(no longer) The Northernmost Jew

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I figured that no one in Deering would ever have a sukkah, especially this year when Sukkot falls so late in the autumn. Well, I still don’t think there had ever been a sukkah in Deering, but some people come close.
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An excerpt from the article from this week’s English version of The Forward:
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In Fairbanks, Alaska, each year David Crawson and his wife, Jennifer Eskridge, build one of the few sukkot around. “Sukkot is not a highly observed holiday here because it is so cold,” Crawson said. “There’s almost always snow falling before Sukkot or during.” But give up Sukkot? They sooner would add layers of clothing, insulate the sukkah walls with colorful tapestries to break the wind or huddle in sleeping bags rated for 20-below weather. One “balmy” year when the temperatures were merely freezing, Eskridge and her daughter (then 6) did just that. More commonly, the family builds a fire pit in the sukkah. It sits on a metal stand. The colder the temperature, the smaller the fire hazard, they say. “We always eat in [the sukkah], that’s a hands down. We’re Alaskans; we just put on more clothes,” Eskridge said.

You can go to see the entire article at:
http://www.forward.com/articles/4792