The sandy area next to the Klondike Stage at the fairgrounds is technically an outdoor volleyball court. But on Friday afternoon at the Southeast Alaska State Fair about 100 spectators gathered to watch nearly two dozen people compete in something else – beach wrestling. 

“It’s loosely based on USA beach wrestling,” said Haines middle school wrestling coach Jake Mason. Mason raked the uneven sand inside of the circular rope that served as the wrestling ring. 

“So it’s one point for a push out, which is when you take a wrestler beyond the rope, and then it’s two points for a takedown.” Mason said. He was one of two referees for the bracketed style tournament. 

“We’re calling it a ‘takedown’ when the initiating wrestler gets the opposing wrestler to take a knee or another part of the body down into the sand, … and that’s basically it,” he said. 

The wrestlers start from neutral – that is they stand and face each other before the referee’s starting whistle blasts. 

The wrestlers were scored primarily on takedowns, and there were no pins – so it was nonstop action. 

The event was hosted by the Haines Glacier Bears wrestling team. Competitors paid to enter,  $25 for adults and $15 for youth. The money raised will go toward purchase of new wrestling mats for the next high school wrestling season. The team is scheduled to host its regional tournament in December.

There were no weight classes but wrestlers were grouped by three categories – 14 and under boys, women, and men aged 15 and up. It was a single elimination tournament, so the winner of each match moved on. Each match consisted of two, two-minute periods, said Mason.  

“With a short maybe about 10 [to] 15 second break in between,” Mason said.  

Mason was not only a referee but he also competed in the adult men’s division. He lost to 18-year-old Jackson Long. 

“I was surprised the first one was against my coach. I’ve been beat up by him hundreds, maybe thousands of times. But I beat him for the first time this [past] spring,” said Long, who has been wrestling since he was 12. 

“That was maybe my second time [beating him],” he said. 

Long is a recent Haines High School graduate who started wrestling in sixth grade when it was first offered as a sport at the middle school.  

He wrestled four matches to win this year’s beach wrestling. Long also placed third in his weight class during the state tournament this year and said he is passionate about wrestling.  

“I think it’s the greatest sport for anyone to learn discipline and hard work and grit. And it’s the most challenging sport, of course. So I recommend everyone try it,” he said.“Nothing is gonna make you grow as a person as much as wrestling does.” 

Long is going to Fairbanks for aviation mechanics school but he still wants his former team to succeed. 

“We have the opportunity to host regionals this year. And [it would] really help us host more tournaments here if we had a great facility… and new mats,” he said. “I think any donations to get new mats and put on an awesome regional tournament would just be huge for the town.” 

Twelve-year-old Lylah Wray has only been wrestling for a year but she was not afraid to test her mettle. 

“I wrestled an adult –one of my friend’s moms,” Wray said. She lost that match-up. “I definitely would’ve liked it if I scored a couple of points, but I think it’s okay.”

Wray was tired after back-to-back matches but that didn’t dampen her spirit. 

“It was kind of like sumo wrestling but not really. My knees couldn’t touch the ground. It was definitely not normal wrestling, but I think it was still fun,” she said. 

Wray said her older brother got her into wrestling.

“I want to wrestle in college,” said the seventh-grader. “I love wrestling and I love the sport. More than anything,” she said. “You have to have a lot of mental toughness to do it. So I think no one is going to be that great when they first start to do wrestling. It depends on how long you do it. So definitely try to stay in it.”

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – It’s an important time of year for many Alaskans who are filling up their freezers with fish, but the Alaska Department of Fish and Game says how fishermen dispose of the parts they don’t eat is also important.

Wildlife Biologist Cory Stantorf said illegally dumped fish waste is a problem in Southcentral Alaska that can have dangerous consequences, not to mention fines that range between $300 to $1,000.

“The issue is folks coming back from dipnetting or fishing on the Kenai — rod and reel — are coming back, filleting fish and then dumping those in the local creeks, streams or dumping them on the banks,” Stantorf said. “And that’s just a huge draw for bears.”

Fish and Game recommends people who clean their fish on-site to chop up the carcass and throw it into fast-moving water.

If fish are processed elsewhere, it isn’t illegal to dispose of waste in local streams but it is highly discouraged by Fish and Game. The agency says that can increase the risk of spreading disease into new water bodies, as well as attract bears to creeks and streams that literally run through people’s backyards.

But fish waste can be taken to local landfills, officials say. According to a release, fish waste is accepted at the Central Peninsula Landfill, as well as Kenai Peninsula transfer facilities. Fish waste is also accepted at the Anchorage Regional Landfill, Central Transfer Station, and the Girdwood Transfer Station, as well as the Central Landfill in Palmer.

People can also put fish waste into residential trashcans but might want to consider freezing it first to reduce the smell.

At the very least, Stantorf said, make sure the can is at the curb the morning of pick-up and stays there as little time as possible.

Anglers also have other options, according to Kelli Toth, acting director of Anchorage’s Solid Waste Services. They can take it to SWS’s new Materials Recovery Facility at the old transfer station in midtown. SWS is running a pilot project there to accept organics that will eventually be turned into compost and other soil additives, and will now add fish waste to the mix.

“If you are a gardener, you know that fish carcasses are like gold and provide really fantastic nutrients back to the soil,” Toth said.

Toth emphasized that fish heads and other parts of fish are edible and highly desirable in some cultures. The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium accepts donated salmon including heads, bellies and eggs. For more information, call (907) 729-2682

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Whale bones form a monument to lost sailors in Utqiagvik, Alaska, overlooking the Arctic Ocean. (AP Photo/Laura Rauch)

At 2:16 a.m., the sun finally dipped below the horizon, marking the first official night in 83 days for Utqiaġvik, Alaska, the northernmost town in the United States.

UtqiaÄ¡vik, formerly known as Barrow, lies well north of the Arctic Circle. During the weeks around the summer solstice, the town is bathed in perpetual sunlight as the Earth’s north pole tilts toward the sun.

The last sunset occurred on May 10. Since then, residents have lived in constant daylight, with the sun occasionally dropping down toward the horizon but never fully disappearing.

The first night in months was brief, only lasting for 35 minutes, but much longer nights are ahead.

In this Oct. 10, 2014 photo, a lone figure walks in a sunless late-morning on a street in Barrow, Alaska. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Conversely, in the weeks surrounding the winter solstice when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the sun, people in Utqiaġvik go weeks without seeing sunlight.

The phenomenon known as “polar night” starts on Nov. 19, and the sun will remain absent from the sky for 65 days until it peeks above the horizon once again on Jan. 22, 2025.

While some may think going so long without sunlight would be depressing, former UtqiaÄ¡vik Kirsten Alburg told AccuWeather that it is “such a beautiful time.”

“It ends up being this really beautiful time. You have the northern lights, and it gets cold, but there are so many lights that are out in the town, and it makes everything sparkle,” she said.