Celebrate “Voices of Alaska” this 4th of July

Juneau, Alaska (KINY) – The 4th of July Committee along with the Grand Marshals are getting excited about the 4th of July.

The Grand Marshals this year are Alan Young, Pete Carran, Wade Bryson, and Ernestine Hayes.

The theme this year is Voices of Alaska.

Young is a music teacher at Thunder Mountain High School.

“I think of myself just as a representative of all the music teachers here in Juneau, because everybody, all of my colleagues in the music and music community here deserve this honor just as much as I do,” Young said. “If not more, with their work for a long time in just giving students their musical voice and this form of expression that is just truly wonderful.”

Bryson has been the Problem Corner host for the past 11 years.

“What I’ve always appreciated about Problem Corner is that it gives members of not only Juneau but of all Southeast, an opportunity come and speak to the community every single day. And there’s just not a lot of other venues where a person could just place a phone call and be able to reach out to all of Southeast Alaska,” he said. “The fact that I took over from Senator Egan, and Problem Corner has been since an institution here in Juneau. It’s the longest-running radio program in Alaska’s history. I’m just honored to be a part of that.”

Carran is the retired News Director and Action Line host for KINY. He has been a voice of Alaska for over 50 years.

“I’ve been interviewing grand marshals for I don’t know how many years, decades. And I’m going why are they picking me? When there are heroes like SEADOGS and Juneau Mountain Rescue and the volunteers at the fire department?” Carran said. “But I could justify it because of the theme, Voices of Alaska. So, I’m very honored and appreciative that it’s recognized. But, I tell people all I ever did over those years is my job to the best of my ability.”

Hayes also reacted to being chosen as Grand Marshal. She is a writer and a University of Alaska Southeast professor.

“I was nominated, I received a message from UAS that I’d been nominated. I called, and it was true,” she said. “I have the honor of being Grand Marshal and I’m very proud and humbled for the nomination.”

Alicia Nestler shared that there are only three of them volunteering on the 4th of July Committee for the Juneau parade. She added that it’s not too late to join the parade.

“One thing to note, I’ve been getting questions, when is the last day that they can submit entries for all those procrastinators out there? The last day is Sunday, July 2nd at noon online,” she said. “You can bring your payments on the morning of to check-in, down by the whale. And we have about 40 participating groups in the parade so far this year. So, it’s going to be big and it’s going to be fun.”

The Juneau Parade will begin as usual next to Cycle Alaska and will proceed towards Downtown, making a left on Main Street, right on
Front Street, right on South Franklin Street, right on Marine Way. and right on Egan.

They will head back on W 8th via the southbound lane of Egan.

The roads close at 10:30 a.m. and the parade starts at 11:00 a.m.

Nestler encouraged Juneau parade participants to also join the Douglas parade afterward. The Douglas parade begins at 2:00 p.m.

Also on Jul. 4, beginning at 4:30 p.m., 2nd Street in Douglas will be closed for a block party.

The street will remain closed to vehicular traffic until approximately 9:00 p.m.