Fairbanks Experiment Farm to celebrate centennial

Submitted by Doreen Fitzgerald
Phone: (907) 474-5042
06/15/06

An open house at the Fairbanks Experiment Farm on Saturday, June 24, marks the centennial anniversary of the facility, which is part of the Alaska Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The public is invited to visit the farm from noon to 5 p.m.

The free event will feature displays and activities for children and adults related to work at the experiment station and the UAF School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences. Visitors can meet a reindeer, get the scoop on BOB (bi-camera observation blimp), learn about berry research and participate in a fruit leather taste test. Topics of displays and activities include Alaska agronomy and horticulture, forest sciences, animal science, resource management and geography.

Land for an agricultural experiment station in the Tanana Valley was allocated by the federal government in 1906. In 1915, Congress transferred farm lands for the site of Alaska’s first institution of higher education, the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines. Experiment station ownership was transferred to the college in 1931 and, in 1935, the college was renamed the University of Alaska. During a reorganization in 1975, the Fairbanks campus became the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The farm and centennial celebration are at the west edge of the UAF campus on Sheep Creek Road (access via the Parks Highway or Geist Road and Thompson Drive). Parking will be available across the road from the Georgeson Botanical Garden, which is on the farm grounds.

For more information, including historical images, contact Doreen Fitzgerald, information officer, at (907) 474-5042 or via e-mail at fndlf2@uaf.edu