Pig Roast

17 June 2012
1:27 PM

Sunset at 12:45 AM in direction 345° North-northwest
Sunrise at 2:58 AM in direction 15° North-northeast

Civil Twilight all day

A wonderful aspect of community living in Fairbanks is the outdoor summer parties that last all day and into the night, sometimes all night.  Folks bring dishes and desserts to share or maybe beer, wine, soda pop or juice - whatever they fancy.  Sometimes a keg is provided, some times not.  Music is a part of it in some way.  And since being in possession of recreational amounts of marijuana is legal, I am sure there is some of that going on as well, although at my children's house, that doesn't appear to be the case.

Yesterday was my son-in-law's 40th birthday bash and in honor of this milestone, combined with a celebration for Scott Miller's birthday as well, they held their traditional pig roast.  Of all the things that outsiders might be curious about, uniquely Alaskan outdoor parties, this is the event I forgot to bring my camera for .. no kidding!

Gary, my husband, had gone earlier to set up the sound system, so I rode over with Lorien, my son.  As we approached their driveway, a sign indicated no parking down in the house area, so the road side was filled with cars several yards above and below the driveway.  Walking down the driveway, I was greeted by my daughter, Teresa - looking wonderfully Hispanic and summery.

The house is three levels: garage built into the hillside, first and second floors reached via outside steps and inside stairs.  Coming down the driveway, steps leading up to the north side of house and formal gardens are on the left.  The garage faces west and the driveway/parking area extends out from the garage doors into a large level area for parking cars, trucks, boats, and the pig roaster when not in use. All of this area had been cleared of vehicles.  A blue canopy had been stretched from the garage door opening, across the concrete pad that leads into the garage and out onto part of the dirt drive.  Chairs had been set up in under the canopy facing the concrete pad when a band was setting up.

Gary's sound system was situated behind a large trailer bed about 30 feet from the stage.  Sound man and musicians were busy tuning when I arrived.  Beyond the canopy, the pig roaster that Jamie wielded from an old propane tank was set up with chefs already cleaning out the meat.  All that was visible of the pig was its roasted head facing the party goers.  In front of the roaster was a card table set up with a festive red and white checked table cloth where meat was being piled into aluminum roasting pans.

Inside the garage behind the band were two large make-shift tall tables where guests were putting out their offerings to the party.  An orange cooler was filled with water and the keg tap, affixed to one of the downstairs refrigerators, was already a favorite spot; Lorien, had brought up a keg from the award winning Talkeetna brewery.  Plastic wear, napkins, and paper plates were out - which folks held on to knowing that Teresa and Jamie often ran out of those particular items at their parties.

As guests arrived, food was placed out only to disappear immediately, to then be replaced by the next wave of guests.  Food coming and being eaten as quickly continued through out the entire day.  It was truly "pot-luck" as you ate whatever happen to be out on tables when you arrived.  Rosemary, Jamie's mom, had a plan going into the party to eat some of everything provided.  She confessed that it was tricky because many times something was already gone by the time she got over to it!  Yet, not one of didn't have enough to eat.

Several early attendees drifted in between 3 and 4 PM and left within a few hours, while the bulk of guests arrived between 6 and 8, many of whom did not leave until 9 or 10 PM.  At its peak, their neighbor and our family friend, Vera, told us she ended up walking.  She'd driven up, but the parking places were so far from their driveway, she would have been parking near her own!  Later, as I cleaned up some dishes upstairs and filled the dishwasher, Rosemary asked how long the party was expected to go into the evening.  I told her I had no idea since many parties lingered well into the next day.  But, the pig roast was usually centered around food and music rather than music and drinking, so maybe not as long as that.

As it turned out, by 9:30 PM things were winding down and I began to gather up recyclables to help with cleaning.  Later Jamie and Norm, his dad, did the final clean up of the pig.  Rosemary commented that she was surprised at how popular the pulled pork was; she'd seen folks heap their plates with meat and cooked salmon.  There was very little left as Jamie's roasted pig is well-known and loved by neighbors and friends.  Teresa and Janell began putting away chairs as I gathered up dirty plates some had left lying about.  Then Gary began breaking down his system and we got those items packed into the car.  We were home by 11:00 - an early night for Alaskans in summer.

The sun had not set yet.