Mushers' Hall of Fame to add member

WASILLA — It’s been nearly 20 years since Lavon Barve stepped on a sled and followed a team in a long distance musing race. But Barve’s impact on the sport is not forgotten.

Musher. Race judge. Past Iditarod president. Author. Staunch supporter of the sport.

Barve will be recognized for all of the above Sunday, as the Knik Museum and those close to him celebrate Barve’s induction into the Mushers’ Hall of Fame during the museum’s annual potluck picnic, slated for 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Knik Museum, located at Mile 13.9 Knik-Goose Bay Road.

“He’s somebody that has done a lot for the sport,” Knik Museum curator Diane Williams said of Barve.

Upon induction, Barve will be the 31st member of the 49-year-old hall of fame. Williams said members are not inducted every year, and it takes support of the nine members of the Wasilla Knik Historical Society board of directors to add a person to an elite club that includes mushing legends such as Joe Redington Sr., Leonhard Seppala, Col. Norman Vaughan, and last year’s inductee, Lance Mackey.

“It’s an honor,” Barve said. “There have been a lot of people over the years, in the (hall of fame), and a lot are my friends.”

Barve, a native of Michigan, said he remembers reading about many of the hall of fame mushers who preceded him in a newsletter. He said he’s proud to be recognized in that same group.

Barve had the opportunity to make his own impact on the sport after moving to Alaska in 1964, and later settling in the Wasilla area in the late 1970s. He competed in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race 14 times, and finished a dozen races. His first finish came in 1976, recording 22nd place. He recorded top-10 finishes eight times, including a career-best third in 1990. Barve and his lead dog at the time, Tip, were also awarded with the Iditarod Golden Harness Award in 1990.

Barve is also a veteran of the Yukon Quest, and former champion in the international sled dog race, winning the Quest title in 1994.

Barve said he was not only drawn to the competition, but also the history of the sport.

“I enjoyed the Iditarod history. I think the history intrigued me as much as anything,” Barve said. “Even when I went out on the race, I would try to stop at the old dilapidated roadhouses. To me that was always exciting.”

After racing in his final Iditarod in 1997, Barve served as a race judge for five years. That gave him the opportunity to see even more of the trail, and the history of the areas along the trail.

“Out as a judge, I could see a little bit more, spend more time in those areas,” Barve said.

Barve’s love of the history of the sport, and the area, aligns with the mission of the Knik Museum.

“Knik was a town before Anchorage, Wasilla or Palmer even existed,” Williams said. “(Knik) existed to service people along the trail. Ten thousand people depended on Knik for their supplies. The Knik Museum and Mushers’ Hall of Fame was established in 1967, according to its website, and the current building the museum is housed in is the last remaining commercial building left from the old Knik community. The museum’s building was the old Fulton and Hirshey Pool Hall.

For more information about Sunday’s potluck picnic or the museum, call 376-7755.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.