Happy birthday, Frontiersman!

On Friday, we hosted a community open house to mark our 65th year of being the voice of the Valley. We appreciate everyone who stopped by to help us celebrate.

The support this community shows for its hometown newspaper is gratifying. It has made our first 65 years possible, and it inspires us to look forward to the next 65.

Friday’s bash also would not have been possible without community support and a lot of hard work by some of our favorite local folks. Ina Mueller, event planner extraordinaire, brought her crew from Lakeshore Entertainment to transform our press facility into a reception hall. While Chef Mike Graham and his team from the culinary arts program at Alaska Jobs Corps Center provided the tasty food and outstanding service.

You would not have known it by the level of professionalism exhibited by Chef Mike’s crew, but for some of the students, it was their first offsite catering event. Very impressive.

The Frontiersman has seen plenty of changes since it first rolled off the press in September 1947. That first edition was eight pages long and was offered free of charge to the public.

Some significant milestones since then:

• The beginning of twice-weekly publication in 1984;

• The addition of a Sunday paper in 2002, which began thrice-weekly publication;

• The first home delivery service in April 2003; and

• The construction of our press facility in March 2005.

This last item is especially significant, as it enabled us to print our own newspaper and increase our impact on the local economy. Now, the money that used to leave the community to pay a printer in Anchorage stays here. Additionally, our own press brings in about a half-million dollars a year in commercial print revenue from publications outside the Valley.

But for all the changes, some things remain the same. For every one of those 65 years, the Frontiersman has followed life in the Valley. We have highlighted the people who have become a part of the Valley’s history, the births and deaths, the anniversaries, sporting events and sometimes lively government meetings, along with some great triumphs and terrible tragedies that are woven into the tapestry of our collective history.

Part of Friday’s festivities included recognition of some local “good neighbors.” We printed an editorial in May discussing the notion of National Good Neighbor Day — celebrated Sept. 28 each year — and suggesting that we adopt the practice locally.

During the past five months, we’ve asked people to tell us about their Mat-Su Good Neighbors. The nominations we received were all thoughtful, sincere and heartfelt words of appreciation for selfless acts of kindness.

You can read in more detail about the winners and nominees on page A1 of this edition, but it was an honor to recognize some very special people for some great community service.

Winners from three different categories, were:

• Individual — Rozann Kimpton and her great-granddaughter Amanda;

• Nonprofit organization — Valley Pastor’s Prayer Network;

• Business — Palmer-area merchants.

Winners received commemorative certificates, a subscription to the Frontiersman and a bag of goodies put together from generous donations by the following area businesses: ATT Sports Center, Non-Essentials, Alaska Coffee Roastery, Sylvia’s Quilt Depot, Evangelo’s, Learning Essentials, A.J. “Moosejaw” Seims, C’est la Vie, Wireovia, Garden Chiropractic, Auto Zone and L&B Color Printing.

Honorees in the business and nonprofit organization categories also received Frontiersman advertising credit.

As difficult as it was to single out winners from all of the great nominations, we were pleased to make these awards part of our birthday celebration. And we believe the effort was valuable enough to continue.

So we will remain vigilant for Mat-Su Good Neighbors throughout the year. We encourage you to, as well. We believe telling these stories and recognizing the best of them underscores what’s best about life in the Mat-Su Valley: We help each other, and we take pride in being good neighbors.

Congratulations to this year’s Good Neighbor winners, as well as to all who were nominated. And thanks again to everyone who made our birthday celebration so special.

Mark Kelsey has been the Frontiersman’s publisher since December 2011. He previously served as managing editor, 2005-07, and sports editor, 1995-97.