Big Valley Welcome: Mat-Su Borough Hosts the 2024 Arctic Winter Games

With the borough’s backing, the Bid Committee began work on the ninety-eight-page proposal in late 2020. It included statements of support from a range of government and community organizations, including the Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Matanuska-Susitna Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District, the Palmer and Wasilla Chambers of Commerce, the cities of Palmer and Wasilla, and the State of Alaska.

The Mat-Su Borough Assembly approved the bid in a resolution adopted on February 2, 2021, along with a $250,000 appropriation. Early financial backing also came in the form of a $50,000 surplus from the 2014 Arctic Winter Games and a verbal commitment for $2 million from the State of Alaska.

“The bid has to include everything, like where are the villages, which is what they call where the athletes sleep. Where would the venues for the twenty different sports be? Where will the cultural activities take place?” Lane says. “It’s a pretty in-depth document.”

Submission of the bid was followed by a site visit from the Arctic Winter Games International Committee, which for the first time was conducted virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lane says the visit is as much for the committee to weigh the strengths and weaknesses of the bids and potential host sites as it is for the host city to get a clear picture of everything that hosting entails. The International Committee awarded the contract to the Mat-Su in April 2021. Shortly after, with the borough’s participation, the host society was formed.

Making It Happen

“A small cadre of our planning [department] staff helped to form the 2024 Arctic Winter Games host society once the games were awarded to the Mat-Su,” says Mat-Su Borough Manager Mike Brown. “Those staff members’ efforts have led to wider borough support to establishing the host society to what is now a community effort to bring the 2024 games to the Mat-Su.”

Events are being held at various locations around Palmer and Wasilla, including the Menard Sports Center, Skeetawk, the MTA Events Center, and The Glenn Massay Theater. Former host communities Anchorage and Eagle River/Chugiak are also welcoming athletes again—the ski and snowshoe biathlons take place at Kincaid Park, and the Harry J. McDonald Memorial Center in Eagle River is hosting figure skating and short track speed skating.

Partnerships with venues and local sports organizations meant there was little the Host Committee had to create from scratch. “There are things we’re building, like podiums for the medal ceremonies and some things for the biathlon course and other different sporting events,” Lane says. “But there’s not a lot we have to build because there are such great venues already in place, and partnering with different clubs that are always putting on different events makes it easier because they’re the experts.”

Athletes are being housed at “villages” in six area schools—Wasilla Middle and High Schools, Colony Middle and High Schools, and Palmer Junior Middle and High Schools—with the Mat-Su Borough School District extending its spring break by an extra three days so that volunteers can prepare the schools for the athletes’ arrival.

“We convert the classrooms to sleeping quarters, so we take out all of the classroom things and put in beds,” Lane says. “We use the gym for a lot of the indoor events, like basketball, volleyball, table tennis, badminton, and futsal [indoor soccer], so the school district is a very important partner.”

The Arctic Winter Games also include opening and closing ceremonies, cultural activities, a Winter Carnival and Indigenous/Northern Makers’ Market at the Alaska State Fairgrounds, a concert by Inuit-soul music group Pamyua, and an Indigenous fashion show.

Community Engagement

The initial cost for the event was estimated between $4 million and $6 million, but a mix of pandemic-related price increases and ongoing supply chain issues pushed the budget to $7.2 million. Revenue comes from a mix of cash and in-kind donations, sponsorships, and grants, says Host Society Sponsorship and Community Engagement Manager Cheryl Metiva.

“We are 100 percent funded through donations and sponsorships,” she says. “We’re leveraging every bit of funding that comes in to full advantage, from operations to what we need to supply not only to participants but within the community as well.”

The Mat-Su Borough Assembly’s $250,000 appropriation, along with in-kind donations in the form of reduced or eliminated fees, makes it one of the event’s strongest financial partners, Metiva says. The City of Wasilla donated $100,000 in cash and an additional $25,000 in in-kind contributions, eliminating fees and discounting rental fees for the Menard Sports Center and other venues.

Larger sponsors often become part of what Metiva calls “the legacy program,” where the donation is used to purchase equipment that is donated to the venue to keep.

Norfolk Telecom, for example, purchased snow fencing at Skeetawk and Government Peak that will be used in future competitions, she says.

With another grant, “We purchased a $7,000 Bluetooth sound system for the remote game area, which will be donated into the Mat-Su School system or library so that libraries that need systems will be able to use them,” Metiva says.

The Rasmuson Foundation is funding the purchase of 2,000 memory foam beds for the athlete villages, with American Fast Freight and TOTE Maritime Alaska partnering to help with the shipping fees, Metiva says. Those beds will then be donated to homeless shelters and substance abuse rehabilitation centers.

Avis Alaska has provided a 50 percent discount on more than sixty vehicle rentals and has donated eight vehicles and a new cargo van through April 30, Metiva says. DG Signs & Lighting and Donlin Gold joined to cover the cost to wrap the van with logos for the Arctic Winter Games and all three sponsors.

“It’s just another one of those really creative ways that’s providing a huge need for us, but also one of those win/win creative instances,” she says.

Many mom-and-pop businesses have also stepped up with in-kind contributions and other creative sponsorhips, Metiva says, and she leverages those contributions in a way that’s meaningful to both the sponsor and the event. Restaurant sponsors like Chepo’s Mexican Restaurant & Cantina, Evangelo’s Restaurant, the Noisy Goose Café, or Hatcher Pass Pizza provide snacks and meals for volunteer recruitment and orientation events. Glacier Med Spa is closing its offices for three days to hand out free hot chocolates during the skiing events.

“It’s just a huge service to that event because there aren’t any concessions at Government Peak or Skeetawk,” she says. “It just shows some of the innovative ways our sponsors are getting involved.”

World-Class Exposure

With 2,000 athletes—plus coaches, support staff, families, and media—converging on the Mat-Su, early estimates put the Arctic Winter Games’ economic impact at approximately $10 million.

“Hotels and bed and breakfasts will be booked, and we’ve booked several hotel rooms in Anchorage for media and special guests,” Lane says. “All these people will be renting cars and spending money in the community. The participants and their families will be buying things and eating out. It’s a lot of economic development not just for the Mat-Su but Anchorage, too.”

Media coverage from outlets across the Circumpolar North will highlight the Mat-Su’s world-class recreational facilities and its desirability as a vacation destination, which is likely to financially benefit the borough in the future, Lane says.

The mayor of Wasilla is quite aware of the non-financial benefits, as well.

“Supporting the Arctic Winter Games 2024 goes above and beyond the fiscal,” Ledford says. “It provides an exclusive opportunity for us to showcase our community to international athletes, guests, and visitors while merging cooperation and interrelationships between communities throughout the borough and state.”

Activities throughout the week—including the opening and closing ceremonies, downtime in athlete villages, and pin trading (which Lane calls the 21st sport)—allow participants and visitors to interact, learn about each other’s cultures, and create memories beyond athletics.

“It’s amazing,” says Lane, who was general manager of the 2014 Fairbanks Host Society. “By the closing ceremonies, everyone is friends and they’ve all traded uniforms, and you don’t know who’s who anymore. It’s just amazing to watch the difference between the opening ceremony and the closing ceremony.”