PALMER BUZZ: What Colony Days is and is not

What Colony Days is Not—Colony Days is NOT a celebration of the Colony Middle and High schools. Nor the Colony Bakery or Cobbler Shop. It isn’t an advertisement for the historic Colony Barber Shop or Beauty Salon. It is not a large-scale bee industry, board game, golf course, nor a religious sect. Colony Days does not celebrate the recent reality TV show episodes nor does it recognize the global real estate and investment management firm. It is not a collaborative design and branding studio.

What Palmer’s Colony Days Is—Colony Days is a totally local recognition and a grand nod to the past. Many people understand the significance, but because we have many newcomers, here is a very basic explanation. It is important to note that homesteaders, settlers, miners, trappers and Native peoples long preceded the Matanuska Susitna Colonists who settled here finally in the 1930s.

President Roosevelt created a number of “recovery programs,” to help combat the national great depression. Our Palmer Colony establishment was one of these experimental programs in 1934, subsidized fully by the federal government, The Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corporation was actually responsible for the Alaska experiment. According to well written and researched histories of the Colony project, Alaska’s resettlement project was designed to relocate farm families from relief rolls and resettle them in the Alaska Territory, where they could create a local source of sustainable food production.

Two hundred and three families were chosen, presumably based on qualifications of farming, from a handful of midwestern states. (You will see 203 referred to frequently, as in 203 Kombuchu.)

It Was Difficult—The 203 Colony farm families faced tremendous challenges, primarily a lack of tillable land. This was in addition to housing needs, community building, personal debt, inexperience, and resettlement frustrations. (You can read all about this amazing story in any number of books available at the Palmer Public Library, Palmer Historical Society, Palmer Museum or at Fireside Book Store on Main street. I heartily recommend Joseph & Cheryl Homme’s recently published book, Palmer Alaska.)

Major Festival—Our Colony Days Annual Celebration is one of two yearly events sponsored by the Greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce, supported by the City and involving lots of sponsors. Colony Days involves a major parade, a zillion activities, horses, dogs, clowns and lots and lots of visitors. If you want flags and balloons, food trucks, baton twirlers, bands and dancers, then do not miss the 11 AM action on Saturday morning. Come early because amazingly parking spots are harder and harder to find.

Primary Palmer Historical Focus—If you really want to dig deep and focus on the amazing history of the Colony Project, walk over to the Colony House Museum. Now this is the real deal. Located at 316 E. Elmwood Ave, near the Palmer Museum of History and Art/Visitors Center and within Palmer’s Historic District, the Colony House Museum and outbuildings display rural life in the Matanuska Valley during the heyday of the Colony. The Palmer Historical Society and other caring folks have created this wonderful place to learn about the authentic Colony project. There will be an open house this weekend.

Palmer Museum now has wonderful audio walking tours of the Palmer Historic District. You can pick up a headset and walk the walk of the original Palmer—as it was in the Colony Days by taking a scenic tour of the downtown area, which is full of incredible history and historic landmarks. Tours start at the Palmer museum, and will take you around some of the original buildings from the New Deal era and provide a rich informative walk-through of the town. Tours take around an hour to two hours depending on how long each stop takes, so plan accordingly! Sales of walking tours stop at 4:00 PM