it was a great way to earn a living......

A Coast Guard water rescue demonstration. By the time it was complete there were hundreds of people standing on the boardwalk close to the water watching the action. Very cool.

One of many small independant tour vessels that provide trips along the channel close to town for the benefit of cruiseship tourists.......

There are times - today was one of them - where this city feels completely unlike any other I have either visited or lived in. Surrounded in all directions by mountains and water there are times when Juneau feels like it is completely isolated and untouched by the rest of the world.

Some of the entertainment was wonderful - talented local singers, and various individuals and groups playing different types of music........This was a popular resting place for those visiting the festival........

The floats planes were landing and taking off non-stop throughout the day....

A very popular table throughout the day was this one - there were kids all day walking and running around the place wearing their home-made hats........

Although I have seen an increasing number of sailboats out at Auke Bay, today was the first day that I had seen them in the channel downtown.........

A really great and relaxed family event, where people young and old and their dogs, all felt comfortable enough to visit with each other, sit wherever it seemed appropriate at the time. It was all very relaxed and easy. Very nice.

The sound of drums caught my attention first. I followed the sound until I found this group of native Alaskan dancers..........

The Lego table kept the kids busy and engaged..........

There is a bronze statue close to Marine Park - a beautiful statue that acknowledges the rich mining history of this city. I have stopped to look at it many times over the past few months. All of these past months since I arrived, I have visited this statue in the cold, in an area with empty streets and empty parking lots.

That was not the case today of course. The place was packed.

Today there were many children through the course of the day who did not see this statue as a nod to Juneau history, but rather they saw it as a great place to climb and play. This is a remnant of a child's visit.........left behind by its owner.