Points of Pioneer Park

A Fair­banks fam­i­ly favorite, the play­ground is locat­ed at the cen­ter of the park and is designed for sev­er­al age groups with an ani­mal train, swings, spi­ral slide, net climber, and addi­tion­al play areas.

Look­ing for a relaxed din­ner after a busy day of adven­tures? Head to the Alas­ka Salmon Bake — the only one in Fair­banks — where you’ll enjoy an array of fine din­ing, sur­round­ed by a his­toric park filled with rus­tic build­ings and min­ing equip­ment. Take your pick of fire grilled Alaskan salmon, beer bat­tered cod, or prime rib, cooked to perfection. 

These music per­for­mances are spon­sored by the Fair­banks Arts Asso­ci­a­tion. They are held at the gaze­bo through­out the sum­mer. Bring a chair or blan­ket to sit on as bench seat­ing is limited.

The Alas­ka Cen­ten­ni­al Cen­ter for the Arts was built in 1967 and designed to resem­ble a south­east Alas­ka trib­al hall. The masks on the out­side rep­re­sent ani­mal spir­its. Many peo­ple think the build­ing looks more like a birth­day cake, which is fit­ting since it was built for Alaska’s 100^th birth­day. Some Fair­banksans also refer to the cen­ter as the Pick­le Bar­rel. The Alas­ka Cen­ten­ni­al Cen­ter for the Arts is rumored to be haunted.

On the north side of the park along the edge of the Chena Riv­er, Canoe Alas­ka pro­vides one of Fair­banks’ few, out­door fam­i­ly adven­ture activ­i­ties. Canoe Alas­ka rents kayaks, canoes, and bicy­cles for half-days, a day, or by the week.

Lov­ing­ly owned and oper­at­ed by Roela Olsen since 2006, this carousel is fun for the whole fam­i­ly and Roela also offers treats and drinks next to the carousel dur­ing the open sea­son! Accord­ing to the Nation­al Carousel Asso­ci­a­tion this mer­ry-go-round was built in the 1930’s. The carousel trav­eled via the Alaskan High­way to make its debut in the Gold­en Heart Plaza for the Sil­ver Anniver­sary of the Fair­banks North Star Borough. 

Pio­neer Hall was designed in 1966 to rep­re­sent a fine 1900’s era build­ing. It hous­es the Pio­neer Muse­um and The Big Stam­pede Theater.

The mis­sion of the Pio­neer Air Muse­um is to col­lect, pro­tect, and pre­serve for edu­ca­tion­al pur­pos­es objects that reflect the his­to­ry of inte­ri­or and arc­tic Alaskan avi­a­tion through acquir­ing, restor­ing, inter­pret­ing, and dis­play­ing his­tor­i­cal­ly sig­nif­i­cant objects. View log­books, cloth­ing, maps, ear­ly flight instru­ments, and air­craft sport­ing skis and floats adapt­ed to rugged Alaskan runways.

The River­boat SS Nenana is a stern­wheel­er, nick­named the ​“Queen of the Yukon.” She was com­mis­sioned by the Alas­ka Rail­road and built in 1933. The boat is cur­rent­ly under­go­ing restora­tion. The stern­wheel­er is the sec­ond largest wood­en hull ves­sel in the world, and was named a Nation­al His­tor­i­cal Land­mark in 1989.

Vis­i­tors can pur­chase tick­ets to hop aboard the Crooked Creek Whiskey Island Rail­road encir­cling Pio­neer Park and pulled by Old 67. It’s just $3 for adults and $2 for seniors and kids under 12 (lap babies are free). The train runs every 15 min­utes dur­ing the open sea­son from noon to 7:30pm. An on-board guide points out his­toric attrac­tions and activ­i­ties in each section.