Page 32 - aruba-today-20171216

A32 FEATURE
Saturday 16 december 2017
Even Santa needs help getting to some places: remote Alaska
By MARK THIESSEN
Associated Press
SAINT MICHAEL, Alaska
(AP) — It’s not easy to get
to Saint Michael, Alaska.
Not even if you’re Santa
Claus.
Luckily, jolly old St. Nick
could hitch a ride on a
military transport plane to
the tiny island community
that’s closer to Russia than
Alaska’s largest city, An-
chorage.
Santa and Mrs. Claus
brought goodies that most
Americans take for grant-
ed but come at a high
cost in remote parts of the
nation’s largest state: toys,
books, personal hygiene
supplies, fresh fruit and
even ice cream.
For some children, the toy
they received during the
visit last week will be the
only one they get this year.
Others hadn’t had real ice
cream in years and have
never seen Santa Claus in
person.
The visit marked the 61st
year of the Alaska National
Guard’s Operation Santa
Claus, a community out-
reach program that tries
to bring Kriss Kringle to two
villages every year if the
weather cooperates.
A MAGICAL VISIT
Like celebrities, Santa and
Mrs. Claus, dressed in their
red and white suits, waved
as they stepped off the
plane in the snow-covered
Alaska Native village.
This Dec. 5, 2017, photo shows community members awaiting the arrival of Santa Claus at
Saint Michael, Alaska, a remote island community off Alaska’s western coast.
north, but residents gob-
bled it up as fast as Rich
Owens could serve it.
The Anchorage ice cream
shop owner brought 450
containers of vanilla ice
cream and sundae top-
pings. The dessert is an ex-
pensive purchase in Saint
Michael, costing about $17
a gallon.
Joel Heath, 12, hadn’t
had fresh ice cream in two
years, not since a family trip
to Anchorage. His sundae
towered with chocolate
syrup, whipped cream,
sprinkles and a cherry.
This Dec. 5, 2017, photo shows Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus
arriving at Saint Michael, Alaska, a remote island community
off Alaska’s western coast.
Associated Press
Nearly the whole town, live in the community off
which is more than 400 Alaska’s western coast
miles west of the near- subsist on seal, beluga
est mall Santa, packed whale, moose, caribou, fish
the school gym and wel- and berries.
comed St. Nick with rau-
cous applause. Getting to cities like Fair- This Dec. 5, 2017, photo shows Caasi Lockwood sits on
Every child, and even a banks or Anchorage is a Santa’s lap in Saint Michael, Alaska, a remote island
few elders, got the chance major expense, whether community off the state’s western coast in the Bering Strait.
to sit on his lap and whis- to see Santa or gather Associated Press
per what they want for supplies, because of the
Christmas. Some kids just state’s limited road system. century, according to a “It tastes real delicious,” he
bawled their eyes out as So Mayor Bobbi Andrews state database of commu- said.
they stared at Santa. jumped at the chance nities. THE GIFT OF FRUIT
SAINT MICHAEL to host Santa in the town, Saint Michael later boast- Volunteer elf Deborah Vo
The approximately 400 which was once the far- ed a population of nearly remembers being a child
people of Yup’ik Eskimo thest north Russian settle- 10,000 when it served as when Operation Santa
and Russian heritage who ment in Alaska in the 19th an entry point during the Claus came to the small
1897 Gold Rush, when min- community of Saint Mary’s
ers used the nearby Yukon in the late 1960s or early
River to travel to interior 1970s. A plane landed on
Alaska. the frozen Andreafsky Riv-
PLANES, PICKUPS AND DOG er.
SLEDS “It’s like coming full circle,”
The Alaska National Guard she said. “I was once that
does the heavy lifting little naughty village girl
of getting Santa and his on the banks of the An-
helpers to remote villages. dreafsky waiting for Santa
Once the plane lands, Claus.”
however, it’s up to the For Vo, the greatest gift she
community to get people received that day didn’t
to the event. have to be unwrapped, it
In Saint Michael, a passen- had to be peeled: an ap-
ger van and pickup trucks ple and an orange.
ferried folks the 2 miles into
town. In other towns, the The costs of transporting
transportation has ranged goods to the Yup’ik village
from a warm vehicle to sit- “were pretty high, and if
ting on a fur-lined dog sled we did get fresh anything,
pulled over snowy, bumpy it would come rotten be-
roads by a snowmobile. cause of the cold.”
A CHRISTMAS TREAT “Having a fresh apple and
Ice cream seems like a fresh orange was one of
Associated Press the wrong thing to bring the best Christmas presents
people living in the frozen ever,” Vo said.q