A mile of lights marked Juneau’s darkest day
Published 10:00 am Monday, December 22, 2025
Juneau marked the darkest day of the year on snow-covered trails with a mile of glowing LED lights.
“Light the Night” lit up roughly half of the Mendenhall Campground Loop on Sunday evening, a fundraiser hosted by the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Nordic Ski Team and the Juneau Nordic Ski Club. About a mile’s worth of string lights lined the trail, welcoming those on skis, sleds and in boots.
Along the loop, volunteers set up stations selling cookies and hot chocolate. Two fire pits marked the start and mid-point of the trail, where people toasted s’mores and warmed their hands against the near-zero degree temperatures.
The event was envisioned as a unifying winter celebration, explained Abby McAllister, head coach for the JDHS Nordic team.
“The solstice, the light in Alaska — the lack of or bringing back the light — is something that we can all kind of get behind and unify and enjoy and relish in,” McAllister said. “It doesn’t really matter what you believe in. Let’s just all celebrate the fact that it’s the darkest day of the year, and tomorrow, it’s no longer the darkest day of the year.”
This year’s Dec. 21 winter solstice brought a sunrise at 8:44 a.m. and sunset at 3:08 p.m., making for just six hours and 24 minutes of daylight, according to the Alaska Climate Research Center.
On Saturday morning, team members and volunteers bundled up to prepare the trail. That day marked the coldest Dec. 20 temperatures on record in Juneau, with the National Weather Service reporting negative seven degrees Fahrenheit measured at the airport.
Preparations on the day of the event, in two degree weather, felt like a relief by comparison, said Tristan Knutson-Lombardo, executive director for the Juneau Nordic Ski Club.
The idea for “Light the Night” first came about during a meeting in early September, Knutson-Lombardo said.
“The genesis of the idea was in fall, so we thought, ‘It’s Juneau, there was a good chance it could be raining,’” he said.
Instead, the weeks leading up to the event brought sub-zero temperatures and bountiful snowfall, a welcome surprise for organizers.
Knutson-Lombardo credited JDHS ski team parents Megan Gahl and Laura Buchhite with leading much of the organization for the event.
The team began collecting lights in November through community donations, along with contributions from Costco and Foodland. One grandparent of a JDHS ski team member made cylindrical candle holders out of ice.
Sophomores Sigrid Ellier and Gracie Snyder, members of the JDHS Nordic ski team, took a shift at one of the treat stands, bundled up in puffy coats. They have relished this season’s snowfall, and enjoyed seeing faces slide by on solstice.
“I’m so happy with how many people came,” Snyder said.
“Yeah, the community turned out, and it’s really awesome,” Ellier added.
