september 2011

SUN NEVER SETS ON ECLECTIC FUN

S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 1

� SEPTEMBER 2011 | PEak SEPTEMBER 2011 | PEak �


SEPTEMBER. 2011

Features

5

13

IN THIS ISSUE

In every issue

8 Scene & Seen

Bingo!It’s their callingby greg johnson

16

Sisterhood of the skatesRoller derby picks up steamby victoria naegele

5

Fast laneBowling scratches that itchby rindi white

25

Chrome, coupes and CruzersPursuing a passion for restoring vintage autosby victoria naegele

21

10 A Peek Inside

13 Peak Profile

20 In Good Taste

24 Book Review

28 Get Out

30 Peak Picks

31 Parting Peak

21


MaGaZINE

Peak Magazine is a publication of the

Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, a division of Wick

Communications Co. © 2011

The days may shorten dramatically each alaska fall, but that doesn’t put a damper on enjoying life in the Valley. Trees turn gold and highbush cranberries hang heavy on crimson-leaved branches. The swollen Little Susitna River returns to a quiet meander, waiting for the ice of winter to silence it for a season. It’s autumn in the Matanuska and Susitna valleys.

The crisp air of fall inspires many alaskans to return to after-hour pursuits often neglected during the short, bright months of summer. This month in Peak, we look at some of the pastimes and passions that keep us busy after the 9-to-5 shift.

If you think bingo is a sleepy senior citizen activity, you don’t play this numbers game. Peak staff writer Greg Johnson introduces us to some of the mavens of the Valley’s bingo halls.

When it comes to high rollers, the Denali Destroyer Dolls are leading the pack. Peak editor Victoria Naegele rolls with the derby gals.

We keep it rolling with a fresh look at an old favorite pastime — bowling. It’s back and in the fast lane of fun, as writer Rindi White shows us.

Nothing says fast like the off-hours activities of some Valley Cruzers. Meet some of the Cruzers and their rides.

Writer Zaz Hollander and astrophotographer Jim Egger introduce us to Egger’s out-of-this-world hobby in this issue’s “Peak Profile.”

Paul Villnerve of Moose Bites offers this issue’s recipe “In Good Taste” — salmon gone Cajun in Salmon Sorrento Pie.

Linda Menard’s home has been decades in the making. She shares its history with Peak staff writer andrew Wellner in this issue’s “a Peek Inside.”

We “Get Out” this issue with our pompons — to a hometown football game.

Let’s all “get out” this fall and enjoy the glories of living in Peak country. n

{ FIRST PEAK }

by kari sleightpublisher

ADDRESS

P.O. Box 873509

Wasilla, AK 99687

PHONE

Office: 907-352-2250

Fax: 907-352-2277

ABOUT US

Publisher

Kari Sleight

Managing Editor

Heather A. Resz

Peak Editor

Victoria Naegele

Sales and

Marketing Director

Robin Minard

Staff Writers

Jeremiah Bartz

Greg Johnson

Andrew Wellner

Photo Editor

Robert DeBerry

Contributors

Zaz Hollander

Rindi White

Graphic Design

Greg Johnson

AFTER HOURSBring on the night life


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Members of the Denali Destroyer Dolls skate laps around

the Pioneer Peak gymnasium during practice.

(ROBERT DeBERRY/PEAK)

Black-haired Jennifer Hanson sits on the floor of the alcantra armory in Wasilla, lacing up her black roller skates. Tattoos embellish both long arms, her hands

and her cheek — and likely other places covered by her black and red skull-and-crossbones outfit. Her lip isn’t her only piercing. Before Hanson even became Jett Black with the Denali Destroyer Dolls flat track roller derby team in Wasilla, she was pegged as a derby chick.

Becoming one, Hanson says, was simply following her destiny.

No one ever stopped Stacy Hillman of Wasilla on the street and told her she should be skating with rough-and-tumble derby women.

Blonde Hillman is a nanny who owns a children’s clothing design business. She’s a petite woman with a dental office smile. She’s not strapping on her skates tonight. The ankle she broke during the Denali Destroyer Dolls’ last season is still healing. But Sinda Freak’n Rella will be back on her skates.

For an amazingly diverse group of women, there’s no sisterhood like the sorority of the derby skates.

Sisterhood of the SKATES

by victoria naegele


“Once you do it, you really love it and you just can’t stop,” Hanson, a stay-at-home-mom, said.

For Hanson, Hillman and many of the Denali Destroyers, it was a love of skating that drew them to step onto a gym floor with this eclectic group of women. It’s the bonds they form as skating sisters that bring them back week after week.

“I was huge into roller skating when I was little,” Hillman recalled, then admitted sheepishly, “and I watched ‘Whip It.’”

Even though Hillman has nine screws and a plate in her ankle after dislocating the ankle and breaking both bones last season, she’s at practice on this august night, watching her teammates.

“It’s like a sisterhood,” Hillman explains.

Hillman admits she doesn’t look like a derby girl; she encounters a lot of disbelief when she tells people she is a Denali Destroyer.

“They think I’m crazy,” she said. “They say, ‘What? You?’”

It catches soft-spoken Jenny Bachelder’s students at Snowshoe Elementary by surprise, too. Bachelder said her alter ego, Vilot Uprising, knows there are lessons that can move from the derby rink to the playground — like sticking up for your friends and not being a bully.

She said it has taught her some life lessons, too. Like sticking up for herself.

“It’s made me more assertive, not only in derby but outside derby, too,” Bachelder said. “In a good way,” she hastened to add.

Bachelder said the practices are a great way to unwind.

“It’s just a wonderful stress reliever,” she said. “I love the camaraderie. The girls are always here for you, no matter what.”

Erika Bills knows a bit about stress, too. a few circuits on the track, bumping and jostling with her teammates, and whatever negatives life has handed her that day are all but forgotten.

“after dealing with people all day …,” the compact skater with her spiky bleached hair wrapped in a chartreuse bandana leaves the sentence unfinished. “I love my job, but this is a stress reliever.”

Her derby name — Dolla Billz — reflects both her real name and her occupation — she’s a Wasilla banker. She said Northrim Bank is supportive of her less-than-typical after-hours pursuit.

“I like extreme sports,” she said. “I used to drive a race car. I like to push myself. I like a challenge.”

Both her husband and 8-year-old daughter, Mekenna, are there with her. Mekenna has her own derby name — 4Quarters — and hopes to skate with a yet-to-be-formed junior derby team. Her husband, Steve, known there as P’it’ Guy, fixes skates and helps out, even babysitting a teammate’s infant daughter during practice.

The family atmosphere of what seems like a raucous, edgy activity is just one of the enigmas of this sport that enjoyed wide popularity in the 1960s and has made a strong, grassroots resurgence in the 21st century.

It’s the bonding, support and the empowerment of women doing something for themselves, says Jane

COMMUNITY SERVICE n Crazy hair & face painting at the Mat-Su Polar Plunge and the Relay for Life.n Walking in the Relay for Life.n Half Their Weight food drive for Wasilla Food Pantry (donated 1,100 pounds of food last year).n Wasilla Brassieres To Nowhere breast cancer fundraiser.n Online at denalidestroyers.org.

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Skating ‘sisters’ Jennifer Hanson, left, and Stacy Hillman of Wasilla at a recent

practice for the Denali Destroyer Dolls.

(VICTORIA NAEGELE/PEAK)


Denali Destroyer Dizzy-D tightens the trucks on her

skates before the start of Friday’s practice.


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Bond, the driving force, coach and “derby mom” of the Denali Destroyer Dolls.

She is Lyn Carden, executive director of the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce. But when she straps on her skates, she is a leader of the Valley’s wheeled amazons, ready to jockey and jostle for the win.

For her, the time practicing is as important as the bouts.

“We share this time together,” Carden said. “There’s the camaraderie; that feeling of support. True sisterhood.”

Carden and her teammates agreed the key to the sisterhood is the unconditional acceptance. There’s no pecking order related to skill or body shape. Many never participated in any athletic endeavor before this one.

“It gives you a feeling of fulfillment that you didn’t even know you were missing,” Carden said.

“and we stink,” she added. “We all stink.” She means that quite literally, given the workout the women get during practice when they “go to derby.”

The exercise is another driving force among the women. Two hours, three times a week gets them moving.

and when they flag, there are “sisters” there to bolster them.

kat Foster-Dalmolin, aka “Poison Orchid,” agreed the people, not the exercise, is the biggest draw for derby. Foster-Dalmolin is a therapist with Mat-Su Health Services.

“The people are first,” Foster-Dalmolin said. “I could find something else to do for exercise.”

But for women from many walks of life — educators, bankers, medical professionals, housewives, telecommunication specialists, emergency services workers — this is how they choose to spend their time after hours, despite the additional commitments of community service, fundraising and official events, to which each derby doll must commit Jostling into derby isn’t always easy for a woman who has spent most of her life in the bleachers. Stay-at-home mom Melissa Hardwig of Wasilla looks like she’d get crushed her first circuit around the track.

“In January I decided to be brave,” Hardwig recalled. “So I joined roller derby. I love it.”

Hardwig may be “kandi koated,” but the fuchsia-clad skater finds her aggressive streak on the track — much to the delight of her two teenage daughters.

“We think it’s cool,” said 16-year-old Holly, who used to play hockey.

“It’s kind of a way to be hard core,” adds her sister, Madison, 13.

To Madison, being a mom meant having a strong stomach and an apron. Now she’s got a new perspective.

“We’ve got a derby mom,” Holly said, adding people think her mom is “scary.”

“That’s way cool,” Madison said. n

s

The Valley’s own Denali Destroyer Dolls take to the oval track during a break in action at a match

between Devil’s Club and Sockeye Sally’s in Wasilla.



{ SCENE & SEEN }

Below left, Debra Barrett, along with her

grandkids Amelia and Aiden Adams, check out

the interior of a 1956 Bel Air. Center, row of

classic cars line the street, while vintage hot rods

and classic paint jobs, right, kept car enthusiasts

busy during the Valley Cruzers show.

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CRUZIN’ & PERUZIN’One way to enjoy the long summer

days in Alaska is driving and showing off

your restored vintage automobiles, and

the Valley Cruzers club knows how to

rev Valley motorheads’ engines. Peak

was at the club’s August ‘Hot Summer

Nights’ car show.

(PHOTOS BY ROBERT DeBERRY/PEAK)

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Hailey Mota, 5, sits inside a dragster during the

Valley Cruzers ‘Hot Summer Nights’ car show in

Palmer.


{ SCENE & SEEN }

s

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Car enthusiasts take pictures of Craig Houston’s 1969 Camero at the ‘Hot Summer Nights’ car show in Palmer.

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Radio Flyer Wagon owners Fred

Keller and Judy Foster talk about

their wagon car with car show

fans at the Valley Cruzers car

show in Palmer.

1927 Ford owner Daryl Soules

fires up his car.

10 SEPTEMBER 2011 | PEak SEPTEMBER 2011 | PEak 11

{ A PEEK INSIDE }

There’s a lot a person can do with a good-sized chunk of land and three decades.

State Sen. Linda Menard’s house north of Wasilla is proof of that.

Situated on a well-stocked lake with a private dock, Menard’s house is just one of many buildings on the property.

There’s a barn used for storage with an apartment attached, two guest cottages decorated with representations of loons and chickens respectively.

“I always decorate in themes,” Menard said.

Then there’s an airplane hangar, an old homesteader’s cabin, various sheds, a field growing Timothy hay she leases to a farmer and, most recently, a duplex. Oh, and a paved airstrip. Don’t forget about the airstrip.

“The paved airstrip helped us haul dental equipment to Bristol Bay,” Menard said.

If you don’t know Menard, she’s the wife of the late Dr. Curt Menard, Wasilla’s first dentist. She has six dentists in her

MENARD MANORWelcome to

by andrew wellner

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The back of the Menard home, which looks out on Memory Lake, features a large deck and a lot of windows.

(PHOTOS BY ROBERT DeBERRY/PEAK)

10 SEPTEMBER 2011 | PEak SEPTEMBER 2011 | PEak 11

{ A PEEK INSIDE }

MENARD MANORWelcome to

family, and she’s also not the only politician. Her son, Steve, is on the Wasilla City Council. Curt served in the Legislature and was Mat-Su Borough mayor when he died of cancer.

The place wasn’t much to look at when they bought it. Menard used the term “mud pile.” They lived in what is now the basement of the main home for seven years. Which, of course, gave her a lot of time to spend thinking about how she wanted the place laid out.

“My husband didn’t want to go to the bank and get a loan, so we were building out of pocket,” Menard said. “Just as we were framing up he had that bad electrical accident and lost his hand.”

Dr. Menard lost his hand working to mark an overhead power line that ran between two of the buildings. He’d been worried he couldn’t see it when landing his plane. The line had been insulated, but corrosion had left it exposed.

as family legend goes, thanks to a lot of very patient and brave Wasillans who were unafraid of pain, Dr. Menard was able to re-learn his trade using his left hand. Friends and neighbors also rallied around him, helping out with home construction.

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State Sen. Linda Menard stands in front of one of the buildings on her Wasilla property.

Below left, the main living room is open and features tall ceilings. The art on the wall features polar bears.

Above the living room is a small workout space. Right, the sunroom off the back of the Menard home

provides a warm, quiet place and a beautiful view of Memory Lake.

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1� SEPTEMBER 2011 | PEak SEPTEMBER 2011 | PEak 1�

{ A PEEK INSIDE }

Though the Menards are Michigan transplants, the home is 100 percent alaska, with the exception, perhaps, of a mounted deer or two.

The interior walls are tongue-and-groove construction using cottonwood milled at Poppert’s Mill in Meadow Lakes. The ceiling is lined with alaska fir. Crowding out those deer are sheep and other alaska trophies.

“When people who aren’t from alaska call they always say, ‘Can I come over and see the heads?’ because it’s like a museum,” Menard said.

In the living room is her collection of framed works of fabled Valley artist Fred Machetanz.

“I’m a big collector of the Machetanz

polar bears because that’s the only thing I don’t have stuffed in my house,” she said.

That museum feeling extends to the kitchen, which houses Menard’s collection of baskets purchased in villages where her

husband did contract dental work.

It also extends to that duplex where Menard has salvaged wood from an old Colony-era barn that used to be on the property. It’s been used as molding around the doors and windows.

Menard said her husband was a military dentist who began his alaska practice in anchorage. Dr. Menard’s first Wasilla office was attached to their home. Wasilla was very small then.

“We didn’t know if it could support a dentist,” Menard said.

Turns out it could. n

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Head of a bison greets visitors in the entry of

state Sen. Linda Menard’s Valley home.

STARS


{ PEAK PROFIlE }

Jim Egger craves the long, dark nights of alaska winter. Egger is an amateur astrophotographer. He makes astonishing

pictures of the distant wonders of the night sky — stars, planets, nebula, galaxies — using contraptions he largely builds himself.

His is a hobby that demands darkness.

Egger takes summers off because he must.

But from late august until april, he can return to his beloved telescopes, eight in all, most of them homemade and modified for use with his Canon camera.

Come fall and winter, the 59-year-old retired ironworker is out in his yard, peering at galaxies 20 million light years away using a massive 12-foot telescope he built from aluminum, stainless steel and brass, a 26-inch reflector he ground himself — plus a light-blocking “shroud” sewn from a length of Joann Fabrics black fleece.

Egger, who describes himself as a spiritual man, turns philosophical when talking about his pursuit of heavenly images.

STARSSeeing

by zaz hollander


{ PEAK PROFIlE }

“When I look at this stuff, it blows my mind. I have to stop and ponder,” he said as he scanned the Hewlett-Packard monitor in his basement office, running through a series of photos of vividly colored, jewel-like galaxies with decidedly unlovely names: M51, also called the “Whirlpool Galaxy” for its spiral shape; M81, one of the largest galaxies in Ursa Major; M90, a delicate spiral found in the constellation Virgo.

Maybe dinosaurs roamed the earth when that light was generated. Maybe life was just beginning.

“That light is just now hitting our eyes,” Egger said, shaking his head in wonder. “It’s like looking back in time.”

astrophotography is a difficult passion to indulge in alaska. anchorage astronomer Christopher Erickson puts it this way on his Web site: “Thinking of moving to alaska? are you an avid amateur astronomer? Do you find yourself outside every clear and moonless night? Then don’t come to alaska. astronomy sucks up here.”

He lists alaska’s anti-astronomy traits: bitterly cold winters; midnight-sun summers; 250 cloudy days a year in the anchorage area; the sun’s constant proximity to the horizon; and those pesky Northern Lights, spewing light pollution everywhere.

Of course, that doesn’t stop the more than 100 astrophotographers in alaska.

“You gotta be a diehard up here because of the weather,” Egger said. He suits up in heavy coat and big boots to work in winter, and takes

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M-42, the Great Orion Nebula, is 1,700 light years away. Jim Egger shot this while in Hawaii. The nebula is about 30 light years across.

(Courtesy Jim Egger)


{ PEAK PROFIlE }

frequent breaks in the warm house while his wife, Connie, sleeps. Connie Egger, senior executive assistant at Matanuska Telephone association, humors his hobby because he keeps it fairly cheap by building most of his own equipment. Egger also repairs other people’s telescopes.

The basic tools of astrophotography are simple: a telescope and a camera.

Egger uses a Canon 20Da DSLR camera but says any camera with a bulb setting will work for astrophotography. When it comes to the scopes he uses, aperture — the opening that light travels through — is key, he said. “The bigger the mirror, the lens, the more faint stuff you’re going to see.”

For deep sky shots of faint objects, Egger said, the bulb setting is best as the shutter must stay open for longer periods of time. For planets, shots are often in the seconds of exposure. The moon can be even faster.

He inserts a camera into the scope using an adaptor. Then he tracks whatever body he’s shooting manually — “you have to guide it with your eye

... while the camera shutter is open, you want to keep guiding, put a bull’s-eye on the star and keep it there.”

Egger got interested in astronomy as a youngster growing up in the suburbs of St. Paul, Minn. He was known as the absent-minded professor. He was great at keeping facts in his mind but not so good at the details of daily life, he said.

His love of looking at the night skies started first; photography came second. He was around 15 years old when he started making pictures of the stars and other celestial bodies. He shot with black and white film. Photography, he said, was a great way to share what he saw with others but also to track his progress as an astronomer and photographer.

Egger managed to hang on to a good dose of the childlike wonder that got him started decades ago.

He repeats one credo often: keep an open mind. That attitude allows him to entertain hunches about a few brushes with possible extraterrestrials.

after the 1957 launch of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite put into the Earth’s orbit by the Soviet Union, Egger saw something in the sky that looked like a satellite. Then it zigzagged and disappeared. Satellites don’t do that.

In 1997, Egger said, he was trying to photograph the comet Hale-Bopp when he spotted three red lights in a triangular pattern flying very slowly and silently past Pioneer Peak. The craft looked odd, he said. He called to Connie to come out. Just as he turned a scope toward it to see if the craft was blocking the stars, it just faded away. That same day, residents in Phoenix reported “mystery lights” over the city.

That open-minded attitude comes naturally to someone who spends so much time gazing at what is thought to be an ever-expanding universe.

“The more you discover, the more you realize you don’t know,” Egger said. n

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M-31 — also called the Great Andromeda

Galaxy — a spiral closest to us, is 2.3 million

light years away.


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Waxing moon going behind the

shoulder of Pioneer Peak.



Wy Gershmel rubs a small, glass cat figurine on the numbers she needs while Rose Ortiz touches her lucky keychain and says a little prayer to her

deceased son, David. a couple tables over, nobody sits in “Lil’ Grandma’s” designated seat.

There’s an excited buzz in the air. after all, tonight’s their lucky night.

Gershmel and Ortiz are among the dozens of regulars who pack Bingo Mania each Thursday through Sunday. They’re seasoned bingo players, pros at the ins and outs of a game that thrives as much on small superstitions and rituals as it does luck.

Who’s to say luck can’t stand a little extra persuasion?

It’s Friday night at Bingo Mania, on Blue Lupine Drive in Palmer fronting the Parks Highway. It’s 6, and the doors are open to let in the cool evening air. although the games don’t start for another 30 minutes, players have been rolling in for the past hour. For most regulars, it’s routine more than ritual, said alicia Mendoza, who works the cash register and sometimes calls games. Once one gets familiar with the rules of bingo etiquette, they’re simple to follow, she said.

The first rule of bingo? Don’t take someone’s lucky chair.

The second rule of bingo? Don’t take someone’s lucky chair.

“If somebody wins several times in the same spot, they have their lucky chair and they don’t like it to be taken,” Mendoza said. “Then again, some people think it’s bad luck to take somebody else’s lucky chair. That’s bad karma, too.”

a quick glance around the room and Mendoza can pinpoint the parlor’s longstanding lucky spots.

“Over there in the pink and the black in that back corner? They always sit there,” Mendoza said.

She’s pointing to Gershmel and Ortiz, longtime friends who met playing bingo and spend four nights a week socializing and playing in the far southeast corner of the building.

It’s their spot. and if anyone happened to sit there?

“Oh, they don’t dare. They don’t dare,” Ortiz said with a laugh, pointing across the table at Gershmel. “They know her spot, too. This is all great, really good fun. We met here. This is my entertainment.”

BINGO!It’s their calling

by greg johnson

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Caller Alicia Mendoza calls out the numbers at Bingo Mania in Wasilla.



Wy Gershmel rubs a small, glass cat figurine on the numbers she needs while Rose Ortiz touches her lucky keychain and says a little prayer to her

deceased son, David. a couple tables over, nobody sits in “Lil’ Grandma’s” designated seat.

There’s an excited buzz in the air. after all, tonight’s their lucky night.

Gershmel and Ortiz are among the dozens of regulars who pack Bingo Mania each Thursday through Sunday. They’re seasoned bingo players, pros at the ins and outs of a game that thrives as much on small superstitions and rituals as it does luck.

Who’s to say luck can’t stand a little extra persuasion?

It’s Friday night at Bingo Mania, on Blue Lupine Drive in Palmer fronting the Parks Highway. It’s 6, and the doors are open to let in the cool evening air. although the games don’t start for another 30 minutes, players have been rolling in for the past hour. For most regulars, it’s routine more than ritual, said alicia Mendoza, who works the cash register and sometimes calls games. Once one gets familiar with the rules of bingo etiquette, they’re simple to follow, she said.

The first rule of bingo? Don’t take someone’s lucky chair.

The second rule of bingo? Don’t take someone’s lucky chair.

“If somebody wins several times in the same spot, they have their lucky chair and they don’t like it to be taken,” Mendoza said. “Then again, some people think it’s bad luck to take somebody else’s lucky chair. That’s bad karma, too.”

a quick glance around the room and Mendoza can pinpoint the parlor’s longstanding lucky spots.

“Over there in the pink and the black in that back corner? They always sit there,” Mendoza said.

She’s pointing to Gershmel and Ortiz, longtime friends who met playing bingo and spend four nights a week socializing and playing in the far southeast corner of the building.

It’s their spot. and if anyone happened to sit there?

“Oh, they don’t dare. They don’t dare,” Ortiz said with a laugh, pointing across the table at Gershmel. “They know her spot, too. This is all great, really good fun. We met here. This is my entertainment.”

BINGO!It’s their calling (ROBERT DeBERRY/PEAK)

Delilah Langenhuizen blots bingo cards

as numbers are called at Bingo Mania.

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Gershmel’s a bingo veteran. She started playing in 1962, “and I was hooked,” she said.

and there’s more to her sacred chair in the corner than luck, she said. “I like this spot because it’s next to a window and, besides bingo, I like to look at the mountains through the window.”

Enjoying the scenery doesn’t distract the women from playing bingo with the speed and efficiency of a computer. When the numbers are called, it’s all business. They expertly scan their game sheets quickly and lightly daub any numbers that match what’s being called. When Gershmel needs one more number for a bingo, the cat comes out. and why not, when games pay out anywhere from $100 to $1,000?

She rubs the cat on the number while recalling the move was lucky the night before.

“Last night I won $500 on No. 65,” she said. “It’s great when it brings you luck.”

While the atmosphere before the games start is light and social — including a home-cooked meal of barbecue chicken, green beans and a roll — the unwritten rules of the game come

into play when the caller barks out the first numbers.

By this time, everyone is in his or her lucky chair. Now it’s time to observe the other rules, as spelled out by local players and bingomix.com.

• Don’t chat during game play. It’s distracting for those around you.

• Turn off cellphones while games are in session.

• Don’t smoke unless you’re in a designated smoking area.

• as a general rule, don’t bring young children to the bingo hall.

• Be a good sport. You can’t win them all, and if you lose, don’t take your frustrations out on your fellow players or the caller.

“Well, I tell you, there are a lot of people at the bingo hall who like to chat and tell stories,” Gershmel said. “Then all the telephones, that can be distracting, too.”

Some of that can be eliminated if wives leave their husbands at home, Ortiz said. She believes the game is too boring for some husbands, so they’ll talk to fill the time.

Overall, fitting into the bingo culture takes some practice and astute observation, Mendoza said. She can usually pick out the newbies, those new to the game, at first sight.

“The new ones have a very confused look on their faces,” she said. “They look very flustered and they can’t keep up.”

She tries to hide a smile while describing the newbie factor. She can tell the writer’s not a bingo veteran.

“I can tell you’re not a bingo player,” she said. “The regulars have their own

little bingo bags, they play multiple sheets and they’re really quick about it. They get down to business.”

Handling a high volume of game sheets is another sign of how serious a player is, she said. There’s one regular, who’s not there on this particular Friday, who usually plays 16 sheets at a time. Each sheet has six games on it, meaning that player keeps track of 96 games of bingo at a time.

Ortiz and Gershmel don’t play that many, but they do keep track of several dozen at a time. along with lucky keychains and figurines, they also look out for lucky numbers. Birthdays and anniversaries are good choices, they said.

“Three and seven here are lucky for me,” Ortiz said. “I have three children and number seven always seems to be my lucky number.”

Senior social

While the game is a bustling business at Bingo Mania every weekend, including two sessions Fridays and Saturdays, the culture is a little more relaxed as one of the favorite pastimes for Valley seniors.

Bingo player Dolly Barton watches for numbers to

come up on the big board at Bingo Mania in Wasilla..


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Both the Wasilla and Palmer senior centers host weekly bingo, although Palmer suspends its games for the summer. at the Wasilla Senior Center, however, Wednesday afternoons are bingo time.

The atmosphere is decidedly different from the commercial parlor, where seniors aren’t bothered by chatter and enjoy the soothing voice of Pat Brown, who calls the numbers and entertains at the same time. and remarkably, although partially blind, Brown seems to never miss a number.

But that doesn’t mean the first and second rules of bingo don’t apply here. In the northwest corner of the room, Elsi Nichols and Delilah Langenhuizen sit in their regular seats.

Nichols also helpfully calls out the upcoming numbers to her friends at the table. She’s facing the stage and can see the next number about to be called. “Just keeping the girls in line here.”

about whether their chairs are lucky or not, Nichols is skeptical.

“Usually we sit in the same spot,” she said. “Is it lucky? Who knows? But that doesn’t bother me. I just come for the fun and the friends.”

Langenhuizen agrees, but notices, “They’ve been winning a lot at that other table today.”

Unlike most players who spread their sheets out in front of them, Langenhuizen plays 16 sheets at a time

and keeps them neatly stacked. When a number is called, she deftly leafs through the stack with her dauber.

“I don’t know why I do it this way,” she said. “I’m just used to it.”

at the senior center, the games are less competitive, and that’s by design, Brown said.

“Well, there are those who are intense, on the edge and it’s an adrenaline rush for them,” he said. “That’s not really the bingo we have here.”

Well, maybe just a little.

“B 5, girls,” Nichols calls out to the table. “Come on, let’s keep up.” n

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Scott Laney Jr. looks for a bingo win during a recent game at Wasilla’s Bingo Mania.


�0 SEPTEMBER 2011 | PEak SEPTEMBER 2011 | PEak �1

{ IN GOOD TASTE }

So you’re having a dinner party but worried you won’t get to socialize if you’re tied to your oven all evening. Paul and Janice Villnerve run Moose Bites. They cook

for Valleyites who don’t have the time, inclination or skill themselves. a year since they founded it, Villnerve said, business is going great.

“We figured there were going to be a lot of busy professionals and commuters, but really our clients are a wide range of people,” he said. “We definitely think we’ve hit on something.”

Initially, Moose Bites offered a week’s worth of food. Now it also offers its services for dinner parties. The Villnerves even do most of the cleanup.

For In Good Taste, Villnerve selected a dish of his own making that harkens back to his roots — Salmon Sorrento Pie. Sorrento is the town in Louisiana where his ancestors

originate. The pie is a take on a staple of that region — shrimp pie.

alaskans, Villnerve has found, generally have salmon in their freezers. We love our fish, but even with your favorite marinade, salmon filets on the backyard grill can get repetitious. Salmon Sorrento Pie is his way of mixing things up. n

Ingredientsn 2 unbaked piecrustsn 1/2 lb salmonn 2 tbsp buttern 1 medium onion, dicedn 1/2 bell pepper, dicedn 2 stalks celery, dicedn 2 cloves garlic, mincedn 1/2 cup asparagus, chopped into half-inch piecesn 1 can cream of asparagus soupn 1 tbsp capersn 1/4 cup white winen 1 tsp hot saucen 1 tsp Tony’s Cajun Seasoning

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Heat salmon until it flakes easily. Peel off and discard skin. Heat butter in skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté onions, bell pepper, celery and garlic until soft.

add chopped canned asparagus, cream of asparagus soup, capers, white wine and flaked salmon. Stir.

add hot sauce and Cajun seasoning to taste. Pour salmon and asparagus mixture into unbaked pie crust. Cover with second crust and pinch seams to seal. Bake about 1 hour or until crust is golden brown.

ABOUT THE CHEF

SALMON SORRENTO PIE



Washing his Ford, Robb ashburn found flames. Under seven layers of

paint, Cedric kessler is discovering his wife’s dream car.

It takes vision to transform a rusting hunk of metal into a car show ride, and it takes a lot of time after hours.

ask anyone working on a vehicle, why that car, and you can expect to get a story, often rooted decades earlier.

kessler’s project car — a 1955 Chevrolet Bel air hardtop — rolls back the calendar to 1967, before he’d met his wife, Joann.

“She saved up to buy her first car,” kessler said. “She had parked it on the street and a drunk driver smashed it — totaled it.”

Joann’s brother, a mechanic, helped her find another 1955 Chevy and they salvaged Jo ann’s midnight blue Bel air to fix up the other. It was that second car Joann was driving when she met kessler.

“We met and married in six weeks, and as married life will go, we got rid of the ’55 and got a new car,” said kessler, an experienced construction contractor and the construction/maintenance man for Chugach Electric. The kesslers celebrated their 42nd anniversary in august.

In 1980, a good friend gave the kesslers another 1955 Chevrolet.

“Then our plan was to move to alaska and knowing there would be no hot-rodders in alaska because of the climate,” kessler says, rolling his eyes at his own wrong

Chrome, coupes &by victoria naegele CRUZERS

s

Bi-fold hood of Eddie Trimmer’s 1945 Chevrolet military truck gives the model its unique look.

Trimmer had the vintage ride on display at the Valley Cruzers’ Hot Summer Nights event in

August. Trimmer also restores airplanes, and has five or six of his own on which he is working.


�� SEPTEMBER 2011 | PEak SEPTEMBER 2011 | PEak ��

assumptions, “we sold the car in 1984 for $1,800.”

Finally in 1999, kessler learned of a 1955 Chevrolet in Soldotna. It didn’t have the original engine or transmission, and it was priced at $4,900. So he borrowed a one-ton pickup and a trailer and brought it back. It sat beside the kesslers’ garage at their home off Seldon Road for eight years.

“It takes money to do,” kessler said. “I added eight feet on the end of this garage to do the car.”

The car he bought was a jarring vermillion red with a once-white roof. Originally, it was turquoise. as it sits in their expanded garage, the Chevy is down to the bare metal and Bondo, waiting for the tedious and meticulous process of making the side panels smooth and straight — so perfect that when it is painted glossy red, there won’t be a ripple to mar its perfect surface.

“You have to go over the whole thing until it is straight,” kessler said. “This is going to be labor intensive. It’s not leaving the garage until it’s straight.”

kessler admits he’s never tackled such an extensive project, but he’s not one to let that deter him.

“I know what has to be done and how to do it,” he said. “I don’t want any other hand to touch this but the upholsterer’s.” He said he’d do that work, too, if he could. He’s going to California sometime next year for a metal working class so he can build car bodies. Is it an obsession?

“Yes, probably,” he admitted.

“He’s putting his heart and soul into it,” said wife Joann kessler.

It is an obsession he shares with other Valley Cruzers. Jody ashburn of Wasilla, the events coordinator for the Cruzers, is a self-proclaimed “car girl.” Her ride is a 1969 Roadrunner with a 440.

“When I bought it, it had been a frame-off restoration,” Jody ashburn said. “We put the hood on it. We put a 440 engine in it.

“I love my car,” said the insurance agent.

Parked next to her white Plymouth at august’s Hot Summer Nights Valley Cruzers car event is her husband’s chopped and channeled charcoal 1940 Ford Coupe — for lay people, that’s vertically shortened and rounded (think “Grease”). “It’s a very unique car,” Jody ashburn said.

The car was originally green. It has also been metallic blue and white with flames. “We discovered the flames when we were washing it, so we sanded out the flames,” Robb ashburn said.

He found his dream car in Bakersfield, Calif., and brought it up the alaska Highway on the back of a Peterbilt.

“I saw it, I liked it, I bought it,” Robb ashburn explained.

The almost obsessive need to bring a certain model back to its glory unites most of the Cruzers and others who spend their free time sanding, tinkering on and painting their dream cars.

“Everybody’s got to want something,” reasons Eddie Trimmer of Willow. “I’ve tinkered with cars all my life. I just wanted something to mess with.”

Trimmer, an airplane mechanic who owns Trimmer aviation, tinkers with a 1945 Chevrolet military truck. He’s spent about 10 months renovating the vehicle after hours and on weekends.

Meant to be a workhorse, not a show horse, Trimmer may take it to the shows, but it knows how to do a day’s work.

s

Above, Cedric Kessler

is serious about car

restoration. This 1955

Chevy won’t leave his

Wasilla garage until it

is show quality. At left,

part of the dashboard

of the ’55 Chevy.



Under the hood of the unassuming gray Chevy is a surprise — a LS1 fuel-injected Corvette engine to go along with the T-5, six-speed transmission.

“It goes good,” Trimmer conceded with a smile.

Like the old truck, the kesslers’ Bel air will be packing something other than original equipment when it hits the road next summer.

kessler’s putting a 468 Chevy big block behind that iconic, chrome grill. It has a Ford rear end with a Chevrolet overdrive transmission, rack and pinion power steering, drop spindles, tubular

upper and lower a arms and front disc brakes.

“It will be like a new car,” kessler said. But it won’t look like it drove out of a showroom in 1955; it will be a custom car. It has 8-inch wheels in front, 10-inch in back. The signature two-tone paint and trim are gone. The eagle-airplane hood ornament and Chevy emblem are off.

Even the clunky door handles and big, square fuel door in the side of the car will disappear. The bumper will be flipped over and mounted closer to the body. The grill, however, will remain the same.

“It’s my wife’s favorite car because of the grill,” kessler explained.

The remodeled ride won’t be sitting in the garage, waiting for car shows. It will be his wife’s car, to drive to her job at Edward Jones Investments.

In the charcoal gray upholstered backseat, there could be very modern car seats for the couple’s two granddaughters, Holly, 5, and Leah, 3.

“We’ll make car girls out of them,” kessler says, smiling. n

s

Valley Cruzers Robb and Jody Ashburn with their signature rides at the Valley Cruzers Hot Summer

Nights car show. Robb’s riding low and fast in a chopped and channeled 1940 Ford Coupe, right,

complete with flames. Jody’s gone retro in her 1969 muscle car, the Roadrunner.



{ BOOK REVIEW }

The man who once built a makeshift bridge over a flooded creek on his way

up the newly constructed alcan Highway has a lot in common with the man who once flew from village to village tuning and maintaining alaska’s fledgling radio stations. They are both pioneers, both determined and resourceful, and both quintessentially alaska heroes. and they both are the focus of new books to tell their stories.

The bridge-builder was Joe Redington Sr., who went on to become “the father of the Iditarod.” katie Manglesdorf has written a new biography of the iconic alaska musher, called “Champion of alaskan Huskies: Joe Redington Sr. Father of the Iditarod.”

The radio pioneer is alex Hills of Palmer, who, after years in alaska, went on to Carnegie Mellon University to help invent Wi-Fi. Hills has written his own book about the experience, scheduled to hit the bookstores in September. His book is called “Wi-Fi and the Bad Boys of Radio: Dawn of a Wireless Technology.”

Both books make for great reading. Manglesdorf is a longtime friend of the Redington family and has followed dog mushing in alaska for many years. She wanted to write a book that would appeal to people of all ages, and she has succeeded at that, and more. Whether you are a middle school student or an adult, you will enjoy the thrilling scenes in “Champion” — like the time the quick-thinking Redington alleviated disaster while careening down a steep slope in his dog sled.

as an avid smartphone user (some would say addict), I feel I owe a lot to Hills. Hills led the team of Carnegie Mellon University researchers and graduate students that invented the wireless technology, making smartphones possible. For Hills, the story of wireless technology begins with a boy in an attic, learning the bips and beeps of Morse code in the 1950s. Then the story takes us to kotzebue in the 1970s, where Hills was a manager/engineer of the public radio station responsible for connecting numerous remote villages through radio. He had to understand the unique features of arctic land and air

to tame the “bad boys” — the barely predictable, multi-faceted radio waves that make electronic communications possible.

all of these experiences created the foundation for the work that Hills did in bringing wireless computing to life. What brings his book to life is his crisp, user-friendly writing style. Hills has written for Scientific american magazine,

and that experience shines through in this book. The story of wireless technology is, well, a technical story. But Hills writes with a light touch, dealing with technical issues in a clear and entertaining way.

You don’t have to be an engineer to enjoy Hills’ book, any more than you have to be a dog musher to enjoy Manglesdorf’s book. In both cases, clear, friendly writing carries the day. n

David Cheezem owns Fireside Books in downtown Palmer.

by david cheezemfireside books

PIONEER SPIRITValley authors show their

Champion of Alaskan Huskies: Joe Redington Sr. Father of the Iditarod

by katie Manglesdorf, Publications Consultants, $19.95.

Wi-Fi and the Bad Boys of Radio: Dawn of a Wireless Technology

by alex Hills, Dog Ear Publishing.


Looking for an inexpensive way to have fun with the family or unwind after a hard day at work?

One word: bowling.

Yes, bowling. Perhaps the only physical sport where participants regularly drink beer and eat greasy foods throughout the game. a 2010 Simmons Market Research study says bowling is america’s most popular participatory sport and it’s definitely seeing resurgence in the Valley.

What’s not to love? Good weather isn’t required; in fact, it’s a great way to spend a chilly day. Thanks to lane bumpers and ball ramps that even the littlest tots can use, it’s fun for the whole family. Plus, you get to wear those retro-cool shoes. and with several weekly deals available, it’s possible to spend an afternoon there for less than $20.

Bowlers find fun in the

by rindi white

FAST LANE

s

Hair Razors teammate Russ Greer shows good form as he releases his ball during league

bowling at the North Lanes Bowling Alley along the Palmer-Wasilla Highway in Wasilla.



The locus of the lanes, North Bowl, is located just outside Wasilla near the intersection of Palmer-Wasilla Highway and Seward Meridian Parkway. In addition to being the only alley in the Valley, it’s the largest bowling center in the state, with 32 lanes.

On a recent Saturday, Job Sonnentag was knocking down pins with family and friends to celebrate his 24th birthday.

“I’ve been bowling here since I was a kid,” Sonnentag said.

His father, Tim Sonnentag, is a good bowler and the group went bowling in part to see if they could beat him. Competition clearly took a back seat to just having fun, however. Even Seth, just 18 months old, took a few turns

on the lane, bowling with a ball ramp and lots of help from Grandma Debbie Sonnentag.

For Seth, knocking pins down wasn’t nearly as important as just watching the ball roll down the lane. Each roll was celebrated with lots of clapping and a proud smile.

a few lanes over, Caty and Mike Miller were bowling with their daughter, Serenity. She’s 3 1/2 and was also using a ball ramp to help get the ball rolling down the lane.

Caty Miller said it had been a while since she or her husband had been bowling but they

came to use a coupon for Serenity. It was a fun way to spend a couple hours on a gray weekend afternoon, she said.

Longtime bowler and current alaska Women’s Bowling association president Marcie Bentti said for her, bowling is all about having a good time with friends.

“I’ve met a lot of lifelong friends from it,” Bentti said. “Bowling has been a really positive thing for me.”

Bentti has been bowling at North Bowl since it opened as Valley Lanes back in 1985.

For those who haven’t stopped by lately, North Bowl has a fresh, open feel with light walls, new bathrooms and a rearranged floor plan. It’s part of a plan to appeal to families, said manager Don Marquart.

Marquart came to alaska just over a year ago to run the center. He’s no stranger to bowling; his father tended bar in a bowling alley and he started bowling at age 6. He and his brothers owned and ran bowling centers in the Tri-Cities area of Washington state.

Marquart is working to change people’s impression of the alley.

“It had an image when I first got up here of being a bar with a bowling center attached. We want it to be a bowling center with a bar attached,” Marquart said.

PUTTING THE PaST BEHIND THEM

The bowling alley was frequently in the news in the mid-2000s when former owner Robert Stevens opened a bar there that drew complaints from neighbors and led to a new local law addressing booming noise. Stevens was also cited for several violations and eventually Fish Heads, the bar, lost its liquor license.

s

Steven Gray holds his form as he watches his ball head for the pins at

North Lanes Bowling Alley in Wasilla.



amid all the hubbub, some bowlers decided to hit the pins in anchorage or Eagle River, or left to find a new hobby. kevin Corcoran, president of the Mat-Su Valley Bowling association, said the number of people involved in league bowling dwindled.

Bentti, who is also a league secretary, said bowlers are coming back to North Bowl. Leagues are gaining membership. Last year, the alley hosted both the women’s state bowling tournament and the youth bowling tournament, the first time in more than a decade that the tournaments were held locally, Corcoran said.

OPTIONS FOR FaMILY FUN

Marquart’s appeal to families starts with the smallest bowlers. For the second summer the alley offered a kids Bowl Free program — two games free per day for anyone younger than 18 years old, every day of the week. Last year, Marquart said, about 1,000

children and teens participated. This year 3,500 kids used Bowl Free passes.

Neon bowling on Friday and Saturday nights is also a big hit with the younger set, Marquart said. North Bowl employees turn on laser lights, disco lights, fog machines and loud music. The scene attracts around 250 kids a night, Marquart said. When patrons finish their games they can head to a dance club or sing some karaoke, he said.

“There’s a lot of stuff to do here,” he said.

League bowling is a key part of any alley and it offers participants a weekly way to unwind. and it’s not just for middle-aged men — North Bowl has leagues that are made up of home-schoolers, senior citizens, teenagers and even a team dubbed “Football Widows.”

although fall league sign-ups have already been held, any group of

eight bowlers is welcome to create a league.

FIND FUN OFF THE LaNES

aside from the lanes and lounge, the center has a conference room, dance club and arcade-style games. and then there’s the snack bar, which some people visit without bowling a frame.

Marquart is also reopening the alley’s bar and obtained a full liquor license in May. He had to overcome some resistance from neighbors and others in the community worried the now-quiet bowling center was about to become a bad neighbor again. Marquart said that’s not what he’s after at all.

The bar, Club Permafrost, doesn’t open until 5 p.m., he said, and he plans to add dancing and comedy nights soon. But low-key is the theme. n

s

Hammerheads team member C.J. Cooks watches his ball rocket down the lane toward the pins during league bowling at North Lanes.



{ GET OUT }

Colton Buzby was maybe 6 years old when he and his younger brother Charlie would go to Wasilla High School’s Veteran’s Memorial Field to watch their older brothers,

Nick and Justin, play football.

Colton and Charlie would be there on a Friday night, dreaming of a time they’d be old enough to put on the pads and run underneath the Friday night lights.

Finally, after years of waiting, Colton had his chance this season.

Colton, a senior at Houston High School, played under the lights on his home field for the first time in his career when the Hawks opened their 2011 season in mid-august against the kodiak Bears.

“It was amazing, just amazing,” Colton said after the game

Prep football season brings out the

FALL FAITHFUL

s

Colony High School fans get into the spirit as they cheer on their Colony Knights.


by jeremiah bartz


as his nephew — his brother Nick’s son — ran up to him and grabbed his leg along the Houston team sideline.

The experience took Colton back to those nights, more than a decade ago when he’d go to Wasilla High to watch his older brothers play.

“It was like an NFL game when I was little,” Colton said. “I just wanted to be like them.”

To most who love the sport, high school football was made for a Friday night. The game, the players, the fans — it all creates an atmosphere nearly untouchable when it comes to prep athletics.

“It creates a spotlight, an environment,” Houston High football coach Norm Bouchard said.

and the smaller the community, the bigger the spotlight. For decades, the most-attended sporting events in the Mat-Su Valley seem to be football games on Friday nights. It’s something that our communities — like countless others their size across the country — embrace. Thousands of fans will invade local fields on a fall Friday night. The crisp, autumn air, the myriad of colors on the leaves and trees and the nearby mountains that provide a beautiful backdrop only enhance the scene set by a Friday night football game.

Fans will flood the bleachers and circle the fields to see the Moose, knights or Warriors on an autumn evening. The package creates a feeling for fans far superior to television, or even live on a Saturday afternoon.

This phenomenon was made more profound by the release of HG Bissinger’s

nonfiction work “Friday Night Lights: a Town, a Team, and a Dream” in 1990. although the book tackles a variety of subjects, such as race and family dynamics, it is, at least in part, a tale of this love affair fans have with Friday night football.

a major motion picture and network television show of the same name followed, further reinforcing the significance of high school football on a Friday night.

With its diversity, alaska is an ever-changing landscape when it comes to high school sports. Schools, programs and sports are all evolving in this state, but opportunity is sometimes decided by means.

Houston High school has long worked for the chance to host a game on Friday nights. Lack of field lights prevented the chance from the day the school first opened its doors until now. Thanks to state funding, the school’s field lights were installed in april and the lights were turned on for the first time this season.

There are some schools in the state — like Colony, Palmer and Wasilla — that host virtually all of their home games on a Friday night. But many of the smaller schools in programs such as Homer, kodiak, Valdez and Delta Junction are still waiting for the time they can host their first game on a Friday night.

The lights at Houston High were turned on for the first time early in the second half of the Hawks’ match against kodiak. as those powerful lights began to illuminate the football field, an image was burned into the minds of all the Houston players, coaches and fans, an image they all will probably never forget.

“It felt good, it just felt good,” Bouchard said. n

{ GET OUT }

FALL FAITHFUL

s


Wasilla Warrior mascot.

Houston Hawk Jake Davis takes down Kodiak’s

Chris Parsons during a game at Houston High

School.


s


{ PEAK PICKS }

CHRISTMAS FRIENDSHIP DINNERWhat: A community feast and fellowship that brings individuals and families together on Christmas Day. Santa also attends, bringing gifts for children. About 2,000 people were served at last year’s event.

When: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Dec. 25

Where: Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center, Wasilla

HALLOWEEN HOLLOWWhat: An indoor trick-or-treat carnival with dozens of booths and games for children benefiting the Special Santa program. Admission is $5 a person or a new, unwrapped toy.

When: 3 to 6 p.m., Oct. 31

Where: Raven Hall, Alaska State Fairgrounds, Palmer

Info: specialsanta.org

ELECTION DAYWhat: Municipal elections in the Mat-Su Valley feature candidates for various offices.

When: Polls open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Oct. 4

Where: Official polling places around the Mat-Su.

Info: election links at matsugov.us, cityofwasilla.com, cityofpalmer.org.

COLONY CHRISTMASWhat: An old-fashioned country Christmas celebration with craft fairs, vendors, reindeer sleigh rides, Santa and fireworks.

When: Dec. 9-11

Where: Downtown Palmer

Info: palmerchamber.org


{ PARTING PEAK }

s

A rough-legged hawk eyes visitors to the Celebration of Cranes at the Palmer Museum and Visitor’s Center.


�� SEPTEMBER 2011 | PEak

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