2010 Census starts in Alaska


Several plane flights and a sled dog ride driven by schoolchildren helped kick off the 2010 Census in the United States.  Alaskans in rural communities not linked by roads have been the first people counted since the 1990 census.

The village of Noorvik had the honor of kicking off the official count of our citizens and Clifton Jackson, a World War II veteran and the village’s oldest resident at 89 was the first person counted.  Noorvik is an Inupiat Eskimo community of six hundred fifty residents. 

After gathering with village officials and elders U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Groves along with other census takers were greeted to a celebration and a day of festivities including a potlatch dinner.  There was a sampling of muktuk . . . strips of bowhead whale skin and blubber along with traditional dances, an Inupiat fashion show including a feast of caribou soup and baked bearded seal.

It was a heat wave as the temperature hovered around zero compared to the -40 lows that settled over the village earlier this month.

Groves said after the first tally, “One down, more than 309 million to go.  It’s all downhill from now.”  Clifton said he was honored to be the first person counted.

Census workers will interview Noorvik residents using the same 10-question forms to be mailed to most U.S residents in mid-March.  Workers also will visit 217 other rural communities in Alaska.

Everyone fill out those cards and be counted and if they knock on your door invite them in and share a little home cookin’.

Ice

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