Ohhh...the Midnight Sun! We Alaskans drink it up each and every summer, drowning ourselves in every glorious millisecond of it. For we know that a long, bitter winter is only a few blinks away.

 

Due to the many hours of daylight, our vegetables can grow to record breaking sizes. Therefore, most Alaskans grow some sort of garden...even if it's only a planter hanging from their apartment balcony.  

 

Tourists come from around the world to appreciate the Summer Solstice which falls on June 21st, marking the day of the year with the most sunlight. The sun doesn't 'set' until the wee hours of the morning and comes back 'up' only a couple of hours later (see our 'Shortest Days' page for exact times). It's a pretty cool thing to be able to drive around at one o'clock in the morning without the aid of headlights!

 

Even during the setting hours, the sun barely kisses the horizon. Its light reflects over the curvature of the earth to where you can still get around and see where you're going without the use of artificial lights. The further north you travel in Alaska, the fewer hours between sunset and sunrise. During the summer, only a short ways north of Fairbanks, the sun never sets at all!

 

There are several ways that Alaskans celebrate the Summer Solstice: