Rain drops of sunshine

Resslin' Around, by Casey Ressler

Thunder belted around Pioneer Peak, lightning crashed just out of Palmer city limits and hail pelted the floats as the Colony Days parade made its way down Alaska Street last Saturday. There were two rays of sunshine, however, on the parade stand -- Mel Kolivosky, parade organizer extraordinaire and Bill Tull, parade announcer supreme.

Kolivosky and Tull have been at the parade game for decades, and, as Kolivosky infamously proclaimed the week before, "it doesn't rain on my parade." She was correct -- it didn't rain, it poured. And hailed. And the wind blew. But you know what? Tull and Kolivosky don't melt in the liquid, and they made sure everyone else was having a great time despite the weather.

Together, they manned the parade viewing stand and the one-liners came as fast as the raindrops. When the daschund entry was past the stand, but still within earshot, Tull quipped, "and you know, people, they taste great, too."

Tull and Kolivosky are Palmer at its best. They love the place where they live, and their enthusiasm was needed on an otherwise dreary day. Last Saturday, they represented what Colony Days is all about. Colony Days celebrates the plight of the Colonists, and how they persevered in the Matanuska Valley through harsh conditions and setbacks. When it would have been easier to pack it in and go home, Colonists toughed it out. Tull and Kolivosky did the same thing, just without the several thousand mile trip, the years spent homesteading and maintaining a farm.

About halfway through the parade, when everyone was clearly waterlogged, they picked up the pace. As the Mat-Su College float passed, Tull read the notecard he was provided, and then ad-libbed, "Let's be honest people. Sooner rather than later Mat-Su will be the biggest part of the University of Alaska."

Then, lightning lit up the Palmer sky. It seemed as if nothing more could go wrong weather-wise, but you wouldn't have guessed it listening to Tull and Kolivosky.

"In Anchorage, they are reporting heavy rain, but here in Palmer we are having a heavy dew," Tull announced as hail started falling from the sky.

"It's another beautiful day in Palmer, people. Look over there to Pioneer Peak, and I think you'll find a patch of sunshine." Which would have been well and good, had Pioneer Peak not been rendered invisible thanks to a heavy cloud cover.

Part of the appeal of Palmer is the small-town atmosphere. It's people like Tull and Kolivosky who epitomize that charm. They had a smile on their face when others were scrambling for cover, because Colony Days is about having fun in Palmer, and a little rain wasn't going to ruin those plans. Rain? Wrong choice of words there.

As Kolivosky pointed out, it doesn't rain on the Colony Days parade -- at least when she and Tull are on the job.

Casey Ressler (valleylife@frontiersman.com) is the Valley Life editor. He is just now drying off from the parade.