Events Calendar
Events Calendar
Anchorage
JAN
1-31
Zoo Lights
Weekly from Thursday through Sunday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., head to the Alaska Zoo to visit the lighted parade of animals that take over the zoo each winter. They are big, bright, and beautiful. From front to back, the zoo is decorated with lighted animal displays—colorful, whimsical, and even animated. www.alaskazoo.org
JAN
12
Silent Film Night: Keaton and Chaplin
It’s an evening of Silent Film giants: Buster Keaton plays a bumbling villain who ends up in The Frozen North. From the frozen snow to the rising water, Keaton’s The Boat finds him and his family on a voyage in his homemade boat that proves to be one disaster after another. In Charlie Chaplin’s Shoulder Arms, it’s WWI and Chaplin is recruited to the army’s “awkward squad.” Silent Film Night takes place at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts at 8 p.m. anchoragesymphony.org
JAN 16-28
Anchorage Folk Festival
The Anchorage Folk Festival’s goal is to support, encourage, and promote music and dance through performance and education. Artists across town take to the stage at free concerts, and the festival also includes workshops, contests, classes, and dances. The kick-off party for the 30th anniversary of the festival takes places on January 16. anchoragefolkfestival.org
JAN
1/5-2/23
Family Skate Series
Every Saturday in January and February (weather and ice conditions permitting), enjoy free skating with warming barrels, hot chocolate, and music at Westchester Lagoon. A special skate assist device is available for kids new to skating. anchorage.net
JAN 18-19
Great Alaska Beer & Barley Wine Festival
The festival features more than two hundred beers and barley wines from more than fifty regional brewers. Admission to the Egan Center for the Festival, which runs from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., includes a 6 ounce commemorative testing cup and thirty tickets for samples. auroraproductions.net
JAN 26
Haggis Basher’s Ball and Burns Supper
This supper is in honor of Scottish poet Robert Burns. The gala event starts at 6 p.m. and includes a four-course meal, a carafe of scotch at each table, Highland Pipers, and dancing, all at the Sheraton Anchorage. tarbas.org
FAIRBANKS
JAN
11-13
Kid Fest
Shake off the winter blues by checking out Kid Fest, a three-day event packed with kid-friendly fun. Kids and parents alike will enjoy exciting games, inflatables, laser tag, mini golf, and great food at the Carlson Center from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. kidfestak.org
JAN
19
Annual Concerto Competition
In this annual event, local area youth compete for a chance to perform a movement of a solo work with the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra. Admission is free to the public for the competition, which takes place from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the C.W. Davis Concert Hall. operafairbanks.org
JAN
26
Museum of the North Open House
The University of Alaska Museum of the North offers a free, behind-the-scenes look at how researchers make discoveries about the culture and environment of Alaska. The open house runs from Noon to
4 p.m. at the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus. uaf.edu/museum/
SEWARD
JAN 27
Seward Polar Bear Jump
Starting at 12:30 p.m., individuals and teams dress in wacky costumes and jump into Resurrection Bay at the Seward Small Board Harbor. Jumpers are required to find sponsors, raising money for the Alaska Division of the American Cancer Society. seward.com
JUNEAU
JAN 5
Douglas Island Death Race
This is a midwinter ultramarathon at the Historic Treadwell Mine in Juneau. The course will be open to participants to complete as many loops as possible between sunrise at 8:45 a.m. and sunset at 3:34 p.m. Participants should be prepared to run in sub-freezing temperatures and icy conditions with the possibility for significant wind-chill. There are two aid stations and a warming station on course; the fire will be kept roaring and the cider hot. traveljuneau.com
JAN 25-27
Platypus-Con
The community comes together to play new and old board and card games. Demonstrations, organized games, miniature painting, and a huge lending library for open tables will be provided at Centennial Hall. platypusgaming.org
PALMER
JAN
1/25-2/2
Disney’s Newsies: The Musical
Playing at The Glenn Massay Theater, Disney’s Newsies, based on the 1992 motion picture, features
a score by eight-time Academy Award winner Alan Menken and Jack Feldman and a book by four-time Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein. Timely and fresh, the fictionalized adaptation of Newsies addresses age-old themes of social injustice, exploitative labor practices, and David versus Goliath struggles as the young learn to harness their power against a corrupt establishment. glennmassaytheater.com
WASILLA
JAN 11-27
The Mousetrap
In this drama by Agatha Christie, a group of strangers is stranded in a country boarding house during a snow storm, one of whom is a murderer. Into their midst comes a policeman traveling on skis—he’s following clues from a recent murder in London, and soon after he arrives one of the guests is killed. To get to the rationale of the murderer’s pattern, the policeman probes the background of everyone present and rattles a lot of skeletons. valleyperformingarts.org