the dome is $1.5 million short

and if that gap doesn't close, the doors close with it.

The Dome has been Anchorage's indoor backyard for twenty years. A full-size field, a certified running track, batting cages, all under one giant roof that gets our kids through every Alaska winter.

Here's the problem. The fabric shell that holds the whole thing up went in back in 2007, and shells like that last twenty to twenty-five years. It's due, and the replacement bill is six million dollars.

The good news is they're most of the way there. More than four and a half million is already lined up between local foundations, a major Alaska grant, and a bank loan. That leaves about a million and a half left to raise before construction starts next May.

And the stakes are as plain as it gets. The CEO says it straight: if the money doesn't come in, The Dome closes for good. That's the training ground for about a thousand people a day, plus school teams, university athletes, and twenty other nonprofits that count on it when it's dark and icy outside.

We don't have many places where a January practice feels like June. If The Dome has ever mattered to your family, the fundraiser link is in the description below.