'Remember what Palmer is': Future of Friday Fling discussed at Palmer Chamber meeting

Tensions were high as the future of Friday Flings was on the hearts and minds of attendees during the bi-monthly luncheon meeting of the Greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce (GPCC), the organization that hosts and sponsors the popular summer market.

President Kelli McKay-Dolfi addressed the Friday Fling temporary cancellation, telling attendees that this year has been especially trying for the staff and volunteers working to ensure the popular weekly market remains a safe one.

“Several situations have occurred surrounding the operations of vehicles within the event area that have endangered both staff and the public,” she said, adding that at present, they have been unable to mitigate the safety issues as of last Friday in which there was reportedly a dangerous vehicle event at the closing of the market in which someone was nearly hit by a car.

“The board has made the decision that we need to take a step back to re-design the plan of Friday Fling.”

McKay-Dolfi told the audience that they have been working closely with the city of Palmer, as well as reaching out to security companies to supplement what she said was a lack of manpower to handle traffic control and provide a safe environment.

“Its human lives versus vehicles.”

She reassured people that as the GPCC board works on implementing safety measures, they are working to ensure that they get the market open again while working to avoid liability on the city of Palmer or the Chamber itself.

“Moving forward, there will be meetings with vendors once we get everything set and in place, and we are hoping to announce that sometime later this week.”

McKay-Dolfi said that the GPCC needs a number of people to help, including individuals to place cones and barricades and direct traffic from 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and again from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Additionally, she said there is a need for people to transport, set-up, and breakdown the Community Stage, several individuals to serve as janitors for the public restrooms and community receptacles during the event, with related duties as needed.

She also said that the GPCC has been undergoing some reorganizing, made some new hires, and will be looking to fill future paid positions.

“We are an organization focused heavily on events both community and membership-focused. We hired new staff in March- a fulltime executive director and a part-time membership service and events assistant.”

To offset the costs of a new event manager, the GPCC had to make some financial decisions as well.

“The board has made a decision to dip into our operating reserves and fund a new position at the GPCC- a fulltime, salaried event manager. You will see this position posted in the near future. As it stands right now, our membership is funding the position through membership dues and reserve, as well as funding from the event sponsorships, etc. We will be looking for additional funds to contribute to the overhead cost of this new position. For this very important position.”

She also reported that the GPCC is opening discussions with the Palmer City Council on how to explore and improve their partnership in regards to community events hosted by the GPCC.

When it came time for membership announcements, Amanda Johnson said that she has been a part of Friday Fling, Colony Days and Colony Christmas for over 10 years and has seen a high turnover of market managers and countless support staff, but that she and her mother have been banned from “every and all future Chamber events,” telling attendees that it was a result of accusations from an incident that occurred on May 24, 2024.

“According to the email…my mother was involved in the nearly-running over of two staff members while driving at a high speed through the market, yelling and being confrontational to a board member when being asked about it.”

Johnson went on to say that her mother was never approached by a board member. She said that recent changes to the check-in process for vendors led to confusion about where cars were allowed to go, resulting in a mishap, but was unaware of any injuries.

“We were unaware that anyone was injured until Colony Days, when we spoke with a board member and found out there was one injury, but no details were given.”

Johnson said that her mother also received a phone call on May 30, 2024, six days after the alleged incident, about not following the new protocols for vendors to check in, and the zero-tolerance policy. She maintained that while being told incident reports from all involved parties, her mother was never approached nor asked to write a statement about the events that occurred.

“We love Palmer. We love to send people to Palmer. When we’re at Friday Fling, Colony Days, Colony Christmas, or just a patron at any one of these shops or restaurants, we promote Palmer. We are ambassadors of Palmer and we truly take that to heart.”

She then thanked the GPCC for allowing her to speak after initialing not wanting her to.

“I was not going to give this because they wanted to not let me say this, but I appreciate the Board for letting me say this because I believe that as a member roundtable, this is what the membership needs to hear.”

Denise Statz, the last member of a trio of women that came up with Friday Fling, asked for kindness and civility while recalling the original intent of the Friday Fling.

“We thought it would be a good thing to have a little market in town, a little place where, frankly, we could take our stuff out of our stores and try and sell it because there wasn’t a whole lot going on in Palmer.”

Statz said that through the Fling, she would regularly see, “the best kind of people I was ever going to meet in my life.”

“Whatever happens here, whatever you folks decide to do, I would hope for some unity…We’ve lost all civility. And I would urge everyone to remember what Palmer is. We always worked together. I’m just asking you to do one thing-show a little bit of civility.”

She told the audience that while she personally thinks the GPCC might be trying to break from the Fling, she doesn’t want to see the event moved from Palmer.

“Don’t move this event out of town… I’m asking as a legacy to please be kind, because when hard times hit, these are the people you’re going to want to know. So show a little kindness. Make a plan. Find an organization that’s trustworthy, competent, volunteer to help to make it work.”