Governor's ball showcases Valley class

It may be just the first month of the year, but the Valley already may have witnessed THE event of 2007.

Saturday night, some 1,100 guests turned out to celebrate the inauguration of new Gov. Sarah Palin. It was the second of six such balls around the state, but it's hard to imagine that any of the others will come close to matching the warmth and sincere down-home feel of the Mat-Su function.

The Valley has, for a number of years, been on the rise demographically, economically and otherwise. Still, it is easy to think of Saturday night's formal affair as a coming-out party, of sorts, for the community, which, with Palin's help, officially has taken its long-deserved place alongside other Alaska communities on the state's social map.

Let's face it, we live in an Anchorage-centric world here in Alaska. And the ascendancy of Palin and the Valley has not been handled with complete grace - or respect - by those at the end of the Glenn Highway.

Despite a state land mass as large as a substantial chunk of the Lower 48, despite a hodgepodge of demographic diversity across that land, and despite a long history of state milestones being marked outside the state's largest city, there is a lingering air of superiority that seems to be part of the Anchorage mindset.

Valley residents know well the tired and inaccurate stereotypes, fueled by condescending media reports, that persist. Some of these, sadly, were on display in Anchorage media accounts of Saturday's inaugural ball.

Is it possible that Alaska's only statewide newspaper, which in recent months has been trying to convince Valley readers that it truly does care about them, really believes that meaningful civilization is not possible outside the borders of the municipality of Anchorage? To read what that publication's bloggers had to say about the ball, it would seem so.

Nonetheless, truth ignored still is truth. And the fact of the matter is that what was on display most prominently Saturday night was Valley class at its finest.

Although the event would not have been possible without the financial and human resources of a lot of Valley businesses and individuals, the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce, under the capable guidance of Executive Director Cheryl Metiva, did an outstanding job organizing the event.

Other communities hosting balls are going to have a hard time meeting the standard set in the Valley. Raven Hall was festively decorated and set up so those in attendance had easy access to all the stations dispensing an excellent and tasty assortment of food and beverages. It set the stage for an appropriately nonpartisan night, where all political affiliation was set aside and the only label that mattered was &#8220Valley resident.”

Kudos to all who made it possible. It was an event for everyone to be proud of - even if folks outside this community can't bring themselves to recognize it.