Colony Christmas

Colony Christmas in Palmer, Alaska. The history of the town of Palmer began in 1935 as one of the rural rehabilitation colonies set up by FDR's New Deal during the Great Depression. The colony was settled by 203 pioneering families chosen from among Mid-West farmers, in an effort to relieve the hardships of drought-stricken parts of the U.S., and start new communities in the nation's frontier. Those families settled in the Matanuska Valley, and initially lived in tents at the site that would become Palmer.

I enjoy reading about the criteria utilized to choose these families: strong, self-sufficient families of high moral character, with cold weather farming know-how, characterized by determination, ingenuity and initiative, and (maybe most importantly) of child bearing age to grow a healthy colony. The families drew lots to receive a 40-acre tract of uncleared land. It was the colonists' responsibility to clear the land, build homes, build the infrastructure required to support the colony with minimal outside help, and most importantly to till the soil of the glacier-silted valley floor into productive farmland. A hard first winter and measles outbreak took the lives of some of the initial colonists, and others left after failing to thrive, but the families that survived and persevered, succeeded in transforming a wilderness into a healthy and thriving borough (county) that today is the size of the state of West Virginia. Palmer is one of the last true examples of the pioneering spirit that made America great.


Lots of crops were attempted, and some successful, but the most successful was potatoes. Potatoes thrive in cold soil, and grow large in the Valley, as does some other fruits and vegetables, like pumpkins, lettuce and cabbage. We planted twelve pounds of Yukon Gold seed tubers this Spring in our small plot on the bluff, and harvested about 165 pounds of potatoes four months later.  Almost 14:1 ratio, not bad for our first year back.

I don't take pics of food normally, but here's a dish we had the other night that might have been a typical dinner for those colonists during their first Fall - sockeye salmon pulled out of a local stream and potatoes grown here in our garden (the beans are from a can, but they probably had that too). Only thing missing is some Pilot Bread (hardtack).


Horse-drawn sleigh in downtown Palmer. The first Winter we lived here in 2008, on Christmas Eve, I heard "such a clatter" before going to bed, and opened our front door to see a horse-drawn sleigh that looked very similar to this one (might have been the same one), with a sleigh-full of people, gliding down our snow-covered street in front of the house. We had a good bit of snow that Christmas, and the sleigh was on skids (not wheels like they had to add in this picture due to our current warm-up and lack of snow). Jolene and the boys missed it that Christmas Eve, but I assumed it would be a common occurrence. Unfortunately I've never seen it gliding down our street since that first year. Maybe it will be back one day.


Colony Christmas is a celebration in Palmer in December every year, including a parade and fireworks. This year Jolene and Grayson ran the 5k to the Alaska Picker antique shop.  Landon and I met them there at the finish line and gathered out back of the store to watch as the Palmer water tower was lit (for the first time).




The tower was built in 1935 during the Colony's first year.  It still stands (but no longer provides water to the town) and has become somewhat of an icon for Palmer. We kind of expected for the tower to be lit all the way, like the mini-tower in town square in the picture below - but the real tower had less lights, but we enjoyed seeing its first time to be lit up, regardless.



Klondike Mikes Saloon, viewed from the depot (tracks not in use anymore, so I'm safe standing there).


Alaskan Christmas lights.


The finish line, outside of Alaska Picker. Grayson ran a personal best, even on the icy streets.


The parade was neat. A night-time parade all decked out in Christmas lights.


The "floats" were covered top to bottom with Christmas lights.

Right after the parade, we turned around and walked less than a block away to get a front row seat at the fireworks display. Alaska doesn't often do fireworks on the 4th of July very well - it stays daylight nearly all night in the Summer, so instead we have some spectacular fireworks displays at Christmas and New Years, when we have plenty of darkness. There is simply no way to describe how awesome this display was in words -- you had to be there. Imagine the best finale you've ever seen at a fireworks display, and then make that finale last for the whole 20 minute display, AND then stand right beside the launching platform and look straight up in the sky at the show above you. It was loud, big and spectacular. You could taste the gunpowder in the air, and we felt every boom in our chests. Best. Fireworks. Ever!!!

For some reason, we didn't go to Colony Christmas any of the years when we lived here last time, but it will now be a must-see every year.