Summer Festival time in Palmer

This Saturday, July 8, is the pinnacle of our summer season in Palmer Alaska. It is the annual Midsummer Garden and Art Fair. The beautiful white tents go up on Saturday morning with great anticipation. This festival has been going on for over a decade. It happens right in the epicenter of Palmer, on the large green grassy area (also known as the Quad or the town green) situated between the Palmer Library, the Palmer Ale House, the Mat Su Borough Building (also known as the White House) and the historical Colony Inn. It has grown bigger and bigger and now spreads nicely across the surrounding streets to the Colony House Museum, Palmer Museum and the Museum Showcase gardens, the pavilion and the Train Depot Community Center. You can see it from up and down Main Street Palmer (also officially known as S. Colony Way but no one ever remembers the proper name of Palmer streets.)

Everything is joyful at the Midsummer Festival—There are kites and clowns and human sized mushrooms. There are perennial gardens and it feels like an old timey fair because there is no car traffic in the green. It’s hard to explain the crazy variety of entertainment but there will be the usual favorites and the unusual. Tractors, bikes and dogs are a certainty along with lots and lots of pedestrian foot traffic. There is lots of art and many curated vendors who stay with the theme of gardens, crafts, and art. Retail therapy is just one aspect of this festival. In addition there will be live music and performances including dancers, drummers, and all sorts of musicians. Some of the favorite views of this festival include the homemade quilts, beautiful plants, landscape accouterments, honey and tasties, and flowers. Food trucks are usually lined up across from the library along with a historic tractor display and the ponies. Hopefully umbrellas will not be necessary but regardless, the festival will go—rain or shine.

There are a number of classes and presentations: At 11am, Ann Eagerton will discuss winter seed sowing. At 11:30 Terri Lyons will offer information on Peony Bloom Time. At 12:30 Sandra McMillian will be planting peonies. At 1:00 Jamie Rodriguez will be building Hypertufa. At 2pm Debbie Hinchy will offer pruning basics. At 3pm Sue Wallin will offer transplanting tips. At 3:30 Josef Slowik will give a presentation on bugs.

The Palmer Wine Walk is Saturday evening. This whole long Saturday in downtown Palmer is really is the best little festival of the year because the magical small town aura including kite flying, juggling, and flower smelling. The Midsummer Garden and Art Faire demonstrates what happens when the sweet town of Palmer just pushes the limit on precious. Don’t miss it.

Palmer Farm Markets Are Open-As our Palmer farm crops finally begin to produce, so do our local grower’s markets. You can find local eggs and greens and some vegetables at field farm stands (on location) or at secondary markets like the Friday Fling. Either way, it’s a pretty wonderful time of year to buy a bunch of arugula and munch it all the way home.

Special Moments—With all the summer festivals and faires in Alaska, one has to ask why do we do this repeatedly. It takes hundreds of hours and months of intense planning to pull these local events off. But it is worth it because summer revelry is the name of our community game. Some folks find their joy in fishing. Some find their joy in running. Some find their joy in gardening. And some find their joy in wandering around the town of Palmer and attending every single function available. It is a time of renewal and light gathering. We have a compulsion to be “outside” in the light and not waste a minute of it. Fairs and festivals mix up all the activity and the community and plop the whole thing down in one spot which we fortunately get to meander through and remember in the deep dark season.

This weekend go to the fair. Take a private minute to sit on a bench and stare up at our sun and the mountains. Close your eyes and listen to the music and the laughter and the bird noises and feel the heat on your face from our friend the sun. Feel the fresh air that hopefully will only be breezy. This is summer and you’re at the fair.

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. Contact at bhunt@mtaonline.net or text 907.315.3222