Our Lend Lease celebrations were well attended, (around 175 people), informative and entertaining.  Many thanks to COL Freitag, the US Army Alaska Deputy Commander, and his wife Patty Freitag,  and the Ben Eielson High School ROTC Color Guard for their assistance with our Memorial Ceremony, We had some wonderful presenters in Dermot and Terence Cole, Brian Kassof, Pete Haggland, Lisa Graham and Natalie Lukianof. Fascinating audience participation! Sister City Committee members Marilyn Berglin, Jean Anderson, Dave and Kay Henry, Heidi Kristenson, Nancy Baker, Jim Brader, Matt Varga, Odin Miller all contributed in numerous ways.  We are grateful for the support of  cosponsoring community organizations Tanana-Yukon Historical Society, Cultural Resources Office Ft. Wainwright, Pioneer Air Museum.   Festival Fairbanks, KJNP, KUAC, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau all helped immeasurably with publicity and logistic support. And thanks to Terry and Mark Chapin, Mike LaDouceur, and Becky Hassebroek for last-minute backup support.

President Eisenhower held a conference in 1956 that led to the concept of a sister city as the “main cog” of citizen diplomacy. Many early sister city relationships formed out of the post WWII aid programs to Western Europe. The relationships that endured, however, were based on cultural or educational reasons that developed lasting friendships. Many sister city relationships are coordinated through a national non-profit, Sister Cities International. The mission statement of this organization is to “Promote peace through mutual respect, understanding, & cooperation — one individual, one community at a time.”

The Fairbanks-Yakutsk Sister City partnership aims to promote cultural, intellectual, and economic exchange between Fairbanks and Yakutsk. It is also concerned with promoting mutual awareness of the two cities among residents of Fairbanks and Yakutsk.