Visual Stories

Video: Memorabilia connects Fur Rondy collector to festival's heyday

Excalibur Sports co-owner Phil Robertson has been collecting Fur Rendezvous pins since he was a kid, but he started collecting more seriously in 1985.

He has hundreds of pins and other pieces of Fur Rondy memorabilia in his collection, and is still avidly collecting. He says he longs for Rondy's heyday, when Anchorage shut down and families gathered for the dog races and fur auctions. And a self proclaimed "teary-eyed people person," Robertson dreams of a day when Rondy means as much to a younger generation as it does to the old.

Collecting Rondy pins is his way of preserving a little bit of Alaskana history.

Watch this video on Vimeo or YouTube, and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more great videos. Contact Tara Young at tara(at)alaskadispatch.com.

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