Chamber hears about a number of upcoming summer events

The persons to be heard at Thursday’s Talkeetna Chamber of Commerce meeting took up more time than the featured speaker.  The long list of residents wishing for time in front of the chamber was a signal of springtime. Planning is underway for summer events.

Clyde Connelly spoke about the Annual MTA Race for Technology, which is a fundraiser for area libraries.  The event is June 26^th in Palmer, but Connelly is racing to meet the deadline to get raffle prizes submitted to the event.  She asked for donations from Bed and Breakfasts all the way to artisan donations to provide 2 large raffle packages for the event.  The commitment for donation is required soon, while the actual donation itself doesn’t have to be in until June.

Sassan Mossanen  announced a Memorial Day aviation event he starting to plan.  He asked for volunteers and donations for the Cliff Hudson Memorial fly-in event.  The event is scheduled for May 30^th and includes a tour of airplanes from the Anchorage Heritage Museum as well as other pilot’s planes.  The fly-in will be at the Talkeetna State Airport.

Nick Condon announced the summer music-in-the-park, which is a family friendly event planned for each Friday of the summer.  Musicians will gather and play at the pavilion each Friday evening, rain or shine.  The event is sponsored by the Chamber and organized by the Denali Arts Council as a way to promote activities in the Village Park.  There was a discussion on the final financial agreement between the Chamber and the Arts Council.  Chamber President Trisha Costello said she would be at the Monday meeting of Denali Arts Council to hash out the financial agreement between the 2 organizations and invited interested businesses to attend.

In line with gearing up for summer, Patricia O’Neil of the Department of Agriculture presented a Power Point presentation on identifying agricultural opportunities for upper valley residents.