World's Strangest Festivals

Where: Nenana, Alaska.

What: Spring ice-melting lottery. Alaska’s longest-running betting lottery is a contest to guess the exact time and day that the winter ice will crack and make way for springtime. Locals set a giant wooden structure on the ice and tie it to a clock on the shore. When the ice gives way, the rope pulls the clock, stopping it and declaring a winner. Tickets cost $2.50; the largest pot to date is $303,895, given in 2008 to a single ticket holder.

Why: It was during an especially long winter in 1917 that a group of railroad engineers first placed bets on when the ice on the Tanana River would break. The next year, a few more folks got in on the act, and by 2008, more than 240,000 tickets were sold for the year’s jackpot.

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