Letters to the Editor
Published 10:30 pm Wednesday, November 5, 2025
Thanks for making a Halloween tradition special
For 40+ years the Mountainview / Bayview neighborhood has been Homer’s undisputed Trick-or-Treat central. What a blast! We see over 500 kids along with all of their families and friends in a spontaneous parade of costumes and candy and fun. Costumes were AWESOME, and from the tiniest tykes to the tallest teenagers, kids were so polite and sweet with their “Happy Halloweens” and “Thank you’s” and smiles.
A huge thank you to Lieutenant Browning and the Homer Police Department who now organize the “Halloween One-Ways.” HPD partially closes the streets to through-traffic to make the evening safer for everyone. Families and kids and residents appreciate your efforts immensely.
Big thanks also to the Homer Volunteer Fire Department, to the community volunteers in their reflective vests who help direct traffic, to Poppy Benson who organizes volunteers, and to Chris Story Real Estate who collects and delivers supplemental candy. And of course so much appreciation for the residents of the Mountainview & Bayview neighborhood who make this night so special! It’s the best spontaneous parade festival around.
Adele Person, Mountainview/Bayview resident
Homer
Community support helps create a fulfilling place for youth
The Planet Youth Homer team would like to thank everyone who helped make the youth questionnaire a success. In line with the primary step of the Icelandic Prevention Model, we surveyed Homer High School, Flex High School and homeschool youth in grades 9-11 to learn about their well-being in the community. The data will be owned by our community and Planet Youth Homer will be sharing the results in January.
We provided incentives for every participant through the generosity of several Homer businesses including The Homer Book Store, Porcupine Theater, SPARC, Holdfast Grappling, Mike’s Eatery and Bubbles Café. The Porcupine Theater also donated a year-long family pass for one student who had enrolled before the early bird deadline. Outside of the generous donations we received, the incentives and four grand door prizes were made possible through a grant given by The Homer Foundation’s Youth Advisory Committee.
All this would not have been possible without support from the Resilience Coalition and its members including community parents, South Peninsula Hospital, Haven House, Homer Police Department, SPARC, Coastal Studies, Alaska Public Health’s Adolescent Health Project, South Peninsula Behavioral Health and more.
Finally, a huge shout out to the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, their administrations and staff members for being open to implementation of the Icelandic Prevention Model here in Homer and Seward. With all your help, we are continuing to make this community an enriching and fulfilling place to be for youth.
Rudy Multz
The South Peninsula Behavioral Health Services Child & Family Team
