Carlson Center

Growden Memorial Park is an outdoor park in Fairbanks, Alaska, United States. Originally called Memorial Park, the park was renamed in 1964 in memory of James Growden who, along with his two sons, lost his life in the tsunami created by the Good Friday Earthquake of 1964. Growden had been active in youth activities in Fairbanks for a number of years.

The Midnight Sun Game is an amateur baseball game played every summer solstice at Growden Memorial Park in Fairbanks, Alaska, United States. Because the sun is out for almost 24 hours a day, the game starts at about 10:30 at night and completes around 1:30 the next morning. However, because Fairbanks's summer time zone differs by about an hour from local solar time, coupled with the state's observance of daylight saving time, the game may not actually last until solar midnight, at about 1:53. Famous players who have appeared in the game include Tom Seaver, Dave Winfield, Terry Francona, Harold Reynolds, Jason Giambi, and Bill "Spaceman" Lee. After Noel Wien's arrival in 1924, he noted, "The baseball team played on weekends, and on June 21 and July 4 they always started a game at midnight sharp, just to indicate that this was the farthest city in the country."The first game was in 1906. Artificial light has never been used. The sun does dip below the horizon for about an hour. Since 1960, the game has been hosted by the Alaska Goldpanners, a collegiate summer baseball team based in Fairbanks. As the Goldpanners have been without a league since leaving the Alaska Baseball League in 2015, the opponent has typically been picked from other collegiate summer teams from anywhere in the United States. In 2020 the Goldpanners pulled out of the contest due to the coronavirus pandemic and local amateur squads played the game instead, with a local American Legion Baseball squad facing the local town team baseball squad. The game has never been rained out; the game narrowly avoided a rainout in 2020 after heavy downpours flooded the field earlier in the day, but the two competing teams were unwilling not to let the game go forward and cleared the field to the best of their ability to allow the game to go on. For 2021, the game expanded into a Midnight Sun Tournament, with a doubleheader consisting of the final of the American Legion Baseball tournament leading into the Goldpanners' Midnight Sun Game.

The Wickersham House is a historic house museum at Pioneer Park ("Alaskaland") in Fairbanks, Alaska. The single-story wood-frame house was built in 1904 for James Wickersham, one of the dominant political figures of early 20th-century Alaskan history. It was the first frame house (and at three rooms the largest) built in Fairbanks, and the first to feature a wooden sidewalk, picket fence, and grass lawn. The house was the first designated state landmark, designated by Governor Walter J. Hickel in May 1966. The house was rescued from demolition by the Fairbanks chapter of the Pioneers of Alaska, and moved from its original site at First and Noble Streets to the newly formed Alaskaland park in 1967. It is now a museum operated by the Tanana-Yukon Historical Society. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

SS Nenana is a five-deck (main or cargo, saloon, boat or hurricane, Texas, and pilothouse), western river, sternwheel paddleship. Two-hundred and thirty-seven feet in overall length, with a 42-foot beam, she was rated at 1,000 gross tons register. Nenana was built at Nenana, Alaska, and launched in May 1933. Marine architect W.C. Nickum of Seattle designed the sternwheeler, which was prefabricated in Seattle and put together at Nenana, Alaska, by Berg Shipbuilding Company. Nenana was built to serve as a packet. She could carry both passengers and freight. Nenana had accommodations for 48 passengers on her saloon deck. Up to 300 tons of freight, including two tons in cold storage, could be carried on her main deck. A Texas, topped by a pilothouse mounted forward in poolboat style, provided staterooms for a portion of the crew of 32. Nenana could push five or six barges on the Yukon River; but, because of sharp bends, only one on the Tanana River. Fully laden, she drew three feet, six inches of water. World War II brought a military buildup in Alaska and kept Nenana busy. She supplied Galena Air Base from which fighter aircraft were supplied to the Soviet Union as well as transporting supplies to a number of military establishments in the advance defense system in Alaska. After the war ended, the decline in passenger revenues that had been arrested by the war continued. Alaska Railroad suspended all river passenger services after the 1949 season. At the close of the 1952 navigation season, Nenana was reconditioned at Whitehorse at a cost of $164,409.20. She only made one more trip north for the Alaska Railroad before being laid up until a newly formed company, Yutana Barge Lines, leased the entire Alaska Railroad fleet in 1954. Yutana Barge Lines operated Nenana to haul freight on rivers for one season but discontinued her lease at that time as unprofitable. The General Services Administration called for bids on Nenana on December 10, 1955. All bids were rejected as too low until a group with associations to the Chamber of Commerce formed to bring Nenana to Fairbanks. This group, Greater Fairbanks Opportunities, Inc., purchased the steamboat, steamed her up the Tanana and Chena rivers to Fairbanks and opened her as a museum ship in 1957. For a time during a severe shortage of rooms, Nenana also operated as a hotel. Weather, neglect, and souvenir hunters damaged Nenana at her berth on the river, and to protect, preserve, and interpret her the vessel was moved to a permanent protected dry berth in 1965. Nenana became the centerpiece of "Alaskaland", a historical park in Fairbanks. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. An extensive restoration program was begun to return her to her former glory. The latest phase of this work has rebuilt the bow and renewed her decks. She is the only surviving wooden ship of this type, and was for this reason declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989. Approximately 70 to 90 percent of her original materials remained at that time. From the exterior, the boat appears much as she did during her operating life. Although the interior, particularly the forward main deckhouse, saloon deckhouse, and Texas deckhouse, has been substantially altered, important features such as the engineroom remain intact. The ship was originally commissioned by the Alaska Railroad and provided freight transfer from the railroad yards at Nenana to villages along the Yukon and Tanana Rivers. This history is reflected within the park's current interpretative programs. She is currently preserved and displayed at Pioneer Park in Fairbanks, Alaska.

The Harding Railroad Car is a historically significant Pullman railroad passenger car located at Pioneer Park (aka Alaskaland) in Fairbanks, Alaska. Also called Denali, and designated with equipment number X-336 by the Alaska Railroad, the car was one of three used to carry a delegation that included President Warren G. Harding in 1923 to the Mears Memorial Bridge for a ceremony marking completion of the railroad between Fairbanks and Seward. The car was purchased by the Alaska Railroad in 1923 from the Great Northern Railroad, and was used in its service until 1945. At the urging of the Fairbanks "igloo" (chapter) of the Pioneers of Alaska, the car was restored in 1959–60 and given to the city of Fairbanks. It was placed in Alaskaland in 1967, created to mark the centennial of the Alaska Purchase. It was used for some years as the park's visitor center.The car was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.Another car, The Superb, carried Harding's remains after he died in San Francisco.

Pioneer Park is a 44-acre (109-ha) city park in Fairbanks, Alaska, United States run by the Fairbanks North Star Borough Department of Parks and Recreation. The park commemorates early Alaskan history with multiple museums and historic displays on site. The park is located along the Chena River and is accessible from Peger and Airport Roads. A waterfront path connects the park to the Carlson Center, Growden Memorial Park and downtown Fairbanks. There is no admission fee to enter the park, though many of the museums and attractions do charge an entrance fee. Concessions are open from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, though the park is open year-round and some events are held in the off-season. Free Wi-Fi is available.

The Pioneer Air Museum is an aviation museum located at Pioneer Park in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Sacred Heart Cathedral is a cathedral of the Catholic Church in the United States. It is the mother church of the Diocese of Fairbanks and is the seat of the bishop of the diocese. It is located in the City of Fairbanks in the state of Alaska and sits close to the geographic center of the city.

The Big Dipper Ice Arena, colloquially known as "The Big Dipper", is a multi-purpose arena in Fairbanks, Alaska. The arena is owned and operated by the Fairbanks North Star Borough. Originally constructed as an airplane hangar for the Lend-Lease program in Tanacross, southeast of Fairbanks, the building was dismantled, transported to Fairbanks and reassembled in 1968. It has undergone two major renovations since then. The building is home to the Fairbanks Ice Dogs ice hockey team. The borough's parks and recreation department is headquartered in the building.

The Tanana Valley State Fair is an annual state fair held in College, Alaska, United States. The event commences on the first Friday in August, and is a major annual event in Interior Alaska. The fair is held on a hundred-acre plot of land just outside the city limits of Fairbanks, in the approximate center of College Road. The fairgrounds, along with portions of the Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge and surrounding businesses on the north side of College Road, comprise the eastern reaches of the College census-designated place adjacent to Fairbanks. It features amusement rides, food concessions, competitive exhibits, contests and live performances. As of the 85th Annual Fair in 2012, an adult day pass cost $10 and season pass cost $35.

The Golden Days Parade occurs in July in Fairbanks, Alaska every year as part of the Golden Days Festival, a multi-day festival that honors the city's past. The Golden Days Parade is one of the most popular festival events in Fairbanks. The overall themes for the parade and festival are "goldrush", "Alaskan pioneers", and "early Fairbanks history" (founded in 1901).

Former names: Prefecture Apostolic of Alaska (1894-1917), Vicariate Apostolic of Alaska (1917-1962).The Diocese of Fairbanks (Latin: Dioecesis de Fairbanks) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in the northern part of the state of Alaska in the United States. The Diocese of Fairbanks is led by a bishop who serves as pastor of the mother church, Sacred Heart Cathedral in the City of Fairbanks. The diocese is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau. His Excellency Steven Maekawa, O.P. is the current Bishop of Fairbanks.