Palmer’s holiday tree was removed. Now a community effort will save Christmas.

What you need to know:

• A temporary community Christmas tree will be installed in downtown Palmer to replace the one removed during the library demolition in July because it was diseased. The tree is donated by Jacobson’s Greenhouse in Wasilla and coordinated by the Greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce.
• City officials, the chamber and community members are collaborating to make the holiday display possible, with the city stepping in to help provide power for the lights after learning the chamber was already securing a tree.
• The new tree will be lit during a public ceremony on Saturday as part of Small Business Saturday events and will remain through December. construction of a new public library is set to begin in early 2026.

PALMER – An uprooted community Christmas tree, a demolished public library building and a barren construction site won’t keep holiday magic away from downtown Palmer — not if a group of local officials and holiday enthusiasts have anything to do with it.

A new temporary community tree will be installed — lights and Christmas spirit included — just after Thanksgiving and ahead of the city’s annual Colony Christmas event, officials said this week.

Donated by Jacobson’s Greenhouse in Wasilla and coordinated through the Greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce, the tree will stand about 10 feet tall and will be placed either near the Palmer Depot or in front of the library property, city and chamber officials said.

“We have the lights all pulled out — white and Palmer blue — and we’re set for decorating it,” Chamber Director Kelly Shoemake said in an interview.

Palmer’s previous community Christmas tree was removed during the library demolition in July because it was diseased, said Ailis Vann, a parks and facilities manager with the city’s community development office.

Standing about 15 feet tall and planted on a high point next to a pathway, the original tree was sourced from a local property in 2013 and relocated to the library in partnership with Matanuska Valley Federal Credit Union, the Palmer Chamber, and the city, Vann said. A plaque commemorating the occasion was saved during demolition and handed over to the chamber.

Like a plot line in a Hallmark Christmas movie, the need for a temporary tree this holiday season was obvious as soon as she learned the old one was gone, Shoemake said.

The rest is holiday magic.

The coordination of this year’s temporary tree is a story of the city coming together to shape a community Christmas, Barb Hunt, a member of the city’s planning commission, wrote in a social media post for the Palmer Alaska Buzz group she manages.

When Hunt lamented the tree’s absence during a recent planning commission meeting, city Community Development Director Nathanial Outzs offered to step in and cut one down himself if needed, she wrote.

Outzs didn’t know chamber officials were already planning to bring in a tree, he said, and then sourcing a duplicate solution, the city will now help the chamber provide electricity to light up the display.

“It will be a nice little tree lighting and kick-off for the holiday,” he said.

The temporary tree is scheduled for delivery in downtown Palmer on Friday, Shoemake said, with a public lighting set for 5 p.m. Saturday to coincide with the chamber’s Small Business Saturday efforts. It will remain in place through December, she said. A separate lighting of the Palmer water tower is scheduled for just before the city’s holiday parade at 5 p.m. Dec. 13.

The fate of any new permanent community tree on the library property may rest in the hands of the Ghost of Christmas Future. Construction of the city’s new public library is expected to begin early next year and finish in early 2027.

-- Contact Amy Bushatz at contact@matsusentinel.com