2020: A year in pictures from Alaska

Memorable photos from a memorable year by Anchorage Daily News staff photographers.

By Anchorage Daily News

Updated: January 3, 2021 Published: January 1, 2021

JANUARY 9. Sunlight hits trees and fog in this view looking south from the UAF campus. (Marc Lester / ADN)

2020 was an extraordinary year. Around the world, the weather has been extreme and news of all kinds has been a constant firehose. Divisive politics. Social inequities. The pandemic. But still our lives move on. Here’s a selection of images that tell at least a portion of the story of 2020 in Alaska.

— Anne Raup, ADN multimedia editor

JANUARY 12. A curtain of icicles develops on the deck roof of Mean Queen at Totem Square as the blanket of snow slowly melts and slides. The ANB Harbor, one of Sitka's five harbors, is in the background. (Anne Raup / ADN)

JANUARY 19. The MLK Community-Wide Choir performed during the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Commemoration at the West High School Auditorium. (Bill Roth / ADN)

JANUARY 28. A Kalitta Air Boeing 747 carrying U.S. citizens being evacuated from Wuhan, China, because of the emerging coronavirus emergency, made a refueling stop at the north terminal at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. (Bill Roth / ADN)

JANUARY 31. Youth 12U teams play a hockey game during the Bold 'N Cold tournament at Glennallen High School. The local high school team is a collection of players from Glennallen, Tok and Utqiagvik who have played more games together than they have had practices. Glennallen and Tok are about 140 miles apart, and Utqiagvik is several hundreds of miles away -- a 500-mile plane ride to Fairbanks, then a 250-mile drive to Glennallen, where the team plays its home games. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

FEBRUARY 1. Alaska Heat forward William Matthews looks out from the locker room between periods during a game against the Monroe Catholic Rams during the Bold 'N Cold tournament at Glennallen High School. The school hosts games on their outdoor rink until the temperature dips below -20 Fahrenheit. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

FEBRUARY 1. Torsten Kohnert, of Sweden, gives a high five on the Chena River during the start of the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race in Fairbanks. (Marc Lester / ADN)

FEBRUARY 5. Cadets from the U.S. Army JROTC Thunderbird Battalion at East Anchorage High School held their annual flag retirement ceremony. (Bill Roth / ADN)

FEBRUARY 7. Maj. Jeremy Brewer kisses his daughter Brynlee, 1, after returning to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson from a 4-month deployment to Al Asad Airbase. Greeting him are his wife, Lt. Col. Christy Brewer, and daughters Ashtyn, 4, and Isabella, 5. Lt. Col Brewer was also stationed at Al Asad, and her deployment overlapped with her husband's by four days. "We high-fived in Iraq," she said. A few dozen Air National Guardsmen from the 211th Rescue Squadron and supporting Airmen from other 176th Wing units returned home on Friday, a month after the airbase where they were stationed in Iraq came under an Iranian ballistic missile attack, which caused damage to the base but did not kill any American service members. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

MARCH 4. Toilet paper was running low at Fred Meyer on Dimond Blvd. Many stores began to have shortages on key items, namely toilet paper and hand sanitizer, due to the growing coronavirus concerns. (Anne Raup / ADN)

MARCH 8. Defending Iditarod champion Peter Kaiser of Bethel waves to the crowd gather on Willow Lake during the restart of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. (Bill Roth / ADN)

MARCH 10. Lance Mackey smokes a cigar while tending to his team in Nikolai during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

MARCH 12. Jessie Royer's team howls before leaving Takotna early in the morning, during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

MARCH 15. Thomas Waerner mushes into Unalakleet during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. He went on to win the race in Nome. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

MARCH 15. Alfonzo Seqouiano and Eduardo Rocha kneel while praying at Holy Family Cathedral in downtown Anchorage. Rocha said, "I prayed for people all around the world with the coronavirus." According to a message on the front door, all public liturgies, including masses, have been suspended until Friday, March 27, "as a precaution in preventing the spread of COVID-19" The cathedral is open for private prayer. (Bill Roth / ADN)

MARCH 17. Healthcare providers took nasal swabs from people at a new drive-thru testing site in Anchorage. It was the first of many COVID-19 testing sites to be implemented in Anchorage. (Bill Roth / ADN)

MARCH 17. Carmen DeJesus, center, and Mary Gonzalez, back wall, clean walls and furniture during nap time at Hillcrest Children's Center as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus. (Anne Raup / ADN)

MARCH 18. Brent Sass drives his team along the beach just outside of Nome as he finishes the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in fourth place. (Marc Lester / ADN)

MARCH 16. Jelma Chang said she started wearing a mask while working at Airport Pizza, a Nome restaurant, to be cautious about coronavirus. Some customer may still come to Nome to see the Iditarod finish, despite the warnings, she said. “I don’t know what state they came from, what country they came from," she said. (Marc Lester / ADN)

MARCH 18. Suezanne Keller and her son Kaleb wait in their car to receive a family meal kit during the Children's Lunchbox pantry box distribution by Bean's Cafe at the Fairview Recreation Center. (Bill Roth / ADN)

MARCH 19. A raven sits, buffeted by wind, on a post at a pull-out along Turnagain Arm. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

MARCH 21. Lindsie Mills is a grants manager for Providence Alaska Foundation. The drive-up COVID-19 testing operation at Lake Otis Parkway and 42nd Avenue is staffed by employees of Providence Alaska Medical Center, Alaska Regional Hospital, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center. (Marc Lester / ADN)

MARCH 22. A pedestrian crosses an empty parking lot in downtown Anchorage as most people stayed away during the coronavirus pandemic. (Bill Roth / ADN)

MARCH 23. Lita Oppegard walks through the eerily empty terminal wearing a mask and gloves after arriving at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. (Bill Roth / ADN)

MARCH 25. Christine Hohf, wearing a unicorn costume, and Andi Correa, wearing a dinosaur costume, walk through South Addition. Hohf, who works as a scrub tech at a surgery center, said her hours were cut due to elective surgeries being put off because of the coronavirus pandemic, and she wanted to do something that would make people smile. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

MARCH 27. Angela Young, 83, receives a box of food from the Food Bank of Alaska. The non-profit has been partnering with businesses to deliver some food to seniors who are unable to access their normal distribution sites because of restrictions put in place to slow the coronavirus pandemic. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

MARCH 27. School busses are parked at the Anchorage School District transportation center. Schools have been ordered temporarily closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

MARCH 30. Snowmobilers ride across hard-packed snow near Portage. (Bill Roth / ADN)

MARCH 30. The sun reflects off the waters of Turnagain Arm near Beluga Point during a cloudless evening. (Bill Roth / ADN)

APRIL 2. Some of the Ravn Connect Part 135 aircraft that serve rural Alaska have been parked at Palmer Municipal Airport due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Bill Roth / ADN)

APRIL 17. Anchorage Safety Patrol responders tend to an incapacitated man outside the Sullivan Arena. The arena is serving as a emergency homeless shelter during the coronavirus pandemic. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

APRIL 27. Tun'aqi Blanchett dances as Pamyua prepares to perform. Musicians performed at the Ship Creek small boat launch in Anchorage. The recorded performances will become the AK4AK virtual music festival, to be shown online starting May 1. (Marc Lester / ADN)

APRIL 29. Clients use dots on the floor to keep recommended social distance spacing while lunch is served at the Bean's Cafe emergency shelter inside the Sullivan Arena during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Bill Roth / ADN)

MAY 6. Workers plant 100,000 starts of lettuce, broccoli and cabbage at VanderWeele Farms in Palmer. The first crop of lettuce should be hitting area supermarkets in early July, according to Michelle VanderWeele. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

MAY 14. Hailey Williams, right, jumps for a photo with her close friends when they gathered at a park after graduation. (Marc Lester / ADN)

MAY 19. Service High School graduating senior McKenna Bailey-Parsons pretends to high-five principal Frank Hauser while keeping social distancing after she walked across the stage. (Bill Roth / ADN)

MAY 21. Main Street is reflected in a window of the closed Fairview Inn in Talkeetna. The popular bar has been closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

MAY 28. Olivia Beck, 15, holds on to her cattle Finn, left, and Forest at her home in Palmer. The calves would've shown in the young beef competition at the Alaska State Fair, she said. The fair was cancelled due to the pandemic. (Marc Lester / ADN)

MAY 30. A crowd gathered in the parking lot of the Midtown Mall and along the sides of Northern Lights Boulevard for the “I Can’t Breathe” protest against police brutality. (Marc Lester / ADN)

MAY 30. Protestors momentarily kneel in traffic on Northern Lights Boulevard during the “I Can’t Breathe” protest against police brutality. (Marc Lester / ADN)

JUNE 6. Healthcare workers kneel for nine silent minutes on the Delaney Park Strip during a quiet demonstration for racial equality. (Marc Lester / ADN)

JUNE 6. A large crowd marches down F Street to protest police brutality in downtown Anchorage. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

JULY 9. Alaska Department of Fish & Game habitat biologist Michael Mazzacavallo measures a small rainbow trout and slightly larger coho salmon captured from Chester Creek during a culvert replacement project at Northern Lights Boulevard. Construction workers temporarily diverted the creek in order to replace a failing metal culvert, which left a small number of fish stranded. Mazzacavallo and other biologists captured the stranded fish and released them into the newly diverted stream. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

JULY 10. Megan Park, 12, goes inverted while playing with her family on the sand dune at Kincaid Park. (Marc Lester / ADN)

JULY 15. Rabbi Yosef Greenberg waits for the Anchorage Assembly meeting to start. Rabbi Greenberg accepted an apology from Assembly member Christopher Constant following words he used during Tuesday's assembly meeting. (Bill Roth / ADN)

JULY 20. Brent Aafedt with Alaska Disinfectant Services uses SteraMist ionized Hydrogen Peroxide technology to thoroughly disinfect the interior of 907 Alehouse & Grill. The extra cleaning measures were taken after an employee at the alehouse tested positive for COVID-19. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

JULY 21. Quinn McClure, a Trailside Discovery summer camp leader, soaks kids on the floating dock at Little Campbell Lake at Kincaid Park. (Marc Lester / ADN)

JULY 22. Crew disembark from the American Triumph and board busses in Seward. American Seafoods, which operates the factory trawler, reported over the weekend that 85 crew members tested positive for COVID-19. The crew disembarked in Seward and will be transported to Anchorage where they will be isolated for further care. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

JULY 22. Crew members from the American Triumph are transported by bus from Seward to Anchorage. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

JULY 31. The third floor of the Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center is nearly empty during a season when it should be bustling with activity. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

AUGUST 4. Seraphina Jones-Perez, 3, cheers with joy as she plays with bubbles her father, Lirio Perez, made for her while they enjoy a sunny evening at Delaney Park. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

AUGUST 7. A mounted cougar wears a face mask in the office at Service High School. The cougar is the school's mascot. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

AUGUST 13. First-grade teacher Katrina Kim writes a welcome message on the whiteboard in her classroom at Nunaka Valley Elementary School. Kim said she is prepping for both remote and in-person teaching, because she wants to be ready if the school district changes plans. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

AUGUST 18. Dakota Rivas, 10, reads a temperature while helping her grandmother Joyce Kearsley, right, an election worker during the primary election. Everyone entering the polling place at the Mt. View Boys & Girls Club had their temperatures taken as a precaution during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Bill Roth / ADN)

AUGUST 25. Karen Gordon shows her students, who are five years old and starting their first day of kindergarten, what she looked like when she was their age. Gordon taught the children over Zoom from her empty classroom at Northwood Elementary School. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

AUGUST 26. Robert Kurek and Kennedy Budd encounter wind while they stop for pictures and video at Beluga Point shortly before they planned to get married at Bird Point on Turnagain Arm. The couple, from Ottawa Lake, Michigan, had planned to marry in the Virgin Islands in spring, but changed their plans because of the pandemic. They decided to elope instead and get married six years to day since they first met. Though they dealt with rain and wind during some of their photo session, weather improved and some sun broke through before their ceremony. (Marc Lester / ADN)

SEPTEMBER 15. Scott Wells tosses a pink rose onto the casket of Amanda Bouffioux, his partner, after her casket was lowered into the ground at the Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery. Bouffioux tested positive for COVID-19 in August and spent three weeks on a ventilator before she died Sept. 8. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

SEPTEMBER 21. Flowers and a sign left near the front entrance of the state Nesbett Courthouse remember U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. (Marc Lester / ADN)

OCTOBER 14. Volunteer Charles Haught mopped around mats used for overflow at the homeless shelter in the Sullivan Arena. (Bill Roth / ADN)

OCTOBER 17. Skiers and hikers descend out of the Crow Pass area. Dozens of skiers hiked to glaciers above Crow Pass to test the new snow. Some skiers reported just 3 inches of new snow on top of the old snow and ice of the glaciers. (Anne Raup / ADN)

OCTOBER 20. A pale band of northern lights is visible over Butte and Matanuska Peak near Palmer. (Marc Lester / ADN)

OCTOBER 24. People wait in line to vote at an early voting location at the Midtown Mall in Anchorage. Many people said that they waited in line for a half hour before entering the polling place. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

NOVEMBER 3. U.S. Senate candidate Al Gross reviews his remarks to supporters as some begin to arrive at his South Anchorage yard on election night. (Marc Lester / ADN)

NOVEMBER 5. Volunteers register households and direct traffic at an emergency food distribution program run by the Food Bank of Alaska at the former Sam's Club at Tikhatnu Commons in Anchorage. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

NOVEMBER 9. The articulated Tug-Barge Aveogan/Oliver Leavitt moves south along the Knik Arm after departing Port of Alaska around 8:25 a.m. as the sun rises, highlighting the Tordrillo Mountains. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

NOVEMBER 10. Absentee ballots being scanned for tabulation at the Division of Elections Region II office in Anchorage. (Bill Roth / ADN)

NOVEMBER 22. A vapor cloud forms over the wings as a Cargolux jet lifts off from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Cargolux is headquartered in Luxembourg. (Marc Lester / ADN)

NOVEMBER 28. Timothy Watson takes an order from people in one of the PubHouse restaurant's outdoor dining domes at the Inlet Tower in Anchorage. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

DECEMBER 2. Cordelia Scott, facing, hugs her daughter-in-law, Pheng Scott, through a sheet of plastic at Aspen Creek, an assisted living center. This was the second session of the "hugging wall" at Aspen Creek, designed to keep its senior population safe from COVID-19 but in contact with family members. (Marc Lester / ADN)

DECEMBER 2. Vulcan Towing & Recovery owner Justin Creech embraces people gathered at a celebration of life for fallen operator Hans Michael Moore in Muldoon. (Bill Roth / ADN)

DECEMBER 11. Dunbar plays bingo in her festively decorated vehicle during a session of curbside bingo at Tudor Bingo Center. (Marc Lester / ADN)

DECEMBER 16. Registered Nurse Banu Mufale administers a Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine to physical therapist Becca Mamrol, at Providence Alaska Medical Center. The hospital, Alaska's largest, plans to vaccinate 485 people this week. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

DECEMBER 20. Ryan Kenny, the Anchorage Museum Deputy Director of Exhibitions and Program Operations, carries two ice luminarias he made onto the front lawn of the museum in downtown Anchorage. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

DECEMBER 31. An ice carousel spins in Westchester Lagoon. The carousel was created by a group of local artists. (Loren Holmes / ADN)