The star that is illuminated every winter over Arctic Valley has gone dark for the season. Known as the JBER Star or Arctic Valley Star, the 360 light bulbs that create a five-point star are left on all winter and are usually turned off when the last racer from the Iditarod Sled Dog Race crosses the finish line, which was March 19 this year. Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson, which operates the star as a gift to Anchorage, left the lights on for a few more weeks.
A lit star has been on the face of Mount Gordon above Anchorage since before statehood. Previous version were smaller and the earliest version, 15-feet wide and sitting atop the gatehouse at the U.S. Army Nike Hercules missile installation, wasn’t visible from Anchorage. The current star was built in 1989 and is maintained by JBER.
