Annual Garden and Art Faire promises new delights

WASILLA — Palmer’s annual Midsummer Garden and Art Faire isn’t just for those with green thumbs.

Seventy garden, art and food vendors are booked for this year’s Faire on Saturday, July 9 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. — the Palmer Museum and Visitor Center’s second-biggest summer event behind Colony Days.

Packed into the 2016 schedule for are familiar favorites like the Rhubarb Rumble — a cooking competition among local caterers and restaurants, judged by the public — as well as new notions like the Palmer Wine Walk, which sold out the day it was announced at the end of May.

“I never imagined it would sell out as quickly as it did,” said museum director and event coordinator Selena Ortega-Chiolero.

The Faire begins with the Wine Walk on Friday, July 8 from 6 to 9 p.m., when ticket holders can take their locally hand-painted wine glasses to seven tasting locations downtown, much like the typical Second Saturday Art Walk. Washington wines, appetizers and live music by percussionists Meggie Aube and Myrna Ukele will be available at the museum that evening, too.

Ortega-Chiolero said the Faire’s board of directors was nervous about trying the Wine Walk out for the first time, having to purchase the goods months in advance to ensure a timely delivery. They capped participation at 250 people and spent a total $2,500 on reds and whites from Washington wineries, some of which are looking to break into the Alaska market.

Promoting Palmer

Though the Wine Walk is a fundraiser for the museum, the Faire as a whole should be good for the broader Palmer economy, Ortega-Chiolero said.

“We’re always trying to find ways to help promote downtown Palmer and local business in general,” she said.

That philosophy has fed the Faire’s first “Topihairy Challenge,” which is billed on the event website as a “no holds barred styling competition” for local stylists and models. Entrants are tasked with creating garden-themed hairstyles, using make-up and clothing to subtly enhance the hair before sending the sprite-like results down the garden runway outside the museum on Saturday.

“Very few stylists have the opportunity to showcase their work, and the Challenge presents not only the fun, whimsical side (of styling), but also helps stylists to get the word out about what they do,” Ortega-Chiolero said.

The Challenge will be judged by the public from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 9, and is one of several outdoor workshops and demonstrations to be held in the garden. Plein air painting with Nancy Crawford starts things off at 10:30 a.m., and Jodie Anderson closes it out with a composting lesson at 3 p.m.

Taking it inside

The Faire also hosts a variety of indoor workshops at the Palmer Public Library, including a “Brewing 101” class for students 21 and older at Arkose Brewery and, the “most controversial” one, Ortega-Chiolero said, “Cooking with Cannabis.”

The 11 a.m. informational workshop is taught by Charles Stillman, an accomplished gardener with a basic understanding of how to process marijuana for consumption.

“We’re not promoting the use of cannabis so much as the safe use of cannabis, if people do choose to use marijuana,” Ortega-Chiolero said.

No cannabis or derivative products will be present during the workshop.

On the stage

Outside, music and dance performances will be going on throughout the day at three different locations: on the borough green and stage next to the Palmer Alehouse, on the Friday Flings stage sponsored by Hatcher Pass Radio next to the museum, and beneath the museum’s cultural events tent between the building and the garden.

On the Alehouse stage, Andrew Penyak opens at 11 a.m., followed by Wild Cat Trio, The Conway Seavey Band and headliner Blackwater Railroad Company. Six acts will grace the Hatcher Pass Radio stage every hour on the hour from noon to 5 p.m., and three other groups will give two performances each under the cultural events tent from noon to 4 p.m.

Yu’pik YouTube sensation Byron Nicholai — also known as “I Sing, You Dance” — caps the cultural performances on both ends, filling the noon to 12:30 and 3:30 to 4 p.m. slots.

“We’re pretty juiced about that,” Ortega-Chiolero said. “It’s really rare that he actually gets to come to Southcentral, because he’s in such high demand that he usually goes to Canada or the Lower 48.”

She was also excited about Folklorico Xochitlquetzal Tiqun, a Mexican dance group that features mothers, daughters and grandmothers clad in authentic costumes purchased annually by the director.

“It’s really kind of a cool thing to see people embracing their culture,” Ortega-Chiolero said.

A little help?

Finally, in order to ensure the sustainability of the Faire, Ortega-Chiolero is calling on attendees to help with grant funding reporting. Grant organizations need numbers to quantify the success of an event funded by grant money, and since the Faire has no admission process, there’s no easy way to track attendance.

So, fair-goers are invited to sign up for a drawing and a selfie with mushroom and flower sculptures created by assistant event coordinator Kyndra White-Hunt on the borough green. The sign-up includes a brief questionnaire and provides the museum with the necessary demographic information for documenting participation.

“We’ll try to make it as painless as possible,” Ortega-Chiolero said.

For a more information, including a detailed schedule of the Midsummer Garden and Art Faire, visit palmergardenandart.org.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.