Pioneers’ McCarthy Solstice Stampede
The Pioneers and guests at the memorial service and cleanup of the McCarthy cemetery. Photo by Joan Skilbred
Joan Skilbred
On Sunday, June 19, members of the Pioneers of Alaska from Pioneer Igloos located around the state converged at Al Clayton’s Dairy-Aire Meadow near McCarthy for a three-day, action-packed solstice celebration. This was the sixth annual Solstice Stampede put on by the Pioneers of Alaska, and the second one to be held in McCarthy. The previous ones were held at Wiseman and Eagle on two-year rotations.
About 60 Pioneers and their invited guests camped at Clayton’s or stayed at local lodgings. There were also some pilots from the Recreational Aviation Federation and several members of the McCarthy community who joined in the celebration. They all gathered in the meadow where there was plenty of great food to eat and beverages to enjoy, while trading lies around the campfire.
On Sunday, Joan Skilbred gave a presentation about the railroad history of the area for the McCarthy Museum. The event was so well attended Skilbred had to give two shows to accommodate the crowd. The next day the Pioneers all gathered at the McCarthy cemetery to do some cleanup work and to conduct the historic Pioneer Memorial rituals for the four Pioneers who are buried there.
Tuesday night was “Pioneer Night” at Clayton’s meadow and the Pioneers invited members of the McCarthy community and the staff of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park to attend. There was a ton of great food to eat, and, after dinner, the solstice program began by setting up the meadow with a camp fire in the middle and chairs set out for officer stations in a circle around it.
Grand President Virgil Campbell demonstrates pancake flipping for the onlookers, who had to flip their own pancakes at the breakfast campfire. Photo by Joan Skilbred
Under the blaze of the Midnight Sun, Grand Igloo President Virgil Campbell declared the old defunct McCarthy Igloo No. 25 to be reopened for ceremonial purposes. The appointed officers were in their stations, and a meeting was held while the audience of about 80 persons looked on.
There were a couple of toasts, followed by the grand president appointing a membership committee who set to work polling the audience for potential members who had been in Alaska 20 years or more. Thirteen candidates stepped forward, and they were all asked to give their name, when they arrived in Alaska, and if they were a United States citizen. Next the audience was asked if they were all of good moral character, and, naturally, the audience gave a strong response to the question.
After the vetting of candidates was completed, the membership committee reported to the grand president those 13 candidates were deemed eligible to become ceremonial members of McCarthy Igloo No. 25. The grand president then called the vote, which was a resounding yes, and all 13 were prepared for the ceremonial initiation into the Igloo.
The Pioneers then performed the original Pioneers of Alaska Initiation ritual–that dates to around 1910–for the candidates. They were taken on a journey, rejected at every camp they came to, then fell into a glacier, and, after being rescued by the Pioneers, were taken in and given the instructions, thus becoming ceremonial members of the historic McCarthy Igloo No. 25.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, Campbell declared the McCarthy Igloo officially closed, and the memberships to be ceremonial only. The candidates are not official members of the Pioneers of Alaska because they were not initiated into an active chartered Igloo.
Nonetheless, these 13 people made history by becoming the first to ever be given such an honor by the Pioneers of Alaska in their entire 115-year history. Those ceremonial members with their hometowns and Alaska arrival dates were:
Scott Hilliard, Girdwood, 1991; Laurie Hege, McCarthy, 1983; Krista Colby, Fairbanks, 1974; Dan Talcott, McCarthy, 1974; Will Davis, Anchor Point, 1975; David Bathke, Anchorage, 1960; Sarah Short, Anchorage, 1977; Keith Clark, Anchorage, 1973; Barbara Rice, McCarthy, 1989; Kaleb Rowland, McCarthy, 1991; Mike Kent, Homer, 2001; Boone Slane, Fairbanks, 1985; Allyn Morris, Juneau, 1968.
The new ceremonial members of McCarthy Igloo No. 25 pose with an Igloo banner at the Pioneers of Alaska Solstice Stampede in McCarthy, Alaska. Photo by Joan Skilbred
Those who were from McCarthy expressed the desire to have the McCarthy Igloo rechartered so they could become official members, and the grand president gave them the requirements for doing so.
After the initiation, the audience enjoyed playing Let’s Make a Deal Pioneer Style with lots of great prizes and “Zonks” played off the tailgate of a pickup truck. Many of them went home winners that night. Everyone who attended garnered many amazing memories from this historic Pioneers of Alaska sixth annual Solstice Stampede.
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