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Larry and Annie Colp were crowned Fairbanks Pioneer King & Queen Regent on Sunday by the Fairbanks Igloos of the Pioneers of Alaska. This is the 86th year of the coronation ceremony.
The new Fairbanks Pioneer King & Queen Regents, Larry and Annie Colp, prepare to cut a cake to share with the hall full of supporters who attended the ceremony at the Pioneer Museum on Sunday.
The Northland Children's Choir entered the Stampede Room at the Pioneer Museum and filled the rotunda-style room with beautiful song during the ceremony.
Queen Regent Annie Colp cut her own special cake.
King Regent Larry Colp cut his own special cake.
King and Queen Regents from previous years came together for a photograph, after the 2025 ceremony naming the newest regents.
Tim Beck and Wand Huber listed the long list of achievements they accomplished when they served as Fairbanks Pioneer King and Queen Regents for 2024.
Fairbanksans Larry and Annie Colp were crowned Sunday as the 2025 Fairbanks Pioneer King and Queen Regents, by the Fairbanks Igloos of the Pioneers of Alaska.
This was the 86th annual coronation ceremony. It was held in the Stampede Room of the Pioneer Museum, an intimate rotunda-shaped space filled with artwork depicting Alaska and Fairbanks history. It’s a special space for an important historic ceremony like this one.
“I don’t like the title of king, so I looked up what the regent definition was,” said Larry Colp, after donning the official robes and crown. One definition describes a regent as a curator, archivist and trustee. That’s the definition he’s going with, he said.
“‘Regent’ means substitute or advisor, without emphasis on king,” he said. “Each of your given talents are needed and appreciated too, as we extend Pioneer resourcefulness and help to more around us.”
“Thank you for this honor,” said Annie Colp. “We will do our best. We are just humbled and honored to represent this wonderful organization and to carry on the tradition.”
Larry Colp’s parents were named King and Queen Regents in 2002.
“They were on the ice throne,” he pointed out. The ceremony was held outside until 2015, when Rodger Hopp created new wooden thrones and moved the ceremony indoors.
The Colps take over for 2024 King and Queen Regent Tim Beck and Wanda Huber, who shared a long list of accomplishments during their reign last year.
The regents are special guests of honor at all Fairbanks Igloos events, Colony Days in Palmer, Golden Days in Fairbanks, Grand Igloo Convention in Cordova and at the Fur Rendezvous in Anchorage. They are selected by previous regents.
New this year was the addition of the Northland Children’s Choir, as part of the ceremony. These young vocalists entered the circular room and surrounded the audience, filling the room with beautiful sound. West Valley JROTC Color Guard were also special guests.
After the ceremony the couple joined friends, family and supporters at a special reception at Pioneer Hall, both sharing a special cake honoring their new titles.
Larry Colp was born at St. Joseph’s Hospital — now the Denali State Bank — and lived in a log cabin at 8th and Turner Streets. That cabin is now at Pioneer Park. His first job was dumping coal cars and cleaning the Illinois Coal Bunker bins. During the summers, he surveyed construction project for the Department of Transportation.
During the 1967 flood, he helped civil defense at the fire station, when the basement began flooding. He ended up helping Nenana flood victims at Barnett School, where he assisted in HAM radio communication. He delivered insulin via boat to flood victims on the second floor of the Penney’s building — now Sadlers Home Furnishings.
Water was three feet deep on the main floor.
He began working for Municipal Utilities System in 1969 and then transferred to ACS telephone when MUS was sold in 1997. He retired in 2006.
He has been a member of the Pioneers of Alaska since 1977. He married Annie, and became father to her four children, in 1996.
Annie Colp was born in the Philippines. She came to America with her family in 1973 when she was 19 years old.
In 1975, she joined the U.S. Navy. She remembers failing her physical exam because she was underweight.
“The examiner told me to go home, eat banana splits and return in a few days,” she said in the program. “Upon my return, I had gained the required weight.”
She married a fellow Navy man, they moved to Boise Idaho after their enlistment. They had four children and divorced nine years later.
She married Larry Colp on Feb. 17, 1996. Those four children now live in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Montana and Fairbanks and “have blessed us with five grandchildren,” she said.
She became very involved with Pioneers of Alaska and became a member in 2016.
The Fairbanks King and Queen Regents have been crowned since 1934, with just a few years missing. The Colps are the 27th set of married regents.
Reach columnist/community editor Kris Capps at kcapps@newsminer.com.
