Nome to celebrate 4th of July like always

Despite the menace of the COVID-19 pandemic hovering over the town the City of Nome will celebrate American Independence Day in the same way the City has always celebrated. July 4th will have a parade, patriotic speeches, street games and ice cream.

“We’re encouraging social distancing and staying within your bubble for a parade and then continuation with our little ceremony and then the street games,” said Interim Mayor John Handeland,

According to City Manager Glenn Steckman the City was pleased at how the crowds attending the memorial for Mayor Beneville dealt with social distancing. “People recognize there needs to be certain amount of social distancing for these events,” said Steckman. “So that was pretty much the decision. And it’s an outside event, too, which is different than an inside event.”

The activities are spearheaded by the city clerk’s department, organizing the parade, the patriotic presentations and the street games as well. The original request for guidance on both the 4th of July celebrations and the memorial service for Mayor Richard Beneville went out to several long-time Nome residents with experience in planning events. According to John Handeland the one game that came up as perhaps too risky was the shoe scramble. But a discussion with parents suggested there’s no problem because the kids who will be scrambling for shoes are normally in close proximity anyway. The fire department is also a player, their ice cream social being a crowd favorite every year. “It wasn’t even close when they voted to go buy the ice cream and continue that tradition,” said Handeland.

“The city continues to encourage the wearing of face masks in public,” said Steckman. “This is a young people’s event and we wanted the children to be able to celebrate July 4th.”

“From a city perspective, we still want to err on the side of caution and encourage people to separate,” said the interim mayor. While the threelegged race also involves close contact joining family members together circumvents the problem. The big street race will be split up to create more room. “I think we’ll have a good fun time, regardless,” said Handeland.