5 things to do in the Mat-Su: Weekend of July 14

WASILLA — This weekend is a shopper’s delight and freebie mania. There will be a vintage market to purchase upcycled goods, while those looking for a free meal and a massage can take the family to the annual health fair at Ptarmigan Pediatrics. Real Life Church will be giving away clothes, and a concert at the Settlers Bay Golf course will support Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska. Lasty, the Knik Museum will have its 50th Anniversary Hall of Fame picnic, where Big Lake musher and four-time Iditarod champion Martin Buser will be inducted into the Mushers’ Hall of Fame.

July is halfway through and summer time is running out. Back to school ads are already circulating. It’s time to plan out the rest of the short season and make those summer to-do’s happen.

Music on the Green

Saturday is the Music on the Green fundraising event for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska. All ticket sales go to the program. There will also be a donation bucket and raffle entry on-site.

The Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska are conducting a statewide raffle and will announce the winners on Sept. 15. There will be three winners that will each get Alaskan Airline miles: 1st place - 100,000 miles 2nd place - 50,000 miles and 3rd place – 25,000 miles. The event will showcase the Valley’s Earth 2 Travolta, The Jerry Wessling Band, Anchorage’s Boogie Shoes and Anchorage native and Nashville recording artist Daryl Lee (D.L.) Johnston.

Amy Lalor, Community Director Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska, Mat-Su, described the impact the program has on the youth and the surrounding community.

“What we do is preventative community care. Through matching youth and mentors, just really have a positive impact on the youth and help them kind of stay on the right track, make good choices – which affects the whole community,” Lalor said.

The concert runs from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and is at the Settlers Bay Golf Course 7307 S Frontier Dr.

Tickets are $20 in advance and at the door and are available at www.brownpapertickets.com or at The Albatross within the Settlers bay Golf Course.

Ptarmigan Pediatrics Summer Health Fair

Friday is the third annual Ptarmigan Pediatrics Summer Health Fair. It runs from 2-6 p.m. and has an assortment of booths and activities to choose from. Admission is free and there will also be free food, including: hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy, and snow cones.

More than 35 vendors will be at the fair selling various goods and services. The Blood Bank of Alaska will be on-site for a blood drive from 12-6 p.m. There will be a raffle for a new bicycle and helmet from the Children’s Place. Excel gymnastics will perform demonstrations and will also have their bake sale to raise funds for their upcoming trip to Texas. The Mat-Su Animal Shelter will have a fully operational adoption center from 2-6 p.m., complete with dogs, cats, hedgehogs and the paperwork to take them home.

A handful of doctors will get wet to raise funds for the Children’s Place. “Dunk the Doc” is the only paid activity and costs $1 for two balls and $2 for five balls. There will also be an inflatable bounce house and obstacle course for kids to jump around in. There will even be free massages provided by the Alaska Massage Clinic. New City entertainment will be the designated DJ, playing music the event throughout the day.

Ptarmigan Pediatrics is utilizing the event to announce the opening of Ptarmigan Connections, Alaska’s Center for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, located in the brand new building next to Ptarmigan Pediatrics. They will have a table to provide more information on their new facility.

The health fair is located at Ptarmigan Pediatrics 3543 E Meridian Park Loop. It has grown in scale each year. According to Bobbi Kousoulos, head coordinator of the event, over 600 people showed up last year.

“It’s a great community event for the whole family,” Kousoulos said.

For more information contact: Bobbi 907.357.4543 Ext.237 or bkousoulos@pc-ak.com

Knik Museum picnic

The Knik Museum will induct Big Lake musher Martin Buser into its 50th Anniversary Mushers’ Hall of Fame class Sunday. Buser, one of the most recognized names in Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, is a four-time champion.

The celebration is set to be an afternoon of sharing each other’s “favorite dishes” at a potluck, speaker presentations, the induction ceremony and other activities like an archeological tour of the historic Knik Village and dogsled mail delivery with a special one-day postmark. Admission to the museum is free and soda and water will also be provided. There will also be a raffle for various prizes, including train tickets for the Alaska Railroad.

Buser came to Alaska from Switzerland in 1979. He competed in his first Iditarod in 1980. Currently, he’s been in every race since 1986. He won the Iditarod in 1992, 1994, 1997 and 2002. On 16 occasions, he has finished among the top 10. His training operation, Happy Trails Kennels, is located in Big Lake

Visitors can bring their own mail for a special postmark marking that notes the day in history. Letters, postcards and the like can be ‘cancelled’ with a special seal that has an image of the Knik Museum building and says, “Celebration Station: Knik Museum inducts Martin Buser into the hall of fame July 16, 2017.”

Raffle tickets are $1 each. The raffle is a fundraiser for official Iditarod photographer Jeff Shultz’s son, a firefighter injured in a fall. For additional information contact the Knik Museum at 376-7755

Schedule of events:

1 p.m. – Potluck Picnic

2 p.m. – Speaker presentations and induction

3 p.m. – Mail delivered by dog team on the historic trail

4 p.m. – Archeological tour of Knik village

Bubbling Brook Farmhouse Vintage Market

The Bubbling Brook Farmhouse Vintage Market is back and will take place Saturday and Sunday. Located at the Menard Sports Center, 1001 S. Clapp St., the vintage market will showcase “some of Alaska's finest artists and up-cyclers.” There are some new additions at this year’s Vintage Market: a VIP shopping hour, live music, food trucks, and a Model A Car Club Show. Shoppers will also have the chance to take a paint class.

Regular tickets are $5. Ages 17 and under are free. VIP tickets may be purchased at www.bubblingbrookfarmhouse.com, or at the door at 7:30 a.m. at the Menard Center. The first 50 VIP attendees will get “swag bags” filled with goodies. VIP tickets are $25. VIP the shopping hour will be from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Saturday.

“Though last year’s event founder was suddenly called out of state this winter, Bubbling Brook Farmhouse picked up the torch. Their business specializes in rustic upholstery featuring European and American grain and feed sacks, many of them originating in the early to mid-1900s,” according to the event’s web page.

The market starts Saturday at 8 a.m. and Sunday at 11 a.m.

For additional information, contact Paula Runyan at (907) 775-6228 or e-mail to Bubblingbrookfarmhouse@gmail.com.

Real life clothes for free

Saturday will be Real Life Church’s annual clothing giveaway. There will also be a free barbeque.

The inventory will be completely free and there will be no limit to how much one can take. The clothing will be sorted and stacked on tables, separated in sections based on gender. Infant clothes will be in a separate area. The free clothes are gathered from various sources: Palmer schools’ unclaimed items from the lost and found, surplus from Thrifter’s Rock and Growing Spurts consignment, donations from Real Life Church members, and various drop offs from around the Valley who know about the event via word of mouth.

“It’s kind of a community effort,” said Judi Kopsack, member of Real Life Church and head coordinator for the event.

According to Kopsack, the event is a good opportunity to gather clothes for kids going back to school. She said the giveaway is predominately clothes but sometimes there’s house wares and other items available. She also said it’s designed to help anybody who needs it.

“Anybody wants to, can just come,” she said. “We want it to be a real blessing to the community and be able to help people that might need an extra little help.”

The giveaway will be this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Real Life Church 10697 E. Palmer Wasilla Hwy. For more information on the event or to donate, call (907) 841-2619.

Contact reporter Jacob Mann at 352-2252 or jacob.mann@frontiersman.com