I have a SERIOUS claim to fame in Sitka. I grew up in the Arsenal Courts in Rock Island, and across from our apartment was a big, green ballfield (which is now covered in highway), and on the other side of the ballfield was Servus Rubber, the place that makes Xtratuff boots. Xtratuffs are THE icon in Sitka. EVERYbody wears them - from the oldest, grizzled boat captains to teens to babes in strollers. You see whole families in church, in the library, in the coffee shops - everywhere - in Xtratuffs. At the Pioneer Bar on Saturday night we saw slim young women in short, short skirts, wool socks above the knees, and Xtratuffs up to the knee. I'm not kidding, folks are seriously impressed when I tell them that I grew up across the way from the "Xtratuff factory".
A couple of years ago Bill Wundram (Quad City Times in Davenport, Iowa) wrote an article about the "Running of the Boots". Here's a link to that story: sharePosted using ShareThis
