The first Midnight Sun Game in Fairbanks was held in 1906. It became a distinctive baseball tradition built around the exceptional daylight of the Alaskan summer solstice.
The game is played at Growden Memorial Park, traditionally beginning at about 10:30 p.m. and ending after midnight. Fairbanks remains bright enough in June that the contest has never needed artificial lighting, although the Sun briefly dips below the horizon.
The event is now associated with the Alaska Goldpanners, who have hosted it since 1960. That date is a common mix-up: 1960 marks the Goldpanners’ hosting era, not the first game. The game’s timing also does not align perfectly with solar midnight because clock time, daylight saving time, and Fairbanks’s longitude differ from local solar time.
The Midnight Sun Game is part sporting event and part demonstration of high-latitude summer light. It is held near the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere receives its longest daylight period.