The Alaska Colony Heritage Interpretive Center would convey Alaska's history to visitors

On a recent trip to the National Tour Association Convention, I had an opportunity to speak with several group tour operators and discussed with them their interests in Alaska and what types of activities and attractions they would include in a group tour itinerary.

All of the operators I met with wanted to experience something unique that could satisfy their clients' desire to learn and provide activities that allow them to be more hands-on in the learning process. The days of sitting in a motor coach watching the sights pass by is definitely a thing of the past. The more we talked about the highlights in the Mat-Su Valley, it became apparent to me that the need to include a heritage-type tour was at the top of their list -- specifically showcasing agriculture in Alaska.

So what does this mean? An organized farm tour would be a great start but visitors are more interested in hearing the "story" and gaining a better prospective of local people and the land. I doubt tour operators will bring visitors to the Mat-Su to see just a farm house, but I do think they would bring groups if they could understand the story of what it must have been like to farm and live in Alaska during the early pioneer days.

An idea has been proposed to build an interpretive center that could do just that -- it would be called the Alaska Colony Heritage Interpretive Center (ACHIC). Although the concept of the center is in its initial stage, I believe there is a strong possibility that the center's creation could be realized.

Mat-Su resident Cora Simon Moses envisioned the concept of the center and is spear-heading the effort to gain support from the community and residents for the project.

Moses explains, "As I immersed myself in Mat-Su life, I was lucky enough to land at the door of one of the Valley's prime attractions, the Palmer Musk Ox Farm. Throughout the last dozen years, I have visited with easily over a half million guests and have found that the segment of my tour speech that dealt with the history of the colony kept growing and growing. Where could they see the artifacts, the photographs, the methods that these early settlers used? I sent them to the Visitor Information Center; I sent them to Colony House; I sent them to the Butte and to the Springer Loop System. Eventually, it became obvious to me that if Seward could house the SeaLife Center, Anchorage its Alaska Native Cultural Heritage Center, Homer its Shorebird Center, Palmer/Wasilla, as the most rapidly growing community in Alaska, should be home to a facility that is representative of its own rich background."

The mission of the ACHIC is to promote the rich history of the original colonists and to display the artifacts and the unique agricultural methods used by these earlier settlers. Through research and education, the intention of interpretive center is to make it a hands-on, learning based facility, complete with test and demonstration gardens, a rotating lecture series and informative projects developed in conjunction with the FFA, USDA, APU and UAF.

So how would this center differ from other museums and attractions already established in the Mat-Su?

"The intent of the project is not to take away from the local museums and heritage centers, but rather to work together to provide compelling stories and examples of Valley life," Moses said.

The Alaska State Fair has been identified as the location of the Alaska Colony Heritage Interpretive Center by allowing the recently-received Rebarchek Homestead to be available for the first phase of this three-phased project center. Ideally the remaining phases would include using the interior of the house to be used for interpretive materials and artifacts; creating an audio-visual center; organize group lead tours with demonstration of farming methods and equipment; establishing a gift shop and artisans' mall and the final completion of the museum and demonstration farm. During the initial phases the center would be open seasonally with the long term plan of being open year-round.

At present, ACHIC is in the beginnings of the grant-writing phase. Moses says she would like to partner with local groups as well as encourage Valley residents to write or call their local representatives to tell them how they feel about this project.

"I hope to hear from all of you about your ideas. Mostly, I hope to leave something for generations that says we honor our foundations and are still learning lessons from our past," she said.

The Alaska Colony Heritage Interpretive Center will be the featured topic at the Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau membership luncheon held at the Mat-Su Resort on Dec. 12 at noon. For more information, call 746-5000.