Events
Annual Events
4th Weekend in March. sees the town of Skagway celebrating the annual Buckwheat Ski Championship. The classic style cross country ski race has long been a favorite of Skagwegians, Yukoners, Juneauites and folks from all over the region. The ski race that follows a route next to the White Pass trail prospectors used over a hundred years ago. Contact: Mountain Shop, Box 601, Skagway, 99840. Mountain Shops phone is 908.983.2544. By the way, this event is designed for the “lazy, the infirm and a few who are fast”
April
International Mini Folk Festival 4th weekend in April. This event features premier musicians from the Yukon and Southeast Alaska. It coincides with the return of ducks, herons and Swans to our area. Call Skagway Arts Council at 907.983.2248.
June
Summer Solstice- June 21st. It’s a party! Parties all over the place. Sometimes we wait until the weekend after or do it the weekend before. Whatever...Skagwegians enjoy celebrating the beginning of the return to darkness with a fever. Whether indoors or out you’ll like the flavor of this spontaneous annual ritual. It will make you want to keep on howling. Owoooooooooooooooooh!
July
Independence Days of July. Includes a softball tournament with teams from Canada and Skagway and the rest of Alaska. Three days of hard hitting and libatious* behavior. *libatious means having to do with or enjoying the drinking of beer and other products related to the alcohol family. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of family fun as well. Contact Cindy O’Daniels at Box 630 Skagway 99840.
The 4th also includes our parade and a day filled with family style contests including the egg toss, arm wrestling, tug of war, money scramble, pie eating, watermelon seed spitting, slow bicycle race and a street dance. The Ducky Derby features over a thousand plastic ducks racing to the finish line along the banks of the powerful Pullen Creek. Some of the obstacles these fearless ducks face include a culvert, bush branches constantly striving to deter their dreams of crossing the finish line first. Witness for yourself, the maniacal and evil attacks perpetrated by domesticated quadrapeds in search of a plastic duck lunch. See how most of these plasticated ducks evade disaster and death enumerable times. It’s also a fund raiser for the Chamber of Commerce. Contact the Chamber of Commerce 907.983.1898 or email .
September
Klondike Road Relay. Held on the second Friday of each year this events begins in Skagway and is concluded inWhitehorse, the capital of Canada’s Yukon Territory. This running event covers 115 miles(188km) and is broken down to ten stages. Teams from all over the world compete. Last year there were 160 teams in the field. Contact Sport Yukon, 4061-4th Avenue, Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada Y1A-2C5 (867)668-4236
December
On the 2nd weekend of the month Skagway’s YULETIDE Christmas is a chance for some small town Victorian fun. From the Handcrafts bazaar to the lighting of the town’s Christmas tree by Santa himself, a fun time for all awaits you. Santa arrives each year by train to avoid weather delays in the passes near town. From dancing to shopping to just walking around an old gold rush town….Yuletide is unique for locals and visitors alike.