Sprint mushing legend George Attla and artist Byron Birdsall will be at the Artique art gallery this afternoon to sign a "Spirit of Rondy" 75th anniversary commemorative print celebrating Fur Rendezvous. Attla, of Huslia, is the winningest racer in Rondy history, with 10 championships. The Birdsall print depicts Attla racing down Fourth Avenue.
Attla, known as the "Huslia Hustler," was an unknown when he arrived in Anchorage for the 1958 Fur Rondy. Handicapped by a fused leg caused by childhood tuberculosis, Attla shocked racing fans by capturing his first world title. Racing at the front of the pack for nearly three decades, Attla won his last crown in 1982.
"It's an honor to have been asked to participate in the 75th Fur Rondy Anniversary celebration," Attla said in a press release. "The World Championship Sled Dog Races of Rondy have played an important part of my life. Having won 10 championships, more than any other musher, has been an achievement I will never forget."
Byron Birdsall is primarily a landscape watercolorist. Since his first solo exhibition in 1967, Birdsall has had more than 50 one-man shows.
"Having missed the first Fur Rondy sled dog race, I am delighted to be part of the 75th," said Birdsall. "Putting together memories of this great race was made all the more rich for me by the presence of George Attla, right there on Fourth Avenue, as a representative of all the mushers that have added to the heritage of the Great Land."
The prints will be on sale at the Rondy Shop, located at The Alaska Mint, and on the Rondy Web site, www.furrondy.net. Standard prints will cost $45 and collector edition giclees will cost $400. Both will be printed in limited quantities.
Anchorage Daily News