I learned last year that Fairbanks has a really nice fireworks display on New Year's Eve. They pull out all of the stops and put on some big fireworks from the grounds of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks campus. It is a big deal, because, when most folks in the lower 48 are enjoying fireworks on the 4th of July in the summer, we cannot do that here. On the 4th of July, we are enjoying close to 20 hours of daylight... and as you know, fireworks do not look really good with the sun shining.
My house is relatively close to campus, so Rob and Kate thought it might be close enough that we could see it well from the house. They were wrong. I have very tall trees between my house and the University. The fireworks that we could see did not get high enough above the trees to really enjoy.
This year I was spending New Year's Eve alone as I was not going to spend time with Rob and Kate until after January 2nd and probably not until January 4th when we will be preparing the kitchen for replacement of floors and installing 2 new appliances. But on December 31st, I was on my own.
The fireworks display was to start at 8:00 PM. There is a parking lot up on the main road (Geist Road) closest to my house. It is well past the tall trees that have obstructed the fireworks from the house. At around 7:15 PM, I packed up Miles and headed off to the parking lot. I found a nice spot along the front row and for the next 45 minutes, more and more cars joined me. I was sure that I had found the right spot.
I was on the phone with Rob and Kate. I had two cameras with me. I was ready. A little after 8:00 PM, they began.
As you can see, looking closely at the picture, the exploding fireworks were partially hidden behind the tall trees that still remained between my car and the University. The majority of the display exploded right at or below the treetops.
The video below shows pretty much all I was able to see. Just a lot of sparks hidden by trees. The loud noise is my son, Rob, stretching while trying to stay awake as he watched flashes that they could observe from various spots in Fairbanks from their house out on the side of one of the mountains.
The video below shows one or two nice explosions that I could easily see above the trees.
Rob sent me a link to the UAF Facebook video of the entire display from a much better location than I had. It is a long video. The Fireworks do not start until 13 minutes into the video and end at 28 minutes. But you can see... from a distance,,, the entire show.
There is also a YouTube that runs the display, too. Just search on YouTube for 'Fairbanks Fireworks 2020' and you should find it and perhaps one or two more.
In the meantime, Happy New Year. May we all find Peace and Comfort this year and finally get our lives back to more normal living.
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