Alaska’s governor-elect to be sworn in above Arctic Circle

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA >> Alaska’s newly elected governor will be sworn in above the Arctic Circle, marking a first for the state.

Republican Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy will become Alaska’s top elected official Dec. 3, when he takes the oath of office in Noorvik, a tiny Inupiat Eskimo village more than a thousand miles (1,600 kilometers) from the state capital of Juneau.

Noorvik is where Dunleavy’s Alaska Native wife, Rose, grew up, and where some residents still travel by dogsled and hunt and fish for much of their food.

No roads link the village of 670 to the outside world. Instead, Noorvik is accessible mostly by plane and boat, on the Kobuk River, with snowmobiles and ATVs a common mode of transportation for locals.

Dunleavy said in a statement that he and his wife chose Noorvik out of respect for her family and because of fond memories of the years they spent in rural Alaska. The couple, who have three daughters, lived in the regional hub town of Kotzebue for 13 years before the family eventually settled on 45 acres near Wasilla, north of Anchorage.

“For us, it is the right thing to do — to call attention to the beauty, warmth and spirit of a part of our state many Alaskans have not experienced,” wrote Dunleavy, a former educator and state senator.

Alaska is the only U.S. state with areas above the Arctic Circle, and historians and others knew of no other governors sworn in to office in the region known for its icy waters and extreme conditions. U.S. Rep. Don Young has a home in Fort Yukon, above the Arctic Circle.

Most of Alaska’s previous governors took their oaths in Juneau, though former Gov. Sarah Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee, and her successor Sean Parnell, had their ceremonies in the interior town of Fairbanks.

This isn’t the first time Noorvik has been in the limelight. It was the first community counted in the 2010 census.

Noorvik voted overwhelmingly for Dunleavy in his race against Democrat Mark Begich.

Word of Dunleavy’s swearing-in is spreading quickly, and people from surrounding villages are planning to attend, according to Noorvik Mayor Vern Cleveland.

“Oh, man. People are excited about it,” he said. “The whole region.”