In the Arctic, people greeted the new year doing what they love: racing, playing Inupiaq games and enjoying fireworks.
In Kotzebue, a total of 23 snowmachine riders joined the annual Knight Riders Race on Dec. 31, enjoying excellent weather conditions and ramping up the public’s excitement for the midnight fireworks. Racers competed in front of town at the lagoon from 9 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., organizer Paula Jean Octuck said
“The racers and the spectators love it so it’s been a tradition to keep it going,” Octuck said, “just to bring the community together, bring the racers together and just celebrate, the incoming new year.”
The Arctic Circle Racing Association started hosting the race around 1995, Octuck said, and brought it back every year since then, adjusting the exact date and location depending on weather and ice conditions.
Racers ride their snowmachines for one or two miles, joining Fun Class, 600 Class and Open Class. Some racers join more than one class, and Heiden Williamson was the only person who enrolled in all of them.
Williamson celebrated his 21st birthday and New Year’s Eve by winning first place in Fun Class and 600 Class and second in Open Class, Octuck said. He made a total of 53 laps and took the overall champion title, making the fastest time of the main lapse 20 min. and 40 seconds.
“Just amazing,” Octuck said about Williamson’s racing. “He gave (another winner) Matthew Viveiros a run for his money for the Open Class and stayed right on his tail throughout the entire race, and we were very, very proud of him for how he had brought it all together for this race.”
In Fun Class, Tyran Lane came in second after Williamson, and Skylar Reich came third. The second place for 600 class was claimed by George Lambert, and third – by Mike Hensley II. Matthew Viveiros won first in the Open Class, Williamson came second and Hensley third.
With 23 racers signing up, volunteers showing up and people enjoying the show, the Front Street was full, Octuck said.
“Every racer put on a really good show for the community,” she said. “You could just see lights all the way down Front Street, which was really great to see. The mood of the racers was very energetic, excited.”
Last year, only 12 racers braved the 30-below wind chill, she said, so this time around, with only 10 below, “the weather seemed great.”
The race and the award ceremony wrapped up 30 minutes before the holiday fireworks put up by the Kotzebue Electric Association.
“The fireworks were amazing,” Octuck said. “After not having fireworks the past two years, they had pulled it together. It was a beautiful display and we just enjoyed it a lot.”
Christmas games in Utqiagvik
From crab walk to arm pull, from scissor broad jump to two foot high kick, Utqiagvik residents enjoyed Inupiaq games from Christmas to the first days of the New Year.
The annual Christmas Games – a lot of them similar to WEIO games – were held in Utqiagvik’s Ipalook Elementary Gym, organizer Michelle Pearl Kaleak said. The residents haven’t held the games the last two years due to COVID-19 pandemic.
“You can tell that everyone was happy to finally have the Christmas games back after a few years. It was good to spend time with the community especially since we lost a lot of loved ones this year.”
About 180 children participated in each game held in the morning and afternoon and about 100 adults – in the evening games.
“Each game has its own story and purpose,” Kaleak said.
The Anaktaqtitchirit Committee started planning of the games and gathering donations started the first week of November, Kaleak said. donation request letters to different entities in our community. The week before the games all the donations – about $40,000 – were finally in, Kaleak said.
“Usually we have a Eskimo dance on Christmas but this year we postponed the dance due to multiple deaths in the community,” she said.
Kivalina’s Qaatchiaq races
In Kivalina, the holidays come with Qaatchiaq races, on snowmachines and on foot. A nine-day event starts the day after Christmas and goes until New Year’s Eve, bringing together children, Elders and everyone in the community of about 700 who participate in the festivities.
“Only comes once a year so make the best of it,” Kivalina resident Janour Hawley said. “This year I’m trying to make it about the kids participating and having fun.”
Adults usually partake in snowmachine races , while running races are designed for children, “with safety in mind,” resident Janet Mitchell said.
Started at a sled dog race back in the day, the race would have participants start at the lagoon and try to make it around the village without dogs trying to head to their own homes, Mitchell said.
“This meant you had to have a good strong leader,” Mitchell said. “Major races those were. Tough competition.”
By the mid-70s, the race changed to snowmachines.
Now the event starts with a qaatchiaq race, where caribou skin is tied to a snowmachine with a 5-gallon empty can, and participants have to balance it while riding. In another race, contestants balance an egg on a plastic spoon in their mouth lengthened with a popsicles stick.
“This is a race where the participants use a spoon devised for everyone to lose their eggs, me included, so it’s a very slow race,” Mitchell said. “Except for the pros! Oh yeah, their skills are phenomenal.”
Mithcell said the trick is to stand while racing, with your head leaning back slightly but your eyes are darting on the road and on the egg.
“That is good exercise for the vision,” she said. “Ravens (were) waiting for racers like me to drop an egg so they can feast on our sad loss.”
But the highlight of the season comes at the end of the event: the stake race. Competitors need to race the track three times without dropping a stake.
On Dec. 30, Kivalina residents were preparing getting ready.
“You can feel the steely-eyed drivers preparing for today’s races. It’s so silent in town but the air is charged with determination,” she said. “The only sound you hear is a racer starting up their rigs in preparation for the race.”
The success in the race depends on the skills of the riders more than on how expensive their snowmachine is, Mitchell said.
“We have our local talents who are so skilled, they belong in the NASCAR races,” she said. “But the local stake race is our own NASCAR race. The people have been waiting for this day the whole year.”