July Fourth in Pelican

No, we don’t have pelicans in southeast Alaska. This tiny boardwalk town perched on a mountainside on the ocean coast of Chichagof Island was named after a fishing boat – the PELICAN. About 40 people winter over, but the town hustles a lot more in the summer with a few charter fishing lodges, a small fish processing operation and a cold storage facility.

Supplies, mail and people arrive by either boat or by floatplane, and often when a plane is coming in someone zips down the dock in an ATV (with a little dog between the handlebars) towing a cart.

All the vehicles in town are ATVs of some type, except for the trash truck (a pickup with a large aluminum box in the bed) and the fire truck (another pickup).

We heard about the schedule for the next day’s July Fourth festivities while having lunch at the little cafe (good to know that we needed to bring a side dish for the cookout), and to know when the parade would start. I love an old-fashioned parade!

I’ll post more of the July Fourth festivities tomorrow – especially the Greased Pole competition… not to be missed.

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