Matanuska Creamery Timeline

• July 2007 — State-owned Matanuska Maid creamery announces it will cease production after 71 years of operation.

• September 2007 — Rob Wells announces a plan to open his own creamery, Alaska Natural Milk, in the wake of the Mat Maid closure.

• October 2007 — Wells partners with former dairyman and Valley businessman Kyle Beus to form a local creamery, which became Matanuska Creamery. They used $600,000 from a federal rural development grant and state grant monies to get started.

• November 2007 — State Board of Agriculture agrees to lease some Mat Maid equipment to the new dairy venture. The board also votes to agree to Beus’ request to allow the dairy to use the familiar Mat Maid name and logo.

• November 2007 — Along with the state Board of Agriculture decisions comes a timeline for the new dairy to have its production plant built by mid-December.

• December 2007 — Last Matanuska Maid Dairy products hit store shelves.

• December 2007 — State Creamery Board requests $200,000 to help bridge an expected three-month gap for dairy farmers from when Matanuska Maid shuts down until the new Southcentral Dairy Venture (spearheaded by Wells and Beus) opens.

• February 2008 — Three gold mining companies purchase $75,000 in “cheese futures” from the new dairy. The money was paid in advance of the dairy producing its first batches of cheddar cheese.

• April 2008 — Operating from a former grocery store on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, Matanuska Creamery is accepting milk from dairy farmers to make into cheese. The dairy plans to have its liquid milk operation running in a couple of weeks.

• May 22, 2008 — Matanuska Creamery’s first gallon-sized jugs of milk hit the shelves of local Fred Meyer stores.

• July 2008 — A malfunction in equipment at the creamery causes some of its milk to expire before the expiration date printed on the containers. Affected milk was recalled from the shelves of local stores.

• November 2008 — The dairy asks the state for a pair of loans totaling $630,000 — one a short-term loan for $200,000 and a long-term loan for $430,000.

• May 2009 — Matanuska Creamery celebrates the first anniversary of shipping its first milk. It’s producing about 1,600 gallons of milk a day.

• March 2010 — State Board of Agriculture approves another $200,000 loan for Matanuska Creamery despite questioning the dairy’s collateral for the loan. Creamery CEO Karen Olson said the new loan would be used to pay of the balance of the previous short-term loan and help pay dairy farmers for their milk.

• September 2010 — Mat-Su Borough School District begins serving Matanuska Maid milk to its students. The contract calls for the creamery to deliver 32,000 half-pint cartons of milk to the district’s core schools.

• May 2011 — The state Commission for Human Rights rules that discrimination and wrongful termination complaints filed by two former Matanuska Maid employees have merit. Both employees, who are Mormon, alleged the dairy’s CEO made disparaging remarks about Mormons and not wanting “any more (expletive) Mormons” working for the company. They also claimed co-founder Kyle Beus did not take their complaints seriously before they were fired.

• August 2012 — The state Department of Environmental Conservation chastises Matanuska Creamery for dumping its waste byproducts at a site near the intersection of Church and Schrock roads when it’s supposed to haul it to Point MacKenzie and spray it on hay fields. An inspection of the dumping site showed the creamery was dumping the waste on the ground at the end of one of the fields.

• Dec. 5, 2012 — State Department of Agriculture calls in the more than $800,000 in loans made to the creamery, leaving the future of the dairy in question.

• Dec. 11, 2012 — Kyle Beus, one of Matanuska Creamery’s three owners, is indicted on federal charges of fraud and misuse of federal grants. The federal indictment alleges Beus used his Klondike Creamery business to charge Valley dairy for supplies, materials and services he didn’t provide. “The purpose of the scheme was for Beus to obtain money from (the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development) for Beus’ personal and discretionary use unrelated to the construction and management of the dairy processing facility,” according to the indictment.