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The City of Barrow sponsors Piuraagiaqta, a spring festival, annually. This year it begins today and continues through Monday evening (with most activities taking place Saturday and Sunday).
Of course, a spring festival in Barrow is not the same as it would be where ever it is that you are. Here are a few bits and pieces from the schedule:
Fri Apr 4
3:30 PM: Middle Lagoon; Sledding for kids
4:00 PM: Middle Lagoon; Maklak Races
5:00 PM: Library; book sale
6:00 PM: Ipalook School; Potluck dinner and Barrow Dancers
Sat Apr 5
9:30-10:00 Pepe's; British Petroleum buys us pancake breakfast
10:00- 2:00 City office; Arts Crafts Sale
10:00- 5:00 Library; Book sale
12:30 Parade
1:30 Middle Lagoon; Whaling Crew tent setup contest
2:00 Middle Lagoon; 2x4 race
2:30 Middle Lagoon; Harpoon throwing contest
2:30 5100 Herman; Sailor boy Cooking Contest (Create a meal on a pilot bread cracker, must bring 10 "filled crackers" to enter)
3:00 Middle Lagoon; Muqpauraq & Siignaq Contest (homemade bisquits and cooked fruit contest)
4:00 5100 Herman; Uqsukuaqta & Akutuq Contest (Fry bread and Eskimo Ice cream)
The weather prediction looks ideal, with highs from 15 to 25F over the weekend, with possibly some snow, and winds rather normal at 10-15 MPH from the east.
I'll try to get out and about with a camera, and perhaps post of few images of fun in the sun on top of the world
Pictures: Parade, 2x4 race, and the harpoon throwing contest
Well, it was too warm (low 20's) for my tastes, with snow and what the US Weather Service said was "freezing fog" all day; but I got my camera wet anyway. Here are what I thought were interesting pictures.
The first one is at the start of the parade as it left the parking area in front of City Hall, the building on the opposite side of the road in the center of the picture with a blue roof showing. The people in the parade throw candy to the kids along the way, so everywhere you look there will be people picking candy out of the snow.
This parade had only half a dozen police cars in it. That's odd... usually every car that runs is in every parade, I swear! But this time it looks like only the most senior officers made the list. I can never remember this guy's name (maybe Stiffnecked knows him, cause he's been here for about 20 years now). I wanted a good shot of the officer and a good shot of their great emblem on the vehicle, and this one was not the best of either, but it does have both.
And of course a couple fire trucks and an ambulance were there, having fun with the sirens, just like the cops. This one though, I have to show two pictures of to see the whole story. Notice that young fellow driving is having almost as much fun as the whole gaggle of little kids he's got riding with him. This image show most of the kids, but the back seat is also full.
This next image shows more of the kids, but it shows more of that big kid driving too! He's having a great time!
This next one wins my award for the most colorful entry in the parade.
I can't tell if the NSB mayor is driving this car or not, but it's from his office.
Later in the afternoon it was even more socked in. This image has the contrast turned up all the way to allow it to show what is there, but that is not really what it looked like through the haze, the fog, and the snow. This is looking down on the "Middle Lagoon", between Barrow and Browerville. It is taken from the back side of Ipalook Elementary school, on the Barrow side. The building in the distance are in Browerville.
Down on the ice, this is the "2x4 race". Four crew members were lashed to a pair of 8 foot long 2x4s, and off they went. The point of course is teamwork and coordination.
Next is a series of images from the harpoon throwing contest. These four images are of one throw. The idea is to hit the tire dead center, which is easier said than done.
Nice pics Floyd! What is written in the whale cutouts on the mayor's vehicle?
I don't know, it's Chinese to me...
Today the weather was just fabulous for taking pictures! It was clear, about 10F, and maybe 5 MPH wind. Great... so I basically showed up everywhere just a bit too late to see the events going on. I only caught one, the Tea Making contest. But, there are some interesting pictures... they just aren't of the things I expected to get pictures of. But these are, for a photographer, fun pictures.
This first one is similar to one from yesterday, except this is the Middle Lagoon from the Browerville side looking towards Barrow. The one yesterday was taken from in front of the building on the right in this picture.
There are three things to note for future reference in this first picture. The vehicle all the way to the left is an ambulance from the Barrow Fire Department. Also note where the last vehicle is on the right, because that is where I was when I took pictures of that ambulance, with a 1280mm telephoto lense. The other location where I took pictures from was the far left corner of the rectangular area that cars are parked around.
I drove up, parked, jumped out and caught this race just after it ended. They crew had pulled these sleds by hand to the opposite end of the area, set up a camp, then disassembled it and pulled the sleds back. This was actually the second shot I took, and the first one was before the fellow in the brown coat could sit down. But this image has that cute little kid in the lower left. (This was shot with a zoom lens at 70mm (with a 35mm sized digital sensor, so it's the same as 70mm on a 35mm SLR).
At that point I put a old Canon 800mm f/5.6 USM lens, with a 1.6x teleconverter, on the camera. That makes it a 1280mm lens. I also moved down to the end of the field, so I'm as far from the ambulance as possible.
Here's a picture of the Fire Department volunteer (the young lady with a hood, over on the right) selling snacks. The fellow in the turnout coat is... the full time paid Chief of the Fire Department, Clancy Itta. He's profiling... :-)
This is one pick for the most colorful picture of the day.
These two fellows are part of the Quvan Crew, with their umiaq.
I left and assumed they were done, but drove by half an hour later and things were going again! I caught the last two participants in the Tea Making contest. These images are all taken with the 1280mm lens, but from the same location the sled pictures were taken at. Right at the corner, close the ambulance, on the Barrow side, looking towards the Browerville side.
The aluminum rod is a cane, for the fellow standing on the right. What is neat in this picture is the area just above and to the left of the pot on the stove. The heat waves are very visible, and distinctly different than the out of focus areas next to it. (Hmm... I should tinker with this, and make that area slightly pink... :-)
This is the other contestant. Note the same effect from the heat, just above the stove.
Here's another shot that shows the heat waves, this time in a way that looks (due to the long focal length lens) like something that it wasn't.
This young lady was standing there, facing the sun, just soaking it up.
This is my other pick for most colorful.
One last picture... A youngster looking at the ice under the snow. After seeing this picture, I've decided to go back down there tomorrow, with a macro lens, and do exactly what the kid is doing, just to find out if there's a way to get an interesting photograph of the ice. If it was that fascinating to her, I think it might be to me too!
Using something like an 800mm lens, especially with a 1.6 telextender on it, is not easy. This one is old (ca. 1976), so it is manual focus. The results are very pleasant! It is an f/5.6 lense, but I shot all of these at f/11. It is noticeably sharper when stopped down from f/5.6, plus I wanted a little more depth of field to give me some slack on focus, which can be very difficult to get right.
The police officer who has been here for about 20 years now, his name is Leon Beuyea (spl). Nice pics of the parade. Did they make the sounder?
It's Leon's last name and how to spell it that I can never remember... :-) Leon is the consumate police officer. He's got a lot of experience, and uses it to teach young officers how to do the job.
I do not offer my photography to the Sounder. I'm not totally against that, but to date have not had any reason to do so. They do pretty well on their own with photography!
Thank you for posting the photos. We have a Rotary exchange student, Roy Fang, visiting your community this week and were thrilled that he would be there for Spring Festival. It looks like a lot of fun - we sent him with lots of warm clothes! Enjoy your weekend and thanks again.
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Pictures: Parade, 2x4 race, and the harpoon throwing contest
