Contributed by Rachel Martinez
My family of five have been living in Alaska for eight years and this coming June, we are headed out on a new adventure. We moved here from just outside the New York City area and will be heading to another coast, Florida! As our departure date grows ever closer, I find myself often reflecting upon the people and places my heart has come to dearly cherish and love.
This sweet little corner of the world is quite the special community. It carries the excitement, beauty, and awe of the great outdoors, a land unlike anywhere else. When friends and family come to visit, one of their first responses is, “Oh, I get it now. I get why you live here,” as they breathe in the glorious mountains that surround our valley.
Among the inspiring nature of Alaska, it is its people and community that makes this place even sweeter. The family style community, where you walk into the local coffee shop and wave to friends from church at one table, and friends from your spin class at the other table. It’s the kind of community where people choose to take the time to ask how the family is, to spend a little extra time waiting in line if it means hearing how the new job is or pausing at the grocery store to check in on the neighbor you haven’t seen in a while. It’s a community that by no means is perfect; it has flaws, potholes and dogs that pee on your flowers each spring, but it is one where the good far outweighs all that other stuff.
It is here, in this corner of Alaska, where I learned the beauty, value, importance and worth of small businesses (long before COVID entered our world). I think we all can think of our favorite local coffee hut that we drive through weekly for that cup of java (mine happens to be Perfect Start), or our favorite Little Miller’s ice cream location cause the Miller’s girls give a little extra ice cream on the cone there! Every time I choose to grab lunch from Hebrews Cafe or Cafe Dolce 907, I’m supporting family. I’m supporting my neighbors, my community, my Alaska. Whether it be a business that’s been around a long time, like Krazy Moose Subs, or a business celebrating its upcoming one-year anniversary, like Ema Rose Hair, I’m supporting my people. Whether it’s taking out of town friends for some pie up at Hatcher Pass Lodge, or meeting my friends to workout at Innergy, I partake in this family style community!
Perhaps it’s because in a few short weeks, my family and I will be driving away from this little corner of the world, however my heart is extra grateful for how this community truly embraces LOCAL. I’ve been making some extra trips to those favorite spots, popping into the Wagon Wheel and Poppy Lane Mercantile for one more Alaska shirt, going the long way so I can grab a sandwich at Vagabond Blues, or make sure to pull through my friends new Elwoods. It doesn’t take much to convince me to stop by one. more. time.
So, when it’s easy to just go about your day, maybe today, take the long way home. Stop by your favorite local business. Buy a coffee for a friend, mail a sticker to your mom, say thank you to local businesses that make our corner of Alaska so very special!