Fairbanks Alaska

Fairbanks AK is the biggest city in Interior Alaska.  This is the second biggest state next only to Anchorage.  The city is only 125 miles south from the Arctic Circle. Of the 97,970 population in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, a fifth or 20 percent of the population is made up of military personnel.

A. Tourist Attractions

Every summer around 325,000 tourists flock to Fairbanks AK.  The sled dog racing is one of the biggest tourist draws to the place.  The old frontier charm of Fairbanks is another.  You can still see gold mining camps in the area.

1. Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge – is one the landmarks in Fairbanks.  It is a 1,800 acre bird sanctuary.  It has forests, wetlands, fields and a farm which used to be owned by Charlie Creamer hence the name.  Creamer was a dairy farmer who feed migrating birds with waste grains.  After he died, the farm became a sanctuary by the state.

2. El Dorado Gold Mine – is  a gold mine that draws tourists to Fox near Fairbanks.  It was a functioning mine in the early 1900s, the El Dorado was later transformed into an informational mine and a tour place with train tours a number of times everyday from May to September.  It is owned and operated by Alaska Riverways Inc.

3. Fairbanks Curling Club - is a non-profit organization run by volunteers that offers recreational facilities for curlers.  Curling is a sport where players slide stones on a sheet of ice to a targeted place.  The club helps promote the sport and offer fun to families in the Fairbanks Community.

4. Georgeson Botanical Garden – is a botanical garden inside the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The garden is utilized for research and display.  Public viewing is allowed during the day from May to September. It houses more than a 1,000 of trees, shrubs and perennials every year such as Alaska native plants and plants from Russia, China and Iceland.  The garden was named after Charles Christian Georgeson, a USDA Special Agent in Charge of Alaska Investigations in 1899.

5. Gold Dredge No. 8 or Goldstream Dredge No. 8 -  is a ladder dredge that is declared in 1986 as a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark  by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.  It has a 4.5 miles track that produced 7.5 million ounces of gold. In summer, the dredge is open for tours and gold panning.

6. Robert G. White Large Animal Research Station – this is a facility used for research.  The main subjects are colonies of muskoxen, reindeer, and caribou.  The researchers study the nutritional, physiological and behavioral aspects of the animals. Visitors can join a summer tour and talk to the guides.

7. Pioneer Park –  is a 44-acre (109-ha) city park in Fairbanks.  Its former name was Alaskaland.  The park houses several museums and recreational facilities. It is open the entire year.

8. Sternwheel Riverboats – the Riverboat Discovery  operates these boats.  They can provide a tour on the Chena and Tanana Rivers on these boats.

9. University of Alaska Museum of the North – located in Fairbanks campus.  The museum aims to acquire and analyze specimens that relate to Alaska’s heritage and the  Circumpolar North. They do research and public exhibits.
July's Golden Days Parade – this is a multi-day festival that honors the history of the city of Fairbank. The overriding themes for the parade are "goldrush", "Alaskan pioneers", and "early Fairbanks history" (founded in 1901).