Gear Up! Gear Exchange Buys and Sells
Calling all gear lovers! Gather up your gently used outdoor gear and clothing. Girdwood has a new business in town. The Girdwood Gear Exchange opened this past summer giving Girdwoodians an opportunity to buy and sell gear.
It is owned and run by Mara Hall who followed the consignment model when creating her new business. This model benefits the consignor, who makes money by selling used items, while the buyer gets quality gear at a discounted price.
Mara, who loves thrift shopping and clothes, started her career selling women’s clothing at markets. When the commercial space at her current location opened she bought it hoping to expand. Instead of going to Anchorage, her hope is that locals will utilize her store.
The Gear Exchange is located at 599 Alyeska Highway. December hours are: Friday & Saturday 11-5; and Sunday & Monday 11-3.
The Gear Exchange is currently taking winter clothing and gear, but will transition to summer gear when the seasons change.
Go check out the Girdwood Gear Exchange and you might just walk out with a new Patagonia jacket that you didn’t know you needed
CoasT Pizza Goes Bigger
CoasT Pizza is renovating its Old Girdwood location and hopes to serve beer and wine in the future.
The pizzeria has expanded its kitchen, removed walls and scraped away an old, tiled floor to give employees more room to work and customers more room to dine.
For its signature bar, it took owner Amanda Tuttle “months of time and a lot of extremely hard work” to culled and reclaimed lumber from a nearby property.
"The end of the bar is a perfect place to watch the sunset," said CoasT manager Jen Morse. "It's the corner where locals hang out.”
Girdwood hosts Homer Police forum on ‘Parenting in the Digital Age’
On a recent Friday evening in Girdwood, a much anticipated guest speaker came to Girdwood thanks to outreach and support from the Public Safety Advisory Committee and Girdwood Board of Supervisors. Lieutenant Ryan Browning of the Homer Police Department engaged parents and youth in a frank conversation about the real life risks of youth social media usage, cyberbullying, sexting.
Lt. Browning’s time as a police officer, and personal experience as a father of two teens himself, inspired him to create his two hour presentation “Parenting in the Digital Age.” Over the last year Browning has traveled all over the state of Alaska sharing his thoughtful, engaging, and at times provocative, two hour program with the goal of helping parents and teens open up a dialogue about what they’re seeing and experiencing online.
Girdwood's Ava Earl Releases New Album, Helps Power Northwestern U. Running Team
In fourth grade at Girdwood Elementary, Ava Earl had to write a self-reflection on her school performance: "What are you good at? What are your weaknesses?"
Assessing her strengths wouldn't be hard, she was an exemplary student, star runner and already showed a proclivity in music.
But there was one thing she scolded herself on, something that could cause her teachers' "mild frustration", and something, as it would turn out, for which women are typically chided for more than men.
Talking--being--too much.
That accusation became the title of Earl's latest album, her fourth, released Sept. 15