Midsummer in Palmer

Saturday Palmer Midsummer Wine Walk—The Wine-walkers will be wandering through Palmer on Saturday from 4:30 to 8pm. This is one of the best events ever. There is lots of camaraderie, visiting, glass-clinking, sampling, hopping and general good fun. It’s a grand fundraiser for the Palmer Museum and Visitor Center.

State Fair Ground Celebrates Everything—We are so fortunate that we have the Alaska State Fairgrounds in our back yard. It is the place where people come to gather in a big way. Of course the actual annual State Fair in August and September is the very best. But year-round the fairground is the gathering spot for many tribes, groups and organizations. Start thinking about how many users there are…..rodeos, dog shows, beauty pageants, highland dancing, tent city, fiber festival, Airman’s show, wilderness mountain men, various religious organizations, potlucks and potlatches, Christmas lights, Christmas House, ice mazes, community meetings, emergency vaccination clinics, safety destination, gun shows, and a variety of antique and vintage markets.

This weekend is the Underground Pride Event, which celebrates community, family and diversity. It should be a wonderful and inclusive event, open and free to all.

Midsummer Garden Faire—This is another best event in Palmer. Saturday morning the white tents go up on the lovely green space in downtown Palmer—between Library building and Borough building. This festival is curated around artisans and gardeners. It all happens between the Palmer Library, the Mat Su Borough building, the Palmer Alehouse and the Palmer Museum. Some call the large grassy green space “the quad” and some call it “the green.” But most everyone calls it fun.

There will be live music all day at various stages. My Favorite Realty and Hatcher Pass Radio Stage will feature John Danberg’s Latin Jazz Quintet, John Cook, Mountain Waxwings along with other fine bands. The Palmer Alehouse Stage will feature three additional groups.

There will be pony rides. There will be a “Sipping Garden” in the Museum garden. There will be food trucks, including Palmer’s own Momma Rav’s. Loads of vendors will have their goods available at the fair. The Mat Su Master Gardeners Association, Alaska Rock Garden Society and Alaska Farmland Trust will be offering great horticulture and agriculture knowledge

This really is the best little festival of the year because the magical small town aura, including kite flying, juggling, and flower smelling. Food is good with various food trucks and vendors and with this event the sweet town of Palmer just pushes the limit on precious.

Beautiful Nasty Hairy Vetch—Invasive Weed Smackdown—This aggressive event happens at 11am at the downtown Pavilion, across from the Museum. It is a MAJOR annual effort to knock back and destroy the vetch and other invasives, threatening to kill our native species. Saturday morning is Palmer’s 10th Annual Invasive Weed Smackdown! I’m sure you have seen that purple flowering vine that takes over fields, ditches, gardens and roadsides? It kinda looks pretty initially—but it is an tyrannical devil, especially when it escapes, sprawls and reseeds itself. It will choke out nearly any other plant and even our hardy fireweed succumbs to it. So the Invasive Plant weed pull all starts at 11AM Saturday, at the white downtown pavilion across the street from the Palmer Museum. There will be prizes and vouchers for participants. Basically you receive instructions and a bag and you set off to capture vetch weeds, which are plentiful. Be sure to bring some gloves. This is a really healthy family or teen opportunity to do some good work and simultaneously have some fun. The Palmer Soil and Water Conservation District organizes this annual weed pull, along with the help of all the sponsors and citizens.

Palmer Farm Markets Are Open-As our Palmer farm crops begin to produce, so do our local grower’s markets. You can find local eggs and vegetables at field farm stands (on location) or at secondary markets like the Friday Fling. Either way, it’s a pretty wonderful time of year to buy a bunch of arugula and munch all the way home.

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 NonEssentials on Main Street. Contact at bhunt@mtaonline.net or text 907.315.3222