Palmer zucchini days

Saturday Music Festival—Palmer Area Festivals have been terrific this summer—but another best one is this weekend. The Recycle Revival is all Saturday from 2-11. It is going to be held at Skeetawk Ski Resort in Hatcher Pass…about 15 minutes from town. This is a wonderful, wild area above the rushing Susitna River and before you start to make the drive up into the Pass.

This festival is our champion “Valley Center for Recycling’s” main fundraiser of the year. You will have live musical talent all day, a quality silent auction, dancing, good food vendors, (including cake and coffee,) beer garden, free joy, and amazing scenery. Plus you can take the chair ski-lift up the mountain!

The late summer view-shed in Hatcher Pass is a rare opportunity to observe and appreciate our tremendous scenery. Not only will you have a ton of fun at this festival but you will be supporting our Valley’s Recycling Efforts. They do a tremendous job at education, assistance and keeping recyclables out of our landfill. Taking care of the place we love—is a natural part of our Alaskan loyalty.

Berry Brain Time—There are berries everywhere in the Palmer area. Some are good and some are bad. It’s important that you know the difference. Please don’t trust social media to give you a definitive answer. Buy yourself a good Alaskan Berry Book. (Fireside Bookstore has a good selection…) Be careful. Enjoy that first plunk of a berry in your bucket. Have a helpful companion with you. Have bear spray with you. And respect private property restrictions.

Palmer’s New Road!—A brand new road is always exciting. You can see Felton Street’s extended development from—either the south side at the Palmer-Wasilla Highway or the north side at East Extension of Bogard Road. The creation of this north-south collector road has been a very long time coming. There is good, logical rationale for this new connector: it should reduce traffic on portions of the main Palmer Wasilla and Bogard highways. (In fact the only other direct, improved north/south road is 49th State Street.) We can assume that this new link will help reduce downtown’s traffic congestion. We can also assume it will be a bit confusing, as is any improvement. The engineering documents show travel lanes, turn lanes, road shoulders, along with drainage, safety, pedestrian and bicycle amenities. Looking at the aerial photograph it also looks like the huge wooded area, across from the Palmer High School Pool and football field will be opened up by the completion of Felton Street access. A fully wooded area (with prior little access) will now have higher visibility and exposure; this attention will can be both positive or negative. Let’s hope it serves a healthy, public purpose for all.

Time Now For Palmer Zucchini Jokes—This is the time when zucchinis run wild. They are prolific. In Zucchini season it is wise to close all your windows and lock all your doors…the zucchini are everywhere. Don’t be surprised if you find a wayward zucchini accidentally dropped in your back seat, by a well-meaning gardener.

What an Extreme Summer It’s Been—We’ve had the floods, the hail, the heat dome, the fire weather, the drought, the winds, the weeks of glorious sun, the weeks of hard rain, and the gully-washers. It feels as if all vegetation was on steroids. Fireweed, devil’s club, berries, peonies, dahlias, and most perennials are advanced as if this was the end of August instead of the end of July. Everyone is wondering what August and September will bring. Hopefully it won’t be an advancement of winter, but will it be a really long fall? Even old-timers are curious about the weather patterns for this autumn.

Barbara Hunt is both Palmer writer and artist. She works hard to keep the robust pulse of Palmer, Alaska. She shares the good stuff on the weekly Palmer Alaska Buzz in the Mat Su Valley Frontiersman and daily on the Palmer Alaska Buzz Facebook Group. Email bhunt@mtaonline.net or text at 907.315.3222