Talkeetna to get the drop on visitors

TALKEETNA — The scoop on poop is what prompts thousands to gather here each year for the annual Moose Dropping Festival.

The Talkeetna Historical Society hosts the 36th annual event this weekend in downtown Talkeetna, where excrement is excellent — especially if it pays off $1,500. This year’s theme is the 90th Anniversary of Dough Boys Coming Home, with enough serious fun to convince attendees the Moose Dropping Festival is no bull.

More than 75 vendor booths featuring arts, crafts and foods will augment popular events like the Moose Toss Game and other games for kids, Mountain Mother Contest, 5K Fun Run and Walk and much music at the Village Park Pavilion.

This year’s theme pays tribute to past World War I veterans, also known as “doughboys,” who served as infantrymen in the war. Some made their home in Talkeetna upon returning.

Gale Moses, a volunteer at the Moose Dropping Festival, said this year’s extravaganza will see a few additions to the schedule, including a new rock climbing wall and bungee jumping.

“The bungee jumping should be a hoot,” Moses said. “Plus, there’s a whole lot of music this year as well.”

Saturday’s festival kicks off with a pancake breakfast at 8 a.m. at Talkeetna VFW Post 3836. For $7 ($3.50 for kids), families can shovel down all the pancakes they can eat, or biscuits and gravy, before heading down to the festival grounds at Village Park. At 8:30 a.m., the 5K Fun Run and Walk will be held for all ages, followed at noon by the annual Moose on Parade. Floats, local residents and colorful made-up faux moose will head down Main Street with the life-sized moose showcased for auction later in the day.

Sunday at 1 p.m. will feature the famous Mountain Mother Contest, also held at the VFW Hall. Not to be confused with Talkeetna’s Wilderness Women competition held in December, the contest’s only requirement, as it has been for 10 years, is that the contestant be a mom — married or not.

Women don a “baby” in a backpack, walk across a log in hip waders (carrying two buckets of water), shoot a balloon moose with a bow and arrow, catch a fish, chop up firewood, change the baby and wash out the diaper, make a pie and call the kids in. The winner receives an appointment at the local beauty shop for a style, manicure and massage, a fancy dinner out, gift certificates from local shops and a warm jacket with “Mountain MAMA!” printed on the back.

Musical highlights at this year’s festival include the Anchorage Scottish Pipe Band, Bathtub Gin, Off Kilter, Esther Golton, Steve Durr, Denali Cooks, The Northern River Band, Jennifer Matthews, Rare Form, WellStrung, Melissa Mitchell, Ian Merkley, and many more during the two-day event. All bands will be showcased at Village Park in downtown Talkeetna.

On Saturday evening, it’s time for the highlight of the festival — the dropping of the droppings.

Participants will head to the VFW Hall at 6 p.m. for the main event: The Moose Drop Dropping, a community raffle sponsored by the VFW.

Shellacked and numbered moose pellets are hauled up in the air in a net and then dropped onto a large bull’s eye below. Raffle numbers correspond to numbers on moose poop. Winners include the closest and farthest from the bull’s eye. The dropping closest to the middle of the bull’s eye wins $1,500. Raffle tickets are sold on Moose Drop Saturday at the VFW and at the Talkeetna Historical Society Museum.

Parking will cost $2 per car this year as organizers scramble to find additional space for growing festival numbers.

“Last year there were approximately 3,000 vehicles entering Talkeetna during the Moose Dropping Festival,” Moses said. “It became a problem, but I think they’ve got a handle on it.”

For more details about the festival, visit Talkeetnahistoricalsociety.org.