Goodbye to Palmer March

It was a glorious and horrible month. It was crazy making and chaotic. The light came back in a full swell but so did the annual frustration of waiting for a real, bona fide springtime. Small arguments turned into big battles. Little slips on the ice turned into bone breaking events. A tiny correction of the steering wheel turned into a swooping slide across two lanes. A small snow-slide triggered a huge avalanche. All these things are typical of March follies. March is magnified and deceptive by nature. We wish it good bye, with pleasure.

Palmer Colony Days Chaos—Last week was one not to repeat. Without going into detail, our summer festival’s name-change was suddenly announced on Thursday. An enormous tsunami wave of community reaction rolled through the weekend. There was lots of hurt. There was lots of misunderstandings. There was lots of pain. There was lots of ownership. There was lots of labels. Sides were chosen and blame was assigned. Threats and boycotts were suggested. History was debated. It was considered a slap in the face or it was considered sabotage. Frankly, it was pretty horrible for most everyone. I doubt if anyone who loves our community was honestly entertained—because it was not funny. On Sunday, the “rebranding” effort was withdrawn, apologies were made and things have settled down a bit.

Colony Days is secure. Many are joyful and some are disappointed. Many are embarrassed. Harsh and hurtful words were hurled about because of the upset. Much energy was spent and now in it’s place—is a very sore spot—because of deception and acrimony. It’s hard to heal after something like this. It will take time and more importantly trust.

In an attempt to be objective, Palmer will survive this. Palmer has survived far worse from Mother Nature in the form of fierce winds. Palmer has survived cultural chasms before. Palmer has survived political storms. Historically Palmer has survived both floods and elections. We will get through this difficult experience as well, hopefully with a greater appreciation for both the Colony Days and the regional Palmer history. Education and knowledge has increased for all of us. Recriminations will not heal our community; kindness, wisdom, forgiveness and understanding will heal our community.

Palmer Frustration Reliever—Now is the time to rid ourselves of tension and angst. And the very best way to do this is to smash snow. Stomp hard on those crusty remains of ice and slush. Force them into smaller pellets or meltable granulars. Kick them apart and enhance their demise. There really is no better therapy than to deliberately crunch the remainders of snow and ice. It feels good. It feels as if we are doing our part in the March madness. Another good therapy is to create little rivers of melt. Take a shovel and make troughs for the daytime water to flow. It will have to be done and reinforced daily because it will freeze at night. But creating channels for melted water feels like we are assisting the advent of spring, which we all need. So get some satisfaction from carving up remaining snow and ice. Speed the springtime.

Finally—The swans are back. This is the ultimate sign of spring. Soon we will see the cranes. Migratory birds don’t give a hoot about politics or human problems. Black flies are revealing themselves. As the snow melts, remains of all sorts of things are showing themselves. Some have seen rhubarb tops starting in the lowlands. And there are some pussy willow sightings. All of these harbingers of spring are promises.

This Week in Palmer—We have Chicken University on Thursday at Noon at the Matanuska Experiment Farm. Thursday’s noontime Rotary is at noon at Turkey Red and will feature an interesting discussion about a sea monster!?! First Friday at Poppy Lane Mercantile is this week on April first. We have softball tryouts at Colony Middle on Saturday. There is a Salmonberry and Saaq Aloo Conversation at Turkey Red on Saturday. There is live music on the weekend. The Real Estate Q & A, sponsored by Valley Market Real Estate is on Tuesday, April 5 at the Valley Annex.

Barbara Hunt is both Palmer writer and artist. She works hard to keep the robust pulse of Palmer, Alaska. She shares the good stuff in the weekly Palmer Alaska Buzz Column in the Mat Su Valley Frontiersman and daily on the Palmer Alaska Buzz Facebook Group. Her “Palmer Buzz 2022 Community Calendar” is available at the Palmer shops. Contact at bhunt@mtaonline.net or text 907.315.3222