Cooper Landing Gem- March 2024

Dear Members,

Enjoy the next few holidays St. Patrick’s Day and Easter in the longer hours of daylight. All the extra light and the warmth in the sun, brings spring a bit closer to us and another busy summer.

Let some snow melt, then dig out the boats and oars. The Regatta is May 18th this year and we hope for great participation. Feel like sharing your thoughts about ways to improve the event, send an email to us at info@ cooperlandingchamber.com or give one of the board members a call. Want to help, let us know and we will be more than happy to accept your offer. All the members who have helped in the past, their efforts are greatly appreciated as sponsors of the event.

This year’s Upper Kenai River Guide is in print and on-line. Your feedback positive or negative is appreciated. It will be distributed various places over the state, airports, visitor centers, rental offices, and hotels so watch for customers with the new book.

Thank you,

Cheryle James President

Cooper Landing

Chamber of Commerce

PO Box 809

Cooper Landing, Alaska 99572 info@cooperlandingchamber.com

Cooper Landing Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Center

Board Of Directors

President Cheryle James Wildman’s 907-290-1213

Vice-President Open

Treasurer Shirley Wilmoth Our Place

907-598-1270

Secretary Rose Hetrick Inn at Tern Lake 907-288-3667

Director Jason Lesmeister 907- 351-3036

Photo by: Best Route Productions

Cooper Landing Library News

Your library card provides you access to your account through our online catalog, to manage reserves, renewals, checkout history, and more. Your library card also provides you access to the Alaska Digital Library. If you would like help navigating any of these features, please email us at cooperlandinglibrary@gmail.com.

We look forward to seeing you in the library soon!

Virginia Morgan Volunteer Director

Winter Book Club

March 19 - American Dirt by Jeannie Cummins

April 16 - Homecoming by Kate Morton

May 7- How to Know a Person by David Brooks

Email cooperlandinglibrary@gmail.com for Zoom info.

Library Hours

Monday: 1-3 pm

Tuesday: 3-5 pm

Wednesday: 1-3 pm

Thursday: 1-3 pm

Friday: 1-3 pm

Saturday: 11 am - 2 pm

Contact Us:

907-595-1241

cooperlandinglibrary@gmail.com

www.cooperlandinglibrary.com

Cooper Landing Community Library

Cooper Landing Emergency Services

February was a busy month with many high points and one memorable low. CLES medics transported 2 avalanche victims to Central Peninsula Hospital and staged on scene while AST recovered one other skier who did not survive. Our volunteers had been training for this scenario and we hope to outfit our team with beacons, shovels, probes, and snowshoes to be able to continue our training for those times that we working in or near avalanche zones. CLES Secretary, Katie Feichtinger and Martha Story organized the Snowshoe Softball Game in an effort to kick-start our avalanche response gear cache. The game was fun for all and helped to fund this cause.

We are planning several community events, some as fundraisers and others to encourage community preparedness. We are hosting an open house style CPR birthday party for one of our paramedics and our Deputy Chief of EMS, Clay Adam from 3-5 on March 19. We will have a few CPR manikins to practice compressions on which give feedback on compression depth and rate. There will also be an opportunity to sign up for official CPR classes for anyone who is interested. It’s not every day that a Certified Flight Nurse/ Master of Science in Nursing/ Flight Paramedic /Critical Care Paramedic moves to Cooper Landing and dedicates his “retirement” to bolstering our EMS program. Please stop by the station between 3-5pm on Tuesday, March 19 to show your appreciation and wish him a happy birthday.

We are happy to announce the comeback of the Snailathon! This classic

Cooper Landing event will have a slightly different route this year making use of our beautiful bike path. Date to be determined in May. We are also in the planning stages of this summer’s golf tournament which will be in July. Please consider participating or sponsoring this event which has grown into a beloved summertime tradition.

The Inaugural CLES Casting Competition will be held in early September with events on the 6th, 7th and 8th . The main event will test the accuracy and distance of the best fly fishers around Alaska. There will be an open division, women’s division, seniors’ division as well as age-appropriate kids’competitions. If your company would like to donate any items for grand prizes or for the simultaneous raffle that will be drawn, please send an email our way. (operations.cles@arctic.net)...

We will be selling raffle tickets and entry tickets all summer long, and any donations given before April 15 will be included in our advertising materials. We are also looking for experts who may want to lead casting clinics on Friday or Sunday to benefit CLES.

In addition to planning all of these events, our volunteer responders are continuing their Firefighter 1, Hazmat, EMT, Paramedic Refresher and FEMA courses multiple days per week. We are so thankful for the donations to our boot fund as now every firefighter 1 candidate has compliant and safe boots for their upcoming live fire training. Thank you to our volunteer responders and community members who have worked together to support CLES and our mission.

Upcoming Events:

• March 19 – 3-5 pm – CPR Birthday Party for Clay Adam, our EMS Deputy Chief!

• March 19 – 6pm CLES Board Meeting

• May – Return of the Snailathon!

• July – CLES Golf Tournament

• September 6,7,8- First annual Casting Competition at the Cooper Landing Community Hall

Contact Us: 907-595-1800

operations.cles@arctic.net

www.cooperlandinges.org

Cooper Landing Emergency Services

Cooper Landing Advisory Planning Commission (CLAPC)

The next Cooper Landing Advisory Planning Commission (CLAPC) meeting is scheduled for Wednesday March 20, 2024.  We do not yet have agenda items regarding borough business. The draft agenda will be posted in the Cooper Landing Crier online and physically around town on bulletin boards if we do obtain agenda items from the borough. You can also see the tentative agenda and materials from previous meetings on the CLAPC website: https://www.kpb.us/planning-dept/planning-commissions/cooper-landing-apc.

If you are unable to attend a meeting either via Zoom or in person then you may send us a written message one of two ways:

1. For email visit: https://www.kpb.us/planning-dept/planning-commissions/cooperlanding-apc/email-cooper-landing-apc

2. USPS mailing: Send your correspondence to Kenai Peninsula Borough Planning Department, Attn: CLAPC, 144 N Binkley St., Soldotna, AK 99669.

SKIING ALYESKA

As the month of February comes to an end, we look back on all the fun things we’ve done, with one big one being skiing. Everyone in Cooper Landing School participates in this fun filled event along with Moose pass and Hope. We go to Girdwood every Wednesday at eight o’clock so we can be there for our lessons at ten. Everyone is split up into different groups depending on your level of experience. After everyone is sorted into their groups, we all ski to the chairlifts that take us up the mountain. The ski group lessons separate from there and we ski with our own lesson until 12:00 when we go back to the lodge for lunch. Then at 12:30 we are free to ski until five. During free skiing we separate into groups and go with a chaperon up the mountain. We get to go down whatever run we want, practice jumps, and ski in a bunch of powder, it’s fun! Sometimes we get hot chocolate if it’s too cold or there’s bad visibility. Overall February was a great month, and I can’t wait to see what next month brings.

-Josie

Thank you to everyone who contributed and helped us get to Alyeska. We appreciate your support! Skiing means a lot to us!

I enjoyed the first ski day. It was my first time skiing. It was the BEST day of my life! -Nora

2024 Digital Upper Kenai Vistors Guide

Now Available

Print versions will be able sometime early March when the copies arrive from the printer. In the mean time, you can enjoy the digital copy on any computer, tablet, or phone.

Click Here to View

Cooper Landing Community Club

Daylight savings is here and the Cooper Landing Community Club is excited for the coming of Spring and all the fun it brings! On Saturday March 30 the Cooper Landing Chamber and the CLCC are sponsoring this years Easter Egg hunt. Grab your baskets and your family and join the Easter Bunny at 1 pm at the Community Hall for the egg hunt, games and refreshments.

Thank you for everyone who submitted their information for the upcoming 2024/2025 Cooper Landing Community Directory. Copies will be available to pick up late Spring. Stay tuned to the crier for updates.

The next Community Club meeting will be Thursday, March 21 at 6pm. The meeting will be available to attend in person at the Community Hall or via Zoom.

Softball is right around the corner! Stay tuned for updates in the coming weeks!

Thank you to all of the wonderful volunteers and community members who make winters in Cooper Landing fun! Between the amazing groomed trails, volleyball, snowshoe softball and fireside chats we’ve been able to stay busy and connect during the winter.

Sincerely,

Cooper Landing Community Club

Melissa,

Lorraine, Josi, Marja and Sandra

Cooper Landing Gem News

Do you have business or organization updates you would like to share with the community?

All Chamber Members are invited to submit updates and information to the monthly newsletter. Contact us for more information.

Contact Us

Happy Birthday

3/1 Molly Sullivan

3/3 Stephen Lipscomb

3/7 Linnaea Gossard

3/8 Elly Bauer

3/22 Cathy Leaders

3/23 Cory Route

3/27 Brad Hanson

3/29 Dave Quinn

3/28 Jack Swain

Happy Anniversary

3/3 Mike and Linda Gephardt

3/7 Janice and Bryan Cooper

3/14 Bobby and Roxanne Defoe

3/16 Dan Michels and Kristen Helgren

3/24 Jen and Mike Harpe

Photo by: Best Route Productions

2024 Cooper Landing Chamber of Commerce & CVB

Please support our local businesses!

March 2024