June 21, 2019. The first day of summer. Can you feel it?
You know who most definitely can? Our friends in Alaska who have almost 24 hours of daylight! And how do they celebrate? With a good old-fashioned baseball game.
Yup, every year on the summer solstice, the Alaska Goldpanners—an amateur baseball team in Fairbanks—celebrate with a ball game at Growden Memorial Park that begins at 10pm and continues on through the midnight hour. All without the use of artificial lights.
This annual event is called the Midnight Sun Game.
And the tradition—one of the oldest in baseball’s history—started way back in 1906.
I’m not sure how I had never heard of this awesome (and very American) summer tradition until just now. But there you go. Like I always say, you can’t know everything and there’s always more to learn.