Colony Christmas – Palmer Alaska 2023

Alaskans definitely have Christmas spirit and it shows with many of the decorations and events that are held throughout the state in towns big and small. Christmas and just the whole season in general falls in the darkest time of the year where we struggle to get six hours of daylight so the festivities give us something fun to do. People start decorating as soon as Halloween ends usually and the lights stay up through February. We were a little late getting ours up in mid-November, but we beat the snow so that is all that counts.

Palmer Alaska goes all out for their Christmas and we were lucky enough to go to it for the last few years. Their Colony Christmas celebration includes craft fairs, holiday bazaars, gingerbread house contests, Santa Claus, live reindeer, the Parade of Lights, fireworks, and lots of small shops to explore. Everything is located within a few blocks so it is easy to walk around and enjoy the festivities. It is an all day event and usually there is a gun show down the road to check out on the way there as a new gun always makes a good Christmas present. If you buy one for yourself be sure to label it “From: Santa” before placing it under the tree so that was it is a “Gift”.  

The weather is always the wildcard as after all, this is Alaska. The kids got to attend it last year when they came to visit and the weather was pushing -20 degrees Fahrenheit with the windchill so you definitely have to prepare to be out in the weather the whole time.  The winds rarely stop in Palmer so be sure to be prepared for the wind. The winds were calm this year, much to our surprise and delight. This was a rarity that we really enjoyed this time. The temperature was in the upper 20’s so it was warm and added to our over all enjoyment and fun. It was snowing most of the time, but that was fine considering it wasn’t being blown in our faces with 15 mile per hour winds.

We explored the shops and checked out the contests while we waited for the parade to start. The downtown area is lit up with Christmas lights and lots of decorations that add to the Christmastime feeling. The bazars had lots of booths selling homemade goodies and crafts so it allow yourself some extra time when you look through the two bazars. There are food trucks and vendors so you can find a wide variety of great foods to choose from. There are espresso stands and trucks set up for you coffee drinkers too.

The parade was great with a lot of entries. There were lighted floats, ATVs, trucks, and everything else being covered in Christmas lights. I should have mentioned earlier that they are “Christmas lights” here and there’s none of that stupid “Happy holiday” crap. We still say Merry Christmas up here and we want it to stay that way. Many of the floats give candy to the kids so make sure the kids bring a bag with them. Many floats have themes ranging from “Cousin Eddy” in “Christmas Vacation” to taxidermied reindeer pulling Santa’s four-wheeler so you never know what to expect, other than it will be fun and Christmas related. We were covered in snow before it was over, but it was worth it.

Once the parade is over there is a huge fireworks show so be sure to stick around for that. Every event in Alaska has fireworks after mid-August so it is awesome! We can’t see fireworks on Independence Day due to the near 24 hour daylight so we make up for it anytime we can, especially on New Year’s Eve!!! Jessica and I are both pyros (as were Tanya and Jeffery) so we always have to wait until the fireworks are over. The show lasted almost 20 minutes and we had a good vantage point from where we parked the truck so we could beat the crowds when it was time to leave.