My Mom Got Put in the Rondy Jail

I was just a small boy when my mom got put in the Rondy jail.

by Michael R Dougherty

My first memory of the Fur Rendezvous was a little scary.

I was about 5 years old when I experienced my first Fur Rondy. Dad was working, so mom took me, my younger sister Anna and brother Tom to downtown Anchorage to have some Winter Carnival fun.

As we walked along 4th Avenue looking at all the sites, some people dressed up like Keystone Cops came up to my mom and asked, “where is your Fur Rendezvous button?”

Well, my mom told them she didn't have one.

So the Keystone Cops went into a silly bit and said, “You're under arrest, and you've got to go to jail.”

My Mom Got Put in the Rondy Jail

Our mom was going to jail?

Me, my sister and brother got upset.

Mom looked at us and said, “it's alright, it's all in fun.”

Then the Keystone Cops took her across 4th Avenue and put her into a “jail” they had set up right on the street.

There was mom for all the world to see, looking at us through bars and smiling like she'd won a prize.

Moments later, she agreed to purchase that Year's Rondy Button.

Over the years, mom collected lots and lots of Rondy buttons that she proudly displayed in our home.

A Final Note:

Heck, I was just a small boy and my sister Anna and brother Tom were even younger.

We didn't know what to think.

Those Keystone Cops looked like they might be some kind of special Fur Rendezvous police officers. And they had arrested our nice, sweet mom.

And then, moments later, they put her behind those bars, for all the world to see.

Would our mother ever be let out of jail?

There I was, with my little sister Anna and brother Tom, in downtown Anchorage. Who would buy us lunch? Who would take us home? And who would tuck us into bed that night?

You see it, don't you?

Then, much to our relief, the Keystone Cops, unlocked mom's jail cell. Mom purchased her Fur Rendezvous pin, and she was free to go.

What a relief.

There was only one problem.

How would me, my sister and brother, ever live it down? Our mom had been a jailbird. Oh, the humiliation.

Ten minutes later, we were walking down 4th Avenue, taking in all the fun of the Fur Rendezvous. And I had forgotten all about the time my mom got put in the Rondy jail.

BONUS

*Memories of the Anchorage you love, sent to you by email

*History of Anchorage, Alaska

*Meet the Pioneers who built Anchorage