Sure a person can go to the zoo to see a real live reindeer, but that’s not the same thing as the opportunity to see one on a working farm in beautiful Alaska!
This particular farm is located in Palmer, Alaska, which is slightly less than 45 miles north of of Anchorage in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley.
The founders of the place, Tom and Gene Williams, kept it simple when naming the place. It’s simply called Reindeer Farm.
Tom originally wanted a moose farm, but that wasn’t possible in Alaska at the time. So the lover of the outdoors and animals decided on a reindeer farm instead, according to the website.
He took a business trip to northern Canada in 1987, where he purchased a reindeer herd. The animals were taught to eat grains and local hay.
Though Tom and Gene have passed away since that time, their daughters inherited their parents’ love for farm life and animals and have kept Reindeer Farm going since 2011.
It’s now being run by their oldest daughter, Denise Williams Hardy.
While the holiday season won’t be the right time of the year to see the aurora borealis in Alaska, there is a great deal of beauty it has to offer in other ways, as well as some family fun.
Reindeer Farm is open to the public and offers two different live Christmas tour options for those who are interested to visit there as a part of a Christmas vacation: Santa Experience Tour and Christmas On The Farm event, according to the website.
The Santa Experience Tour is a guided tour that includes activities such as visiting, feeding and petting the animals, photo opportunities, complimentary hot cocoa, an indoor snowball fight, and a family photo with Santa and a live reindeer.
Christmas On The Farm is a self-guided tour that also offers a tractor-pulled wagon ride and reindeer sled rides as long as the temperature is above 0 degrees, a bonfire, and games for the kids.
“We do a warm-up break into the middle of the tour because it is outdoors,” Hardy told KTUU.
She said last year was especially cold, and temperatures were below zero on several days.
“I sure hope this season we have a really great season. Twenty degrees above zero would be perfect,” she said.
Other animals that people will get to see on the farm include alpacas, moose, turkeys and cows.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.