Another Chandler Kemp record in the the Mount Ripinsky Run and the longest parade in memory marked the 2013 Haines Independence Day celebration.
Kemp, 23, lopped a whopping 26 seconds off the course record of 24:28 he set last year in the three-mile race that climbs about 1,100 feet. He topped second-place Marcus Deuling, a 16-year-old Canadian, by more than 90 seconds.
Keegan Sundberg placed third in 29:46.
Deuling’s sister Hannah, also under age 18, won the women’s race in 32:38, beating J.J. Lende, who set the women’s course record last year in 32:34. Lende ran 32:57 Thursday. Mira Mason was third among women at 36:54.
Organizers said Thursday’s field
of 43 runners was likely a record.
Thirty-eight entries made the Independence Day parade last nearly 40 minutes.
Kristine Harder, who served on a panel of parade judges from the Haines Chamber of Commerce, said the job was especially difficult this year, owing to the variety of entries, including floats, skits and marching groups.
Bridgett Daniels marched her pet “Patriotic Rats” down Main Street in stroller. Joe Parnell, in a full-body bear suit, broke out of a cage and went on the attack.
“There was a lot of energy and a lot of creativity out there. In the end we had to judge on the basis of which entries come closest to the parade theme,” Harder said.
Top parade awards went to: 1) Haines Christian Center, 2) Haines Emblem Club and 3) Antique Auto Mushers of Alaska.
Sue Waterhouse organized the first adult marching band here in decades. She said the group drew
an enthusiastic crowd response and she’s looking forward to recruiting more members and improving uniforms to perform at future events.
Former state Rep. Bill Thomas was the parade’s grand marshal. Other entries included ones by Rainbow Glacier Camp, Alaska Power and Telephone, the library’s summer reading program, Klehini Valley Fire Department, Seth Waldo, Chilkoot Indian Association Native dancers, Klehini Valley Fire Department and SAGA, a brush-cutting and trail-building group from Juneau.
The SAGA crew marched with traffic cones atop their heads.
Event organizers said they were encouraged by the day’s sunshine, as rainy conditions were forecast.
Lists of individual winners will be published in next week’s CVN.