“This is so great” Honoring the 2023 Best of the Valley

We called, and the public responded. The Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman once again came together to honor the Best of the Valley last week.

The Toast of the Town Awards is the annual gathering of businesses throughout the Mat-Su Borough that members of the community showcases as some of the best the region has to offer.

With nearly 200 guests in attendance, this year’s event was held at Evangelo’s, winner of the top honors for Best Italian Food for the second year in a row.

There were dozens of categories for voters to highlight, from the best restaurant, which went to the Houston Lodge, to best place to have a kid’s birthday party, Paint Nights with Sara, even the best dog trainer, awarded to Bell Creek Agility and Obedience, LLC.

There were so many categories of awards that the evening could only honor a handful: Recreation/Accommodation-Reindeer Farm; Entertainment/Venue-Palmer Alehouse; Health & Wellness-Mann Family Dental; Food & Drink-Chepo’s Mexican Restaurant; Services-Corks Auto Inc.; People & Professionals-Pillar to Post Home Inspectors; Retail-Poppy Lane Mercantile, LLC; Overall Category Winner-Chepo’s Mexican Restaurant.

Emcee Cheryl Metiva, representing the Mat-Su Arctic Winter Games, got the evening off to a fun start and made sure everything went smoothly, despite a few glitches with the raffle and tickets in the range of 700. But that’s neither here nor there.

“We extend our heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you for taking the time to join us, or recognizing the remarkable achievements and contributions of our local entrepreneurs and visionaries,” Metiva said during her remarks.

Also on-hand was Miss Alaska Teen Volunteer, Josie Herbert, who helped out with the awards, prizes, and took photos with the attendees.

The keynote speaker, Michelle Overstreet, the founder and CEO of MyHouse, gave an emotional speech about the importance and value of nonprofits like hers to the businesses and community.

“In Alaska, 13% of the economy is anchored in non-profit work,” she said. “We do have an impact even though we are social services. We contribute to the economy as 1 out of every 10 people is employed by a non-profit. So, it does matter.”

Overstreet told the attendees that when she first started My House, people told her the model would not work, that training and employing homeless and at-risk youth would not be successful. She said the key to the success at My House is having an exit strategy, that the people who come in have not only a bed, but learn skills for a job, get education and training, and become viable, contributing members of the community.

“We should be better than that.”

Her non-profit owns three businesses that train and employ homeless youth-Gathering Grounds Café, Steam Driven Thrift Boutique, and Redemption-and the results can be seen as the kids from her program move on to jobs in the Mat-Su, helping support the economy.

“People think of homelessness as a drain on the economy, a black eye, and we see homeless youths as assets. Because of the work we do, we have welders who work on the slope, a woman who just passed her state license for Masters in Social Work, and that is the goal. Let’s launch these kids into the stratosphere.”

Also on hand to deliver their thoughts on how local businesses have impacted their local communities were Palmer Mayor Steve Carrington and Wasilla Mayor Glenda Ledford.

Perhaps the evening could be best summed up by Brian Sharrah, owner of the Houston Lodge:

“This was so great, to see so many people here and know that so many people think we’re doing something great has been awesome.”

We congratulate the local businesses and business professionals recognized by readers as the best. We also thank our loyal readers for taking the time to vote.