Unalakleet getting ready for the Mushers

Here in Unalakleet with the prospect of a musher arriving sometime soon its not so much about who is coming in, but when they are coming in. Everyone from lifetime residents to freelance writers in this small town are speculating about when the first teams might arrive. Each person has a different opinion as to how long the run from Eagle Island to Kaltag will take, how long it takes from Kaltag to Unalakleet and finally how much rest a musher would need to be planning. A lot of the residents that I’ve talked to while I’ve been here have plans to go up river tomorrow on their snow machines and find out for themselves who will be the first to reach the Bering Sea coast.

The media has started to congregate, television cameras, reporters and photographers have filled this small town’s streets, all looking for a distinctively “Unalakleet” shot. The old native grocery store has turned from an empty shell of a building into a makeshift Iditarod headquarters. The Covenant church gymnasium had to cancel open gym basketball because the floor will be covered with dozens of race volunteers, veterinarians and other officials.
So whether its Buser, King, Mackey or even Gebhardt Unalakleet couldn’t care less, they are just ready for the party to get started.