• Ketchikan Alaska Holiday Ornament, Liquid Sunshine Rain Gauge, Crystal Glass Ornament Hanging on a Christmas Tree
  • Ketchikan Alaska Holiday Ornament, Liquid Sunshine Rain Gauge, Crystal Glass Ornament Hanging on White
  • Ketchikan Alaska Holiday Ornament, Liquid Sunshine Rain Gauge, Crystal Glass Ornament in Gold Gift Box
  • Ketchikan Alaska Holiday Ornament, Liquid Sunshine Rain Gauge, Crystal Glass Ornament in White Gift Box
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Ketchikan Alaska Holiday Ornament - Liquid Sunshine Rain Gauge

Ketchikan Alaska Holiday Ornament - Liquid Sunshine Rain Gauge

$28.00 USD
$28.00 USD
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A rain gauge overflowing on a dock post, a fisherman's orange rain hat hung below it, a tag that says LIQUID SUNSHINE. Ketchikan's weather, measured honestly.

Ketchikan gets more rain than any other town in America: about 150 inches in an ordinary year, 202 in the record year of 1949. The town measures it on a gauge downtown that locals read the way other people read the thermometer, and the local name for the weather, liquid sunshine, is on signs, shirts and the side of the gauge itself.

Nobody here owns an umbrella. The orange rain gear is what the fishing fleet wears, and it is the only color that makes sense in a town where the sky is gray two days in three.

Weather as identity. Most towns hide their rain; Ketchikan put a gauge on Main Street and named it. The overflowing gauge on the glass is the town's own joke, told straight.

Liquid sunshine is what locals call Ketchikan weather, and the Ketchikan rain gauge downtown keeps the count. Ketchikan rain is the stuff of Ketchikan history, from Creek Street to the docks where rain gear is the uniform. This Alaska ornament is a Ketchikan, Alaska souvenir and rain gauge gift for anyone who has stood in it.

Every Ketchikan ornament ships ready to give. Hang it on the tree, in a window, off a lamp, or send one to the person who misses Ketchikan most.

3-inch faceted crystal glass ornament, white-backed print, line-drawn in 1880s engraving style, your choice of white or gold gift box.


QUICK FACTS — KETCHIKAN AK CRYSTAL ORNAMENT — LIQUID SUNSHINE RAIN GAUGE

Town: Ketchikan, Alaska

Founded: 1885; incorporated Aug 25, 1900

Known for: Alaska’s First City; the Salmon Capital of the World; Creek Street on its pilings; the Rain Capital of Alaska

Art: Liquid Sunshine Rain Gauge, original Merlin Classics engraving

Blank: 3-inch (76 mm) round clear crystal glass ornament, faceted gem-cut edge

Print: white-backed for contrast; red ribbon hanger

Packaging: white or gold gift box, chosen at checkout

Made to order in the USA



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Wear Local. Feed Local. Stay Classic.

Product FAQs

How does your sizing work?

Every item is made to order, so please check the size chart on this page before you buy. Women's fitted tees run small; size up for a looser fit. Caps are one size with an adjustable strap.

How are items made and when will they arrive?

We make each item to order using premium blanks, embroidery and soft-hand prints. Production takes 2-5 business days (weekends and holidays excluded), then 4-10 days in transit via USPS, UPS or FedEx to U.S. addresses; most orders arrive within 6-15 business days. You'll get a tracking link the moment it ships. Any current shipping offer is shown in the bar at the top of every page and applies automatically at checkout, no code needed.

How do I send a gift?

Enter the recipient's address as the shipping address and your own as the billing address at checkout. Nothing ships with a price; the package includes a plain packing slip. Tracking goes to your email, not theirs. For birthdays and holidays, order two weeks ahead to be safe.

What's the return policy?

Made-to-order items can't be returned or exchanged for size or color, so please use the size chart and photos before ordering. If anything arrives defective, misprinted or damaged, send a photo and your order number within 30 days and we'll replace it or refund you.

How do I care for my item?

Apparel: wash cold, inside out, with like colors; no bleach; tumble dry low or hang dry. Embroidered pieces: iron inside out to protect the stitching. Caps: spot clean. Printed glasses and water bottles: hand wash only, no dishwasher, so the artwork lasts. Mugs and engraved glasses are dishwasher safe. Any item-specific care notes are in the description above.

Who makes this?

Merlin Classics is a small Connecticut brand making original retro designs for the towns people love. Every piece is printed, embroidered or engraved to order in the USA, and the business supports hunger relief in the communities our collections celebrate.

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And through every boom, the poles kept watch. Ketchikan holds the world's largest collection of standing totem poles, spread across four destinations — Saxman Totem Park south of town, Totem Bight State Park to the north, Potlatch Park beside it, and the Totem Heritage Center downtown, which since 1976 has preserved unrestored nineteenth-century poles retrieved from Tlingit and Haida village sites. The carving tradition never stopped: master carvers still raise new poles, and the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian communities remain the living center of the town's art.

The salmon brought the outsiders. A saltery went up in the area in 1883, and in 1885 Mike Martin — scouting for an Oregon canning company — bought 160 acres at the creek mouth from the Tlingit leader Chief Kyan. Martin and the Nova Scotian George Clark set up a saltery and a general store, the creek's first salmon cannery followed within two years, and the Klondike stampede of 1896-99 washed thousands of prospectors past the new dock. On August 25, 1900, Ketchikan incorporated — and because the towns that beat it to a charter later dissolved or consolidated, it stands today as the earliest extant incorporated city in Alaska.

Why People Visit Ketchikan Alaska

  • Creek Street — the boardwalk on pilings, Dolly's House Museum, the salmon ladder, and Married Man's Trail over the hill.
  • The totem circuit — Saxman Totem Park, Totem Bight State Park, Potlatch Totem Park, and the Totem Heritage Center's unrestored 19th-century poles.
  • Misty Fjords National Monument — granite fjords, waterfalls, and New Eddystone Rock by floatplane or boat up Behm Canal.
  • The Tongass — rainforest trails from Rainbird to the Deer Mountain climb; bears at Herring Cove in late summer; eagles everywhere.
  • Town life — the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show, waterfront seafood, Cape Fox Lodge above downtown, and the summer salmon derby.

Ketchikan Alaska retro logo with distressed bear and Est. 1959, Merlin Classics