Fairbanks may not be a huge town but there is still a vibrant nightlife. You just need to find it.

The Sun Star will from here on act as your guiding light to Saturday-fun by presenting you with a "Bar of the week."

Our journey through the smoky after-hours settings begins with the Red Fox Bar & Grill.

The grill, more commonly known simply as "The Fox," is located at Old Cheena Pump Road, just next to Lemongrass and Lulu's Bagels. Its foremost trademark is the significant numbers of pool tables and arcades and its laidback atmosphere.

But this place is know to be just as rockin' on Saturday nights as the bigger bars downtown. The busiest night of the week is Wednesday when the place is packed. People tend to show up at the Fox shortly after the karaoke night at the Pump House ends, which may be just a coincidence but sources say otherwise.

On an ordinary Saturday night, you'll find about 100-120 people, though the bar could fit up to 200. The crowd is a mix of everything from college students to military people and the music consists of a jukebox that plays anything from Counting Crows to oldies from the '60's.

There's only one bar, but plenty of tables and seats and there's always waitresses working the floor ready to take your order.

Depending on the size of the crowd, the wait in line at the bar can vary from one to 15 minutes. And since the actual bar isn't all too big you'd better sharpen your elbows before making your way into the action. When trying to put in your order at this place, the saying "Nice guys finish last," does come to mind.

If you feel like eating something while enjoying your beverage, food is served up until around midnight.

Most of the bar food is mediocre but their pizza is truly money well spent. And trust me, when the late night munchies kick in, that pizza is almost to die for.

Overall impression of the Fox is that it's a nice place if you just want to hangout and kick back a few good ones.

The music helps set the atmosphere and the volume is suitable for actually being able to have a conversation at a normal tone.

But on late Wednesday nights the place will be packed and it might even feel crowded. There's no dance floor and no live bands, so if you want to party it up big time you might want to consider some other after hours social settings in Fairbanks.