By Delcenia Cosman

Reporter, Homer Independent Press

After more than 10 years of operating one of the oldest businesses in Anchor Point, Thurmond’s Far West Auto owners Elaine and Dale Griner know that such longevity is helped along by good service, meeting the community’s ever-evolving needs and maintaining a solid customer base. 

The Griners highlighted that last one on Saturday with the return of their annual Customer Appreciation Day. 

“We are excited to be hosting it again. It gives us an opportunity to show our love and appreciation to our community and surrounding areas for their continued support,” Elaine Griner wrote via text last Friday. 

An open invitation to the community was posted on the Thurmond’s Facebook page two weeks before the event, and on the day of, bright-colored banners and balloons — and the lines of classic cars parked along the periphery of the station’s lot — caught the attention of passing drivers and community members. 

Elaine Griner estimated that about 250 people enjoyed the festivities Saturday afternoon. 

As per tradition, this year’s Customer Appreciation Day featured a smorgasbord of free food including hamburgers, hot dogs and freshly fried halibut, as well as assorted sides. The Kaknu Kruzers also made an appearance, bringing in about 20 classic cars of all ages and makes, from a vintage Dodge Power Wagon to muscle cars like a 1965 Plymouth Barracuda to Dale Griner’s own 1974 El Camino, for community members and car enthusiasts alike to enjoy. 

Homer resident Marie Walker, who described herself and her husband, Boyd, as “friends of the Kaknu Kruzers,” said that events like Thurmond’s Customer Appreciation Day were a fun way to “get people to bring their cars out” and provide opportunities for networking within the car enthusiast community. 

“There’s scads of cars on the peninsula,” she said. “It’s just hard to get people out in the summer because everybody’s busy, and in the winter it’s cold.”

Walker has been attending and participating in car shows in the Homer area since 1986. On Saturday, she brought her 1957 Thunderbird, which she said was known as the “rare bird” T-bird because it was part of a special series of cars originally manufactured for stock car racing. Walker bought it in 1968 when she was in college and credits the T-bird as the gateway for her continued appreciation for classic cars. 

“You buy one because you like it, and then it connects you to other enthusiasts,” she said.

Boyd Walker had a blue two-tone 1933 Plymouth coupe.

One of the other notable vehicles present at the car show was a custom “Chevordillac” hot rod, completed in 2005 and built out of a Chevrolet frame and Ford, Buick and Cadillac parts. 

Looking at the variety of vintage cars brought together at Thurmond’s that day, Marie Walker wondered about the future of car shows.

“The older generation, we’re the ones that have the old cars and muscle cars that the young generation is now looking at as ‘oddities,’” she said. “Ten years from now, what will car shows look like? Will they still bring out enthusiasts and car collectors, or will it be Teslas and just ‘old’ cars?”

The Griners held their first Customer Appreciation Day in 2016, a little more than a year after they took over the family business from Elaine’s sister-in-law. The event continued each year after, until the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Griners to put it on pause. 

“(We) always planned on bringing it back but it didn’t come together for various reasons. Last year, because the Kaknu Kruzers couldn’t join us, we held off again,” Elaine wrote. “Happily, this year worked out, so we penciled it in.”

Thurmond’s is a multi-purpose business, operating a combined auto shop, convenience store and coffee shop, and fuel station. Ballooning fuel prices caused by the ongoing Iran War have impacted individuals and businesses nationwide, and Thurmond’s is no exception. Unleaded gasoline in Anchor Point on Saturday was priced at $5.54 per gallon; in Homer, unleaded fuel cost $5.59 a gallon. On Tuesday, the national average cost of gas was $4.29 per gallon, whereas the average cost in Alaska was about $5.22 per gallon. 

“Higher gas prices … always have their effects. Unfortunately, it’s never a positive, for our customers or for us,” Elaine Griner wrote. “Because of global crude oil prices, geopolitical events and distribution logistics, we can’t control fuel prices, but we do make every effort to minimize costs and to keep our services/products as affordable as possible in our store and at the pump.”

However, higher prices didn’t influence the Griners’ decision to begin hosting their Customer Appreciation Day again this year, Elaine said. 

“The loyal customer base we have here has been remarkable from day one, and we are incredibly grateful for their support and loyalty,” she wrote.