Year end returned lost item summary

The Palmer Alaska Buzz is pleased to report that through it’s social media platform, there were over 9 dozen documented connections successfully accomplished between individual Palmer people and: their lost dogs, dropped keys, wallets, letters, rings, stuffed animals, sunglasses, fancy water bottles, baby socks, credit cards, one tooth, hats or mittens, and their cell phones. And happily there were countless other connections between individuals and services and needs in Palmer.

Important Summary of the Good Stuff—The Question was asked, “Tell Us The Best Palmer thing in 2024.” Here are the crowd sourced answers and responses in full.

Sweet Gypsy; Feather and Flour; Elwoods; Big Dipper; 203 Kombucha; Turkey Red; V Ho or Valley Hotel 24/365; Vagabond’s Hungarian Mushroom Soup;

Veterans and Pioneer Home; Balto wearing a winter scarf; Hoar Frost; Long sunrises and sunsets;

Arctic Winter Games; Large flocks of small bird groups flying from tree to tree;New Library; Matanuska Community Market; Hamilton Farms Inc.; Friday Flings; Christmas Lights; Downtown Menorah; Colony Christmas Parade and celebration.

Cemetery Tours and Stories in Stone; Palmer Historical Society; Local books—Palmer Pocket Poetry by Anthony Irsik; A Creek, a Hill and a Forty by Ray Bonnel; Palmer Buildings and Businesses by the Hommes

Great Trails for fun hiking, biking and skiing;Palmer Breweries with good people, food and brews and music; Seeing Aurora; Who Let the Girls Out;

Baby Muskoxen, baby sheep, baby reindeer and baby goats; Farm Loop Coffee; NonEssential Chocolate truffles and Milk; Hand cut fries returning to the Palmer Ale House

Hatcher Pass Forever; The Butte; The Fern; New shopping carts at Freddys; Klondike Mike’s and Garcia’s Grill

No doubt there are many other things about Palmer which were not listed but this is the collection of officious Facebook responses.

Buzz Philosophy—This newspaper column, which has run for nine years, is sometimes accused of being too dreamy. Too superficial. Too goody goody. This could be true. However, being optimistic oftentimes breeds and fosters good endings. If we habitually discuss the “good stuff,” and we search and identify the “good stuff,” we will see goodness become both contagious and exponential. We have seen this hundreds of times in our own community. Someone will find a runaway dog. Someone will hang a lost mitten on the street sign. Someone will help an elder with their grocery cart. Someone will drop off bags of rice and beans at the food bank. Someone will help that mom with 4 kids in the post office. Every good deed is repeated over and over. And this column will continue to chronicle those fine acts.

Too Much Crazy—The last few weeks of the year are filled to the brim with activities, celebrations, reunions, holy days, and socializing. It’s fun but also very confusing. It’s hard to figure out what day it is. Will garbage be picked up tomorrow? What day was that party? As the season calms down, we all get back to the schedule. It is reassuring but now that it is over it is so fun to remember the crazy.

Barbara Hunt is both Palmer writer and artist. She works hard to keep the robust pulse of Palmer, Alaska. She shares the good stuff in the weekly Palmer Alaska Buzz Column 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