The Colony Day Parade took place Saturday, June 8, in Palmer, continuing the decades-long tradition of celebrating Alaska’s original farming community. The turnout for the event was one of the biggest ever. This year’s theme was “Harvest of Gold.”Palmer was founded in 1935, when under the New Deal, 200 families were relocated to Palmer from Midwest states such as Minnesota. They were given 40 acres and materials for a barn in exchange for creating a farming community in Alaska. The families endured much hardship on the way to creating the community as it is known today, which supplies much fresh produce to Alaskans. The first winters were bitter cold and pioneers huddled in chilly shanties and tents while they cut wood, built cabins, chopped through ice to get river water, and somehow survived.
If you have a family anecdote from the early days of the Palmer colonists, please add it in the comment section below.
Here are some of the photos from this year’s parade:
