Homer’s Sage Anderson organized the first annual Summer Solstice Fair, which was slated to take place Wednesday, June 21 from noon to 10 p.m. on Hazel Avenue between Safeway and Homer Public Library. But, she had lots of local support and networking to help with all of the components of the event.

Anderson has also coordinated Homer’s Procrastinator Fair and MotherBird Fair.

“I first got started participating in these with Homer’s Street Faire that also took place on Hazel Avenue. I was a teenager then and I would get a couple of my friends together to go in on a booth space. It was a lot of fun,” Anderson said.

Anderson grew up in Homer and wanted to contribute something to a summer solstice celebration. There were events in Seldovia or farther up the Kenai Peninsula, but not at home. This summer provided two local events, the Solstice Fair and the Homer Chamber of Commerce event with musicians performing at the Deep Water Dock.

“Homer is kind of a destination place and I thought it’d be nice to have something closer to home. Let’s bring the fun to Homer,” she said.

The Duncan House sponsored a Kid Olympics event at the fair, organized largely by local teacher Holly Atkins-Martin.

“We were going to have a nominal participation fee but they reached out and provided enough to make it free for kids,” she said. Other businesses in the community donated prizes for the event.

Anderson, ahead of the event, said she would provide supplies for the kids crafting booth. Other features were to include a magician station, face painting, food booths and other vendors. Some have contributed to Anderson’s previous fairs and some are new. Musicians were scheduled from noon to 10 p.m. for the full day.

Ahead of the event, Anderson said she expected to see a good turnout.

Several community businesses stepped up to provide support for the event. Chevron is one of the sponsors, and was slated to provide coffee to the vendors; the SPARC center was schedule to provide chairs and cones; Safeway was scheduled to donate the use of their port-a-potties. A gift certificate was donated by Nomar and there were several toy donations from Captains Toy Chest for the Kid Olympics.

“A lot of people have come together to help make this community celebration. It’s incredible. I’m glad that I’ve been able to reach out and connect with so many amazing people,” Anderson said.