Palmer works out plan for Colony Days car show, resolving safety concerns

Palmer city officials moved to sooth ruffled feathers over the initial rejection, for safety reasons, of a request from the local chamber of commerce for a permit to hold its car show along Evergreen and Fireweed avenues in Palmer during the annual Colony Days festival.

Palmer’s “Uniform Traffic Code says the city cannot have two parallel roads closed at the same time for safety reasons,” a local resident wrote in “Palmer Alaska Buzz,” a social media site. “The area between the two streets is a green belt, which some feel should negate the safety concerns,” the commenter wrote.

The Colony Days and Hot August Nights car shows have been held on Colony Way between Evergreen and Fireweed Avenues for over 20 years. “Moving it to another location would affect local businesses, and they and the local car associations would like to keep the events in the traditional locations,” the commenter wrote.

People were asked to contact Mayor Steve Carrington, City Manager John Moosey and public works director Jude Bilafer. Moosey said city officials met with the chamber Monday and developed a compromise that would keep the event in the same location with shorter periods of interrupted traffic slow and police support to allay safety concerns.

“The plan was always to get to a solution but we can’t ignore safety concerns. We’ll now be taking a look, for 2023, on how best to use downtown space,” Moosey told the Frontiersman.

Part of the problem is that the chamber is now having to follow the city’s procedures with its events and people aren’t used to that yet. In the past there things were done more informally, Moosey said.

This is one of a series of changes that came from the recent controversy over the chamber’s move to rename its Colony Days festival to a name more reflective of the broader Mat-Su region.

While Colony Days name was retained after a local furor the chamber was asked to coordinate events more closely with the city.