Anchorage Daily News

A ton of shellacked poop hits the ground this weekend in honor of Talkeetna's Moose Dropping Festival, which this year marks the 90th anniversary of the Dough Boys' return (see below). Each year the festival draws thousands north for music, food, crafts and the chance to win prizes.

• HOW THE MOOSE DROP WORKS: Buy a ticket for $5 with a number that corresponds to a number on a moose pellet. At 6 p.m. Saturday, the netted poop -- yeah, it's real --is dropped from a high tower onto a X. Prizes are awarded based on how close to the X the pellet falls. "It's very light," said Carroll Carroll of the Talkeetna Historical Museum. "If there's any wind blowing at all, God only knows where the stuff is going to land." So in case of wind, bring goggles.

• OTHER FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS: What may be Alaska's shortest parade route starts at noon Saturday on Main Street, following the 5K fun run/walk that morning. You can take the historic walking tour and participate in the moose-poop toss game.

• THE DOUGH WHO? The Doughboys, for all those born after 1930, was the name given to the American Expeditionary Force of World War I.

• THE MOUNTAIN MOTHER CONTEST: Held at 1 p.m. Sunday, this obstacle course for moms involves a doll with a giant head, a backpack, several long-handled axes, fishing poles, pie pans, bows and arrows and a live grizzly bear. OK, there's no bear but all the other elements combine to make this contest one to watch and one to try if you're female with kids. Consider it an Alaska rite of passage.

• MORE INFO: www.talkeetnahistoricalsociety.org/moose-dropping-festival-program.php.

-- Compiled by Melodie Wright, Anchorage Daily News

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