Star- Anchorage’s unofficial mascot for 60 years
Star, loved by both locals and tourists, is the seventh reindeer to bear the name and title.
The following written content by Bailey Berg
While New Yorkers and Angelinos might feign cool indifference to a celebrity sighting in their neighborhood, it seems almost impossible for Alaskans to not want to take a picture with one “Star” in particular. Star, the unofficial mascot of Anchorage, Alaska’s most populous city, is the seventh reindeer since the 1960s to bear the name and title.
During a short walk in downtown Anchorage’s Delaney Park Strip in late October, a group of dog walkers, a solo traveler, a handful of runners, and three separate strolling couples all come over to say hello to Star. At one point, a bus pulls over and the kids on board pile out for a photo op.
“You can get closer, he won’t bite,” says Albert Whitehead, Star’s owner, before pulling a bag of sliced carrots out of his parka. When he asks, “Do you want to feed him?” nobody turns down the opportunity.
An Alaska pet
The current Star is not just Anchorage’s beloved mascot, he’s also Whitehead’s pet; the 3-year-old reindeer was raised at Whitehead’s home on the corner of 10th Avenue and I Street. Whitehead has owned only two reindeer, though he was close friends with Ivan and Oro Stewart, who started the Anchorage tradition, and had a hand in raising Stars number one through five.
According to Whitehead, getting the first reindeer was Oro’s idea. “She told Ivan that she wanted an Alaska pet and he thought she wanted a husky,” Whitehead says. Read more from Roadtrippers.
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