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There is a bed at the front of Safeway in North Pole. It’s been there for about a month now — all neatly made up. On nights when I’m weary from work and have to stop by the store for this, that or the other, the bed looks very enticing. But it isn’t for sale or for public naps. The bed is to advertise the North Pole Summer Festival’s famous bed race.

North Pole, of course, outdoes itself during the Christmas season, but the town also is well known for its annual July 4 summer festival event. It is always a great time for residents and visitors alike.

Last year’s organizer, Leon LaSalle, handed the reins to Ron Pratt, who co-chaired the event last year, and everything is coming together nicely. Events will include the bed race, parade, talent show, games for kids, drawings, entertainment, greased pole climb, bike decorating competition and more. There also will be booths featuring crafts, games and food.   The highlight for many people is the parade, which is always enjoyable. This year’s theme, patriotic Santa, promises to have some interesting entries. Five trophies are handed out each year: the mayor’s choice, the most patriotic, best marching group and the most outrageous.        North Pole Mayor Doug Isaacson said that besides booths with wonderful food, there will be “everything from toys for sale to rock walls to climb to facing your fear at the ‘Fear Factor’-type booth to bouncing units and petting animals for the small kids.” Charis Reloba is involved with the talent show, and the Polynesian dancers will be on hand again this year.

Forbes Storage has put up the prize money for the always-exciting greased pole climb. Prizes will be $50 for the middle school and younger kids and $100 for older contenders.

Isaacson encouraged people to sign up for the event. “This is a chance to get some money to ease the high cost of energy,” he said.

Alaska New Life Outreach Center is sponsoring a bicycle contest and encouraging children to decorate their bikes in red, white and blue. Bikes will be given to the male and female winners.  Pulling off a successful summer festival is the result of a lot of hard work from many people, Isaacson said.

“We couldn’t do this without a dedicated army of volunteers who put hours of valuable summer time into making sure this is an outstanding and fun event,” he said.

He added that sponsors also play a large role in making the event a success by spending money to advertise and also provide services.

“Today, Horizon Services stepped up to the pot, so to speak, and gave us a discount on six toilets, two of them oversized, which are also good for parents with small children.”  Isaacson said Buzz Otis, the city’s volunteer director of economic development and co-chair of the Business Advisory Committee, has been the driving force with fundraising for the summer festival. Depending on the weather, the festival brings in between 3,000 and 5,000 people.

Events start at 8 a.m. with the traditional pancake feed at Santa’s Senior Center, with the parade at 11 a.m. and competitions and entertainment from noon to 5 p.m. Watch this column next week for a full schedule of events.   If you want to sign up for any of the activities, here’s how. To be in the talent show, call Charis Reloba at 978-5862. For information or to arrange for a booth, call Jamie at 978-5842. To enter the bicycle contest, call Willa McKiernan at 388-6543, and for information on the parade, call Francie Cork at 488-1973. Information can also be received by calling North Pole City Hall at 488-2281.

For the fun of it

Mayor Isaacson gave me a whole list of reasons why people should attend the 4th of July summer festival, despite the cost of gasoline to drive the few miles to North Pole. Great family entertainment and fun were at the top of the list.

It’s summer time

My son-in-law, who lives in Seattle with my daughter and his two teenage children and would not like his name to be published, came in on the 1 a.m. flight the other morning to spend the summer at the family cabin. He called me around 9 the next night, wondering what time it was, since the two clocks in his house were out of whack.

I laughingly told him it could be any time he wanted since he was having a summer of leisure. “Yeah, but I need to know what time to go to bed,” he said.

And that, I guess, is just a minor problem with having 24 hours of daylight this time of year.

Brian Jones

Brian Jones, of the Jones family that owns Geek City and Harley’s Diner in North Pole, is making a name for himself in Japan. His mother, Colleen Jones, sent me an e-mail that included information from a Kyoto newspaper about Brian.

It seems that after years of improving his skill at playing the game Go, he is beating the Japanese at their own game. Through some Internet sleuthing, I learned Go is a Japanese game of strategy with many ties to the country’s culture. Similar to the western game of chess in popularity, Go is a national sport in Japan. Tournaments are held in Japan, as well as China and Korea, where it goes by the different names of Weiqi and Baduk. Go is the oldest board game that still exists today. Simply put, it is a game where white and black stones compete for territory.

The newspaper headline declares “Western Male Plays Go” and reveals that Brian carries the “dan” level rank.

Jones, 29, discovered the game of Go on the Internet and has been playing for six years, even against a 75-year-old master of the game. He lives in Japan and works at a junior high school.

An interesting quote from the article said, “Brian comes from the state of Alaska, in America, where you can see the aurora.”  And finally…

Little Johnny’s kindergarten class was on a field trip to its local police station where they saw pictures tacked to a bulletin board of the 10 most-wanted criminals. One of the youngsters pointed to a picture and asked if it really was the photo of a wanted person.  “Yes,” said the policeman. “The detectives want very badly to capture him.”

Little Johnny thought about it and then asked, “Why didn’t you keep him when you took his picture?”