Powering Santa's sleigh.

• Author: Dalby, Ron
• Position: Reindeer Farm - Small Business Spotlight - Company Profile

Each December, the Downtown Anchorage Association brings in Santa Claus to light the community Christmas tree. He arrives in a sleigh pulled by nine real reindeer from the Reindeer Farm near Palmer owned by Tom and Gene Williams.

Raising reindeer was Tom's idea, Gene said. "Definitely all of the farming ideas are Tom's."

Tom and Gene met at Brigham Young University. She describes herself as a city girl from Chicago; he grew up on the Mat-Su Valley farm that is now their home. At first glance, the fenced fields, house, barn and other outbuildings in the shadow of Pioneer Peak look much like any other farm.

But, in pastures where one would expect to see "normal" livestock, there are hundreds of bounding reindeer-heavily antlered bulls, delicately antlered cows and frisky calves. Approach the fence, and a mini-stampede takes place as the animals trot over for a handout or a scratch. They're just as friendly as can be.

"When we do the tree-lighting in Anchorage, we take nine deer to pull the sleigh and nine handlers," Gene said. "After Santa arrives, a handler leads each reindeer through the crowd allowing people to pet them."

While Christmas presentations are fun, the real mission of the Reindeer Farm is showing the animals to tourists during the summer. Gene figures they had about 10,000 visitors from May to September 1996.

But while reindeer attract more tourists every year, owning reindeer has ensnared Tom and Gene in a legal mine-field. In the 1930s, Congress passed the Reindeer Act at the urging of Lower 48 beef producers worried about losing market share to reindeer meat from Alaska. This made it illegal for anyone except Alaska Natives to own Alaskan reindeer. The cattlemen were undoubtedly satisfied with the result. The Reindeer Act put thousands of people out of work and virtually destroyed the reindeer industry.

At the time the...