Alaska Highway -- A Calendar Of 1992 Events Celebrating The Highway

Here are some of the events planned for next year's 50th anniversary of the Alaska Highway.

-- Feb. 14 - Alaska Challenge Snowmobile Safari. About 40 snowmobilers will depart Tumbler Ridge and Dawson Creek, B.C., for Fairbanks, traveling along the Alaska Highway with daily laps of 200 miles. Temperatures are expected to fall to at least 40 degrees below zero at times. -- Feb. 15-24 - Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous, an annual winter carnival in Whitehorse, capital of Yukon Territory. -- Feb. 16 - Opening ceremonies in Dawson Creek - milepost 0 of the Alaska Highway - for the year-long 50th-anniversary celebration. The Canadian Forces Band and Canada's National Colour Guard will be featured. -- May 17 - Alaska Highway Trailblazers. A convoy of about 100 mules and horses will depart Dawson Creek for Fairbanks, recalling how pack animals helped survey the highway route. Local groups are expected to join the wagon train for parts of the trek. Participants will gather around camp fires each night for story-telling programs. -- June 10-29 - Army Motors Convoy. A convoy of 74 former military vehicles will travel from Edmonton to Fairbanks as a tribute to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers units that built the Alaska Highway. The Military Vehicle Preservation Association is coordinating the nine-day drive to Fairbanks. Crews will pause in communities along the way to join in local parades and to meet with World War II veterans. Stops are planned in Grande Prairie, Alberta; Dawson Creek, Fort St. John and Fort Nelson, B.C., and in Watson Lake and Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. -- June 22 - Float Plane Rally and Competition begins in Dawson Creek, with 75 float planes departing for Fairbanks. The pilots will follow waterways adjacent to the Alaska Highway during the 1,500-mile, six-day flight. Stops are planned in Fort Nelson, B.C.; in Watson Lake, Whitehorse and Burwash Landing, Yukon Territory, and at Tok, Alaska. The rally will end June 26-27 in Fairbanks. -- July 4 - First of a series of international air shows, beginning July 4 in Great Falls, Mont. Other shows are planned in Edmonton, Alberta; Fort St. John, B.C., on July 19; Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, on July 26, and in Fairbanks. Other dates are to be announced. The series follows the World War II Northwest Staging Route over which almost 8,000 American-built warplanes were ferried to the Soviet Union by way of fields along the Alaska Highway. The Soviet air force is being invited to participate. -- July 4-12 - Airmada '92, with military aircraft, past and present, re-enacting the ferrying of World War II combat planes along the Northwest Staging Route. About 30 crews and planes will assemble in Great Falls July 4 to begin the 14-day journey. Dates for stops and airport displays: Edmonton, July 5-6; Grande Prairie, Alberta, July 5-6; Dawson Creek, B.C., July 7-8; Fort St. John, B.C., July 7-8; Fort Nelson, B.C., July 9-10; Watson Lake, Yukon Territory, July 9-10; Whitehorse, July 10-11; Fairbanks, July 11-12. -- July 11 - Northwest Staging Route Re-enactment Ceremony, Fairbanks. American, Canadian and Soviet dignitaries and war veterans will gather at Fort Wainwright, formerly Ladd Field, where thousands of American fighters and bombers were turned over to Russian crews for flights to Siberia. A World War II U.S.O.-style stage show is scheduled that evening. -- Sept. 17-27 - Rallye Alaska Highway '92. Professional and novice drivers will compete for prizes in a run from Dawson Creek to Fairbanks. Several categories of vehicles, from antique cars to trucks, will be entered. -- Nov. 20 - Soldiers Summit Rededication Ceremony, at Kluane Lake, Yukon Territory. It was at Soldiers Summit on Nov. 20, 1942, that a ribbon was cut by United States and Canadian officials to open the Alaska Highway to military traffic.

In addition to the 50th-anniversary events, communities throughout Alaska and western Canada are planning festivals and sports competitions for 1992. The schedule includes: -- Feb. 14-23 - Fur Rendezvous, Anchorage. -- Feb. 16 - Start of the Yukon Quest sled dog race - 1,000 miles from Fairbanks to Whitehorse. -- Feb. 29 - Start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race - 1,049 miles from Anchorage to Nome. -- March 13-22 - Fairbanks Winter Carnival. -- March 15-22 - Arctic Winter Games, Whitehorse. -- March 28-29 - Race of Champions Dog Sled Race, Tok, Alaska. -- April 18 - Tok Trot, with walkers, runners and roller-skaters turning out for races. -- May 15-24 - Alcan Festival, Whitehorse. The 10-day northern jubilee will kick off the Yukon's Alaska Highway 50th-anniversary events with parades, concerts, art exhibits and entertainment. -- May 19-Aug. 31 - Frequent welcome programs for visitors to Fort Nelson, B.C. -- May 23-25 - Buffalo Wallow festival, Delta Junction, featuring square dancing and other entertainment. -- May 30 - Grand opening of the Mile Zero Rotary Park/Pioneer Village in Dawson Creek, B.C. -- June 14 - First Tok 'Mainstreet Alaska' Sourdough Potlatch, offering a wild-game menu that is expected to include moose, caribou and local fish. The potlatch will be repeated July 26 and Aug. 23. -- July 1 - Yukon Gold Panning Championships, Dawson City, Yukon Territory. -- July 4 - Fourth of July celebrations in Tok, Skagway and Whittier, Alaska. -- Aug. 7-11 - Gold Rush Days, Valdez. -- Aug. 14-17 - Discovery Days, Dawson City, Yukon Territory.

Meanwhile, from about June 1-Sept. 1, Haines Junction, Yukon Territory, is planning to offer summer visitors trips in surplus military vehicles along an abandoned stretch of the original Alaska Highway.

Delta Junction, at the northern end of the Alaska Highway, plans to spread a World War II-style tent city on the state fairgrounds to show visiting veterans and their families how the highway workers lived in 1942.

Festival Fairbanks, a nonprofit community organization, is making arrangements to fly 150 welcome banners on highway routes into the city.