Alehouse Vibe

PALMER - With the arrival of the summer heat and the departure of our daily daylight, the Palmer Alehouse is not slowing down to prepare for winter. With evening activities and concerts nearly every day on the lawn, the Alehouse is not only expanding the facilities it provides to the people of Downtown Palmer, but it’s food service opportunities.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, the Alehouse lawn is host to beer yoga. While the attendance varies on how much of the sun is willing to come out, the vibe of activities on the Alehouse lawn is just the kind of atmosphere that co-owner Steve Dike is proud to cultivate at the Alehouse

“Many of the businesses here in Palmer, they’re growing with the community and around the community and so they offer things like this and it’s not to draw a profit, it’s to help with what we’re growing into here in Palmer as a city which is incredible,” said Thursday yoga instructor Tanya Hegg.

Hegg works at Northern Edge Physical Therapy and said that she loves teaching yoga on the lawn not only for the workout but to be able to plug into the vibrant downtown activities. Yoga is offered for free, and is just one of the activities held at the Alehouse. Wednesday’s serve as game night where beer enthusiasts can also enjoy cornhole, giant jenga and soon to arrive will be a giant connect four game. Not only are the beer enthusiasts happy, but the children of said beer enthusiasts particularly enjoy running on the Alehouse’s well manicured lawn.

“It’s sort of a Mecca for people to come to in Palmer as far as being a social hub, so when people from out of town come here they kind of see that they’re able to see the relaxed atmosphere, just the surrounding beauty and it’s great. I try to tell all my tables about he concerts,” said Alehouse server Boomer Witt.

Witt was one of the many winners of the Frontiersman’s Best of the Valley Awards from the Palmer Alehouse. Witt won Best Server and the Alehouse also won best bloody mary, best restaurant, best place to enjoy live music and best place to enjoy a live performance. Dike is a music fanatic, and wants the focus of the artists taking the outdoor stage on the Alehouse lawn to be local. Dike said that he recently purchased $10,000 in new stage equipment to improve the sound quality for artists and hopefully draw more high-energy acts to the stage. The Alehouse will host music on 32 different days during the summer, some days will feature multiple bands. Dike said that during the Midsummer Garden and Art Faire, music on the Alehouse lawn will start at noon.

“Most of them all come back and they say good vibe. That’s what they say is great people, good food, but good vibe is kind of a consistent message,” said Dike.

“Skeetawk had their party here and they chose to have it here because it’s just a place that it’s a community gathering place. That’s what they said as well, and they’re going to have future ones here as well and it’s really awesome to be a part of that nonprofit group to help them out, try to get a really good thing going,” Dike said. “They raised over $7,000 last night which is pretty good.”

The Alehouse’s place as a local gathering center is not only benefiting the owners. Dike said that the Alehouse raised over $2,000 for the animal shelter during a month-long fundraiser.

With the expansion of the patio, fire rings and fire tables earlier this summer, Dike is still not done tinkering with the outdoor experience. Dike and co-owner Linda Hotchkiss are coming up on their first anniversary of ownership, and are continuing to grow the outdoor hub. The Alehouse added an outdoor barbeque pit last weekend, which will continue to expand the outdoor menu as it is outfitted with new equipment in the coming weeks. The outdoor menu currently features half racks of ribs, burgers, pulled pork and philly cheese steak sandwiches, tacos and pizza by the slice. Owning a number of concert t-shirts himself, Dike decided to create a concert t-shirt for the Alehouse’s outdoor summer concert series. The t-shirt features every act that will play on the Alehouse stage this summer. While many of the Alehouse’s customers are local regulars, during the summer months Witt also serves as de facto tour guide to his numerous tables from out of town.

“I’ve been able to make lasting relationships. We hang out with them here and we see them at the bar later. It’s good. It’s a great place for networking, it’s really a social hub,” Witt said. “You’re really able to get to know the tourists and what not and really have a part in helping them kind of navigate their trip and it’s deeply rewarding in a sense because I love Alaska, I love Palmer and I’m able to share that with others.”