► —
King's Lake camping
season opens on June
10 and ends August 21.
Malley Mrnntierznmn
PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF THE MATANUSKA VALLEY
'Minstrels of 1950" at
Palmer Gymnasium
cn June 2, 3.
VOL. THREE—NO. 38
PALMER, ALASKA, FRIDAY, JUNE 2, 1S50
iUC
4
Weather’s Still Just
Conversation-Piece
To Unworried Farmers
“We’re not worried yet, and
we won’t be for a while, but we
sure could stand a rain.”
That seemed to be the concen
sus on the current weather pre
vailing in the Valley. Both repre
sentatives of the Matanuska Val
ley Farmers’ Co-Operating Asso
ciation and independent farmers
said there was no cause for alarm
—yet. There was no one who was
willing to be quoted on how long
the present dry spell could con
tinue without harm to Valley
crops.
James Wilson of the MVFCA
said that some plantings of small
vegetables had been lost, because
of lack of moisture. He added
that farmers intended to re-seed
immediately; these small losses,
a result of purely local conditions,
will not be reflected in the total
production figures this fall, if
they are not augmented by later
losses, the Co-Op manager pre
dicted.
One or two Valley farmers are
fighting for their crops by haul
ing water from the Matanuska
River for irrigation purposes.
The town’s water supply, con
trolled by the Co-Op, is not seri
ously diminished yet, although
warnings against the waste of
water have been issued. “I’m
not alarmed about our water sit
uation, I’m merely concerned
about it,” Mr. Wilson stated.
He asks that no one use the city
supply to water gardens or for
other large-supply uses. He re
minded that the Co-Op is com
mitted to the sale of surplus
water only, and that if reserve
supplies are drained too low, it
would become necessary to cut
off water lines until a sufficient
reserve is stored. A dangerously
low water level in the storage
tank is a threat to the entire
community, in case of fire, Wilson
^pointed out.
A check with official Weather
Bureau statistics, as provided by
Forecaster Ervin Volbrecht of
Merrill Field late Wednesday,
shows that the current season
has been somewhat drier than
similar periods in years past.
In 1947, a total of 0.9 inches of
moisture was recorded for the
months of April and May. In
(Continued on Back Page)
Photographer Gene Gyuriak of Palmer Studios gels a camera siory a
of Colony Day events and visitors to the Matanuska Valley at the
fair grounds last Sunday.
Sleepy Soldier Has
Close Brush With Death
Palmer’s only near-tragedy over
the Colony Day - Memorial Day
holiday, occurred early in the
moi’ning hours of May 27. An
Army truck, here on duty with
one of the groups of men assigned
to display and demonstration
units on the fair grounds, over
turned on the Wasilla Highway,
pinnfng the driver underneath.
The trapped man lay beneath
the truck for several hours, held
motionless by the steering wheel,
before he was discovered. Re
leased by a wrecker, the soldier
refused hospitalization and re
turned to his duties with no com
plaints except that he felt “a
' little stiff and sore.”
WASILLA WOMAN
BURIED TODAY
WASILLA — Funeral services
for Mrs. Hulda Edlund, who died
at Valley Hospital last $unday,
were held today at Wasilla
Church at two o’clock.
‘Mrs. Edlund was 43 years of
age at the time of her death. She
was born at Dawson City, Yukon
Territory, the daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. R. B. Lothrop.
The deceased is survived by
her father, her husband, two
daughters, Mrs. John Sterrett of
Wasilla and Mrs. L. E. Lempke of
Los Molinos, Calif., and a sister,
Mrs. Ivy Hile of Anchorage.
Mrs. Edlund will be buried in
Wasilla Cemetery.
AIRPORT LAND SALE
NOT COMPLETED TET
Last week’s announced agree
ment, in the matter of the sale
of the Sue Hill property at Pal
mer Airport, was premature, Miss
Hill said this week. She has not
vet reached a satisfactory conclu
sion in the matter and the deed
has not been turned over to Tony
Schwamm, territorial commis
sioner of aviation.
“About all that can be said now
is that a final settlement has not
been reached, and negotiations
are continuing,” Miss Hill stated.
GO TO JUNEAU
Mr. and Mrs. Steve Ward left
Palmer on a trip to Juneau on
Tuesday of this week. They trav
elled by way of the Alaska High
way. __
PEOPLE AND DOLLARS
FLOCK TO VALLEY
FOR COLONY DAY
There’s no one, not even a
banker, who’s willing to put a
price on the Colony Day-Memo
rial Day weekend business that
came to Palmer, and not many
who will even venture a guess as
to how many visitors there were
in Palmer on this pai'ticular holi
day. However, there’s no one
who will quarrrel with commit
tee chairman A1 Hagen’s predic
tion that it would be the “biggest
Colony Day ever.’’ It was that.
Those who are inclined to
bandy figures about are agreed
that there were at least 4,000 peo
ple here for Sunday’s Colony Day
alone. The monetary figures are
anybody’s guess—one waitress in
a local restaurant reports she
made $28 in tips. Employes of the
Matanuska Valley Bank draw
an exhausted sigh as they report
that Wednesday, the day after
Memorial Day, was “the biggest
day we’ve ever seen in the history
of this bank.”
The fun dividends were just as
high as the money rewards, too.
Saturday night’s rain showers
dampened Valley dust enough to
make Sunday an unusually pleas
ant day. Even the wind subsided
for the holiday.
Some scheduled events were
cancelled by foreseen circum
stances—for instance, the featured
milking contest had to be aban
doned when someone forgot to
make an appointment with the
cow, but “Mayor” Heinie Snider
I of the Valley and Mayor Z. J.
| Loussac of Anchorage were un
perturbed by the circumstances.
Even the Army was satisfied
i with its share of the arrange
! ments — the recruiting booth, a
j part of the Army displays set up
! here, had a profitable weekend,
j too, for they signed up a pair of
! GIs-to-be.
1 Valley residents, young and old,
; who shared in prizes offered in
' the various events scheduled on
Sunday’s entertainment progr
were as follows:
Boys’ bicycle race G2 and uve. >
—:(1.) Robbie Robinson, (2) Ray
Winegarner.
Bay’s bicycle race (under 12)—
(1) Richard Michaels, (2) Neil
Hermon.
Boys’ relay race —(1) Victor
(Continued on Back Page)
Most Of Palmer Helps With "Minstrels Of 1950
Literally all of Palmer has
taken a hand in putting together
the Kiwanis Club show, “Min
strels of 1950,” which opens at
the Palmer Gymnasium tonight,
director Joe Hudock announced
this week. The Kiwanis Club
program carries a credit roster
of 84 names alone, and there are
many anonymous assistants, in
addition to those who carried out
the major tasks.
> The show is locally scripted,
locally costumed (by Dee-Jay’s
shop), and locally propertied.
, stage-set and lit, through the ef
forts of David Algarin and Joe
Hudock on the costumes, Irwin
?litt, Joe Hudock and a whole
corps of women assistants on the
stage curtain and decoration and
through Ken Foster for stage
lighting.
Music for the show will be fa
miliar minstrel tunes of other
years. When the curtain goes up
tonight, the audience will be en
tertained by such numbers as
“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,”
“My Old Kentucky Home,”
“Mighty Lak a Rose,” “Kentucky
Babe,” “Missouri Waltz,” “Nobody
Knows” and other favorites.
End men in tonight’s show in
clude James Hurley, James Wil
son, Bob Totten and Robert Crites.
loe Hudock is interlocutor.
Other actors, singers and spe
cialty artists in the cast include:
Mike Roberts, Bill Rempel,
Grace Cates, Tom Day. Dana Nie
mann. David Algarin, Hugh John
son. Paul Mai'tin. Elmer LeDuc.
George Black. Matt Onkka. Ev
erett Yohn, Hugh Johnson. Wil
liam Zahradnicek and Bob Johns.
A chorus of 28 voices has been
rehearsing for the show, under
the direction of Bill Rempel. The
chorus roster includes:
Harriet Bell, Betty Blunck,
Esther Brock, Arlene Day, Marne
Hanks, Beatrice Huntley, Margie
Huntley, Leona Johnson, Mary
Lou Johns. Dorothy Laughlin.
Dora Lemburger, Dana Neimann,
Vera Rorrison, Lou Sandvik.
Viola Sherman, Nina Stock. Ruth
Tordoff, David Algarin, George
Black, Bill Ganschow, Duane
Huntley. Walter Huntley, Gervais
Krise. Elmer LeDuc, Paul Mar
tin, Mike Roberts, Lloyd Severns
and E. F. Sims.
The crew of seamstresses, which
literally worked day and night
this week to assist in completion
of costumes, back - drops and
drapes includes:
Lucille LeDuc, Wanda Wilson.
Dorothy Hurley, Esther Brock,
Marne Hanks, Vera Rorrison.
Nina Stock, Lou Sandvik, Martha
Collier, Viola Sherman, Dorothy
Laughlin, Harriet Bell and Grace
Cates.
Stage props have been assem
bled by Lloyd Severns, George
Black, Bill Rempel, William Zah
I'adnicek, Hugh Johnson and Emil
Ganschow.
Ticket sales have been entrust
ed to Hugh Johnson. Make-up
chores will be handled by Martha
Collier and Arlene Day.
Ushers and usherettes will in
clude Hazel Barnhardt, Joyce
Hardage, Lavon Roetman, Har
vey Hiber and Edison Thuma.