Old-fashioned flavor a classic for festival

PALMER — Classic cars and cold confections come together this afternoon when the Palmer Lions Club and Palmer Football Booster Club kick off an ice cream social 5 p.m. at the Palmer Train Depot.

Janet Kincaid, a Lions Club volunteer, said the event was started three years ago to add more flavor for people attending Colony Days and its Classic Car Rally.

“We thought an old-fashioned ice cream social would be perfect to go along with the old-fashioned cars,” Kincaid said. “It’s never been a money-maker, but it gave people a place to get together and enjoy the community, and traditionally, ice cream gatherings were ideal.”

The Lions Club recruited help from the Palmer Football Booster Club last year to dish up and serve more than 200 bowls of the cold stuff, and the partnership continues, Kincaid said. Proceeds from the event will go for supplies and amenities for the booster club.

Four five-gallon tubs of ice cream were donated by Alaska Supreme for the event, and when those run out, Kincaid said the Lions will most likely buy more to keep the party going.

“That’s the advantage of having a hotel next door,” she said. “They’ll give you more ice cream.”

Kincaid said the ice cream is free, but donations will be accepted. She warned that the ice cream goes quickly, so those who want a taste of a vanilla, strawberry or chocolate treat with loads of toppings will need to come early.

Chopped nuts, bananas, root beer, fresh raspberries and other add-ons allow those kicking off Colony Days with ice cream at the car show to express themselves in a bowl. Kincaid also said there may be a surprise from the Palmer Historical Society.

Palmer resident Barbara Thomas said ice cream has been a part of Palmer’s history for as long as the Colonists themselves.

Thomas remembers her early years at Colony Days in the 1950s when Matanuska Maid hit the scene with its premium vanilla, chocolate and, later, strawberry ice cream blends.

“They would come to the Colony Days picnic with these 2.5-gallon ice cream tubs cooled in army-colored insulators,” she said. “Their ice cream was the best. Keeping them frozen was another thing.”

With limited access to the fanciful appliances of the day, Colonists relied on ice blocks from neighboring communities and other means to have frozen food storage during the short summers, when ice cream is most popular.

“Most people didn’t have refrigerators in the early days,” said Gerry Keeling, curator of the Colony House Museum. “Some families had their own ice cream by making it at home from their cows. There’s record of the Colonists cutting ice off of nearby ice streams and burying it in sawdust for the summer months.”

Other than recently, there is no official record of ice cream socials being held during Colony Days over the past 70 years.

“It truly is an old-fashioned idea for Colony Days,” she said. “This year’s theme is ‘Palmer Rocks,’ so it’s another way Palmer will be rocking downtown.”

Contact J.J. Harrier at valleylife@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.