The Christmas Factory's 2023 season is underway

PALMER — It's that time of year again. The Christmas Factory is open for business, readily offering holiday cheer to visitors within the Alaska State Fairgrounds.

The Christmas Factory is an interactive theater experience that utilizes four different buildings that are decorated and filled with lively characters.

Megan and Nolan Gavin are in their sixth season. They established this annual holiday tradition to spread the Christmas spirit.

"We still find a lot of joy in it," Megan said.

The story and prop arrangements change every year to keep it exciting. Nolan said it's a lot of work preparing for the event but it's "super rewarding to see the magic, especially on little kids' faces."

"Because of the work involved that's making this happen, we have to think about Christmas all year round," Nolan said.

Megan agreed. She said they have a display shelf that shows each of the toys they gave out each year that can be seen during the tour.

"It's pretty exciting we have that many years. It's kind of hard to believe," Megan said.

Families can bring their children to take a guided tour through the mail room with all the letters to the North Pole, Santa’s workshop, a look at the big, red sleigh before takeoff, hot cocoa with Mrs. Claus, and a visit with Old Saint Nick himself at the end.

The tours are led by enthusiastic elves who laugh and joke with the guests as they make their way from one scenic location to the next.

Local actors from across the community don pointy green caps and a festive persona to offer a one-of-a-kind experience for each tour. Megan said they held auditions earlier this month, noting that many of their elves are students from schools across the Borough.

"We have a really awesome staff this year, a lot of awesome energy," Megan said.

Megan said they have numerous returning families that come each year. She said it feels great being able to leave positive memories for children to look back on.

"That's pretty special. We always appreciate the people that come every year," Megan said. "They're always going to picture what they saw here. That's actually pretty cool that we created that for them."

Megan and Gavin's children Madi, Logan, and Jarin all help out with the Christmas Factory.

"It's an awesome family tradition for us," Megan said.

Nolan thanked the community for being so receptive and supportive for their annual endeavor.

"We're very grateful for the community and the support they've given us. It's definitely brought our dream to life," Nolan said.

Tickets for The Christmas Factory are already almost sold out due to its popularity.

"We've had really amazing reviews from the community this year,"

For more information, visit akchristmas.com.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com