Fur Rendezvous (Fur Rondy)

Fur Rendezvous, known as Fur Rondy, is Anchorage's winter festival, held every year for more than 90 years and billed by its organizers as North America's largest winter festival. Born from the city's fur-trading roots, it fills late February and early March with the World Championship Sled Dog Races, a sprint run through downtown Anchorage since 1946, the Alaska State Snow Sculpture Championship, fireworks, a Grand Parade, an official fur auction and heritage exhibits, and winter sports from a basketball tournament and curling bonspiel to the Frostbite Footrace 5K. The 2027 festival, Rondy's 92nd, runs February 25 to March 7.

Fur Rondy is more than 50 events rather than one gated site, including the Running of the Reindeer, spread across Anchorage over eleven days, and each event sets its own price, with many of the street events free to watch. The collector pin, designed each year by an Alaska artist, is sold to support the festival; the 2027 design, Snow Sculpture Competition, is on pre-order. The Grand Parade is on Saturday, February 27, 2027, and the full 2027 schedule comes out closer to the festival.

It suits families, sled dog fans and anyone happy to spend a late-winter weekend outdoors in Anchorage moving between street events, sports and heritage shows. Because it is dozens of separate events across town rather than one site, it rewards a little planning with the event calendar.