Fair property to remain farmland

PALMER — The Alaska State Fair has decided to go a different route with regards to plans to sell 40 acres of farmland for an industrial training school.

“I’d say that people have made a conscious choice to pursue a better option,” said Dean Phipps the fair’s director of marketing, development and corporate partnerships.

The land, which was once a part of the Hamilton Farm, is currently a hayfield used, rarely, for overflow parking at the fair. When the fair’s proposal to sell the land became clear, the farming community activated to urge a different path. They said the field is among the best farmland in the state and that farmland is a vanishing commodity. A meeting of the fair’s Board of Directors at which the plan was to be discussed drew a standing-room-only crowd of farmers and others from the agriculture community.

Phipps said that at a meeting Thursday the board decided to work with a different framework in mind.

Essentially, he said, the fair has found a plot of 30 acres that Northern Industrial Training, the Alaska-based trade school, has said they would consider for their school. The plot is on the south side of what the fair calls the Rebarchek field.

From his view, he said, there seems to be much more agreement among the agriculture community that the plot is a better spot for the school.

Arthur Keyes, one of the farmers who initially spread the word about the sale and one of those who testified at the board meeting, when reached Friday said he was elated to hear the news.

Ever since word got out Wednesday night that the fair was considering a change in direction, he said, “excitement has been building throughout the agriculture community.”

And not just in the Valley – he said he’s gotten calls from all over the state, even an e-mail from Sitka, concerned about the sale.

“I am impressed with Ray, I think [fair General Manager] Ray Ritari was able to kind of step back and just look at things from a different angle,” Keyes said.

Phipps said that as of Friday afternoon the plan was still amorphous. Trying to describe it, he said, was like trying to draw a picture of an amoeba.

But from what it looked like at the moment, Phipps said the fair is hopeful it can reach all of its goals. The money from the sale of the Hamilton field was going to go towards buying land from Alaska Demolition. The parcel the fair wants is currently filling up with demolition materials. Once it’s full, the fair has first dibs on buying it.

The revenue from the parcel near the Rebarchek field, added to the money from whatever deal is struck with farmers on the Hamilton field, will hopefully still be enough to buy the Alaska Demolition property.

Staying out of debt, Phipps said, is important to the fair.

“We want to make sure we can remain solvent in financial times that are uncertain at best,” Phipps said.

Also, their partnership with NIT, which currently does a lot of low-cost work for the fair, will be able to continue, since the school will still be nearby.

“That’s a lot more doable than if they’re in Houston, you know?” Phipps said.

Of course all this is contingent upon contracts and negotiations yet to take place. There are still a lot of moving parts. Still, Phipps said, he’s proud of the work the fair, its board, the farmers, and NIT have been able to accomplish thus far.

“Sometimes some things get started like this and it’s easy for polarity to sink in,” Phipps said. “I don’t think that that would have been good for any of the parties involved.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.