Business

Customers pick out plants during the Central Peninsula Garden Club’s annual plant sale at Peninsula Grace Brethren Church on Kalifornsky Beach Road on Saturday, June 9, 2018 in Soldotna, Alaska. The annual plant sale is always popular — this year, volunteers said that there was a massive crowd gathered even before the sale opened at 10 a.m., nearly clearing out the tables in less than two hours. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Shop Talk: Central Peninsula Garden Club begins new year of monthly programs

Since 2007, the Central Peninsula Garden Club has been educating and connecting gardeners in the area. Renae Wall has been serving as the nonprofit’s president… Continue reading

Customers pick out plants during the Central Peninsula Garden Club’s annual plant sale at Peninsula Grace Brethren Church on Kalifornsky Beach Road on Saturday, June 9, 2018 in Soldotna, Alaska. The annual plant sale is always popular — this year, volunteers said that there was a massive crowd gathered even before the sale opened at 10 a.m., nearly clearing out the tables in less than two hours. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)
Brothers’ Cafe opens in Kenai Airport with focus on family and food made with love

Brothers’ Cafe opens in Kenai Airport with focus on family and food made with love

Brothers’ Cafe is the newest tenant inside the Kenai Municipal Airport restaurant space. The business venture reunited two brothers, Jim and Lyndell Hamilton, after more… Continue reading

Brothers’ Cafe opens in Kenai Airport with focus on family and food made with love
Kacey Cooper plays with some of the smaller dogs staying at her kennel on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, in Kasilof, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)

Shop Talk: Cooper’s Wounded Bear Farm and Kennels

Kacey Cooper has always worked with dogs, so opening her own dog kennel was a natural fit. “For my first job I would go around… Continue reading

Kacey Cooper plays with some of the smaller dogs staying at her kennel on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, in Kasilof, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
Dr. Jennifer Reed and Dr. Adam Hawkins with their rottweiler, Tank, who is training to be Reed’s service dog. (Photo courtesy of Puffin Chiropractic)

Shop Talk: Puffin Chiropractic

Jennifer Reed said she was never coming to Alaska. A Texas native, Reed couldn’t see herself quitting her job and moving 4,000 miles away from… Continue reading

Dr. Jennifer Reed and Dr. Adam Hawkins with their rottweiler, Tank, who is training to be Reed’s service dog. (Photo courtesy of Puffin Chiropractic)
Dipnetter Brad Gamblin (left) digs in the sand of Kenai’s north beach with his grandchildren Stella (in blue) and Marly Wilson on Thursday, July 26, 2018 in Kenai, Alaska. The three, plus grandmother Cher Gamblin, brought the grandchildren on their first dipnetting trip this year. The morning, Brad Gamblin said, “was very productive.” Getting up early, he said the family had caught a dozen salmon by 9 a.m. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai’s exclusivity offering fails to bring vendors to the dipnet

This year’s personal-use dipnet fishery hasn’t draw many vendors to the north and south beaches along the mouth of the Kenai River. Nor did the… Continue reading

Dipnetter Brad Gamblin (left) digs in the sand of Kenai’s north beach with his grandchildren Stella (in blue) and Marly Wilson on Thursday, July 26, 2018 in Kenai, Alaska. The three, plus grandmother Cher Gamblin, brought the grandchildren on their first dipnetting trip this year. The morning, Brad Gamblin said, “was very productive.” Getting up early, he said the family had caught a dozen salmon by 9 a.m. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)
Shop Talk: Heather and Heather Screen Printing

Shop Talk: Heather and Heather Screen Printing

One of Heather Lawson’s signature phrases is “it’s all good.” So when she was traveling in Oregon and found a shirt with her favorite line,… Continue reading

Shop Talk: Heather and Heather Screen Printing
Pilot Alex Agosti inspects Kenai Aviation’s Cessna 206 before a flight with Kenai Aviation owner Joel Caldwell on Tuesday, July 17, 2018 at the Kenai Municipal Airport in Kenai, Alaska. The family-owned aviation business flew passengers and cargo around the Cook Inlet region for 56 years before closing in September 2017 after the Cook Inlet oil field operators who were its primary customers consolidated and dropped investment in response to low oil prices. Caldwell bought the business early this year from Jim Bielefeld, son of founder Bob Bielefeld. Calwell plans to revive and expand Kenai Aviation into a statewide charter. Presently he and two other pilots — Agosti and Keith Ham — are offering flightseeing trips. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

With new owner, Kenai Aviation looking beyond Cook Inlet

When Kenai Aviation closed in late 2017, it left behind more than half a century of history at the Kenai Municipal Airport and a generation… Continue reading

Pilot Alex Agosti inspects Kenai Aviation’s Cessna 206 before a flight with Kenai Aviation owner Joel Caldwell on Tuesday, July 17, 2018 at the Kenai Municipal Airport in Kenai, Alaska. The family-owned aviation business flew passengers and cargo around the Cook Inlet region for 56 years before closing in September 2017 after the Cook Inlet oil field operators who were its primary customers consolidated and dropped investment in response to low oil prices. Caldwell bought the business early this year from Jim Bielefeld, son of founder Bob Bielefeld. Calwell plans to revive and expand Kenai Aviation into a statewide charter. Presently he and two other pilots — Agosti and Keith Ham — are offering flightseeing trips. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Shop Talk: Reading Corner

When Aurora Kleinschmidt first opened the Reading Corner nearly four years ago, she said it was all a labor of love. The used bookstore works… Continue reading

Customers use Muddy Mutts self-service operations to clean their dog. (Photo courtesy of Nick Sorrell)

Shop talk: Muddy Mutts

Nick Sorrell, the owner of Muddy Mutts Pet Wash and Grooming, said he and his partner wanted to bridge a gap in the peninsula pet… Continue reading

Customers use Muddy Mutts self-service operations to clean their dog. (Photo courtesy of Nick Sorrell)
Customers use Muddy Mutts self-service operations to clean their dog. (Photo courtesy of Nick Sorrell)

Shop talk: Muddy Mutts

Nick Sorrell, the owner of Muddy Mutts Pet Wash and Grooming, said he and his partner wanted to bridge a gap in the peninsula pet… Continue reading

Customers use Muddy Mutts self-service operations to clean their dog. (Photo courtesy of Nick Sorrell)
Memories for sale: Nostalgic game shop opens in Soldotna

Memories for sale: Nostalgic game shop opens in Soldotna

Remember the large Blockbuster banner sign outside of the now-closed shop? The 14-foot by 7-foot sign is now inside of Beetle Boss — a nostalgic… Continue reading

Memories for sale: Nostalgic game shop opens in Soldotna
Memories for sale: Nostalgic game shop opens in Soldotna

Memories for sale: Nostalgic game shop opens in Soldotna

Remember the large Blockbuster banner sign outside of the now-closed shop? The 14-foot by 7-foot sign is now inside of Beetle Boss — a nostalgic… Continue reading

Memories for sale: Nostalgic game shop opens in Soldotna
Llamas graze in the pasture of Diamond M Ranch Resort on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017 near Kenai, Alaska. Three calves were born this summer to the herd that Diamond M owners Ronna and Blair Martin have kept since the 1990s. Though members of the Martin family have made yarn and felt hats from llama wool, taken them as pack animals on camping trips, and occassionally harvested one for meat, the llamas are mostly “exotic lawn ornaments,” Ronna Martin said.

Llama mamas

By Ben Boettger Peninsula Clarion… Continue reading

Llamas graze in the pasture of Diamond M Ranch Resort on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017 near Kenai, Alaska. Three calves were born this summer to the herd that Diamond M owners Ronna and Blair Martin have kept since the 1990s. Though members of the Martin family have made yarn and felt hats from llama wool, taken them as pack animals on camping trips, and occassionally harvested one for meat, the llamas are mostly “exotic lawn ornaments,” Ronna Martin said.
Students run off some energy before taekwondo class begins at Challenge Martial Arts Studio on Monday, Aug. 14, 2017 in Nikiski, Alaska. The studio, which opened in June, offers taekwondo and kickboxing classes in a renovated studio a few doors down from the M&M Supermarket on the Kenai Spur Highway. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Couple opens taekwondo studio in Nikiski

The theme of the day in the Challenge Martial Arts taekwondo class was self-control, and the students repeated the phrase in chorus while preparing for… Continue reading

Students run off some energy before taekwondo class begins at Challenge Martial Arts Studio on Monday, Aug. 14, 2017 in Nikiski, Alaska. The studio, which opened in June, offers taekwondo and kickboxing classes in a renovated studio a few doors down from the M&M Supermarket on the Kenai Spur Highway. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)