Just about everything you saw and read about the Trump rally in Wasilla on Tuesday came from a fenced-off area on the floor of the Menard Center. It was called the press pen.
Big Cabbage Radio volunteer Emily Forstner spent the day in the pen. This is her first person account.
This was the first time a sitting president visited the Mat-Su.
Dozens of journalists came.
They gathered before daylight at the back doors of the Menard Center. Reporters pulled wagons filled with cameras and audio equipment. They greeted each other as old friends.
President Trump’s campaign rally for Senator Dan Sullivan and Representative Nick Begich was seven hours away.
It was my first press pen. I had a backpack. I was a volunteer for Big Cabbage Radio. I passed inspection and grabbed my pass.
The pen was a waist-high aluminum fence. It surrounded risers for the video equipment and a row of tables for the reporters. Camera crews and print reporters rarely crossed paths.
But once in the pen, always in the pen. You needed permission from the Secret Service to leave. And no press pass, no entry.
The seating was tight. KTNA news manager Marion Chesterton sat on the floor against the fence. I sat between an Associated Press reporter and Amy Buschatz of the Mat-Su Sentinel. Washington Post reporter Natalie Allison sat on the other side of Buschatz.
Allison told me she had covered several of Trump’s rallies. She wondered if there might be more excitement from the stands than usual because so many people were seeing Trump for the first time.
No reporter could be everywhere at once. Buschatz teamed up with Alaska Public Media to share reporting from inside and outside the Menard Center. You can see it in their combined bylines and taglines.
But the noise. It was truly deafening. My ears still hurt.
The crowd chanted “Build the Line” and waved pre-printed signs. Allison asked about the chant. It was too loud to explain. Buschatz pulled up an article on the computer about the yet-to-be-built LNG line.
Senator Sullivan approached the pen to answer questions. It was a scrum. Mics hung in the air and questions were ready.
Sullivan was about to leave after many questions from national and Alaska outlets when Buschatz asked a staffer for one more from the local paper: “Why Wasilla?”
The Sullivan staffer said, “One more question, and it’s Amy’s.”
The President was announced. Cameras swung into place, typing stopped, and reporters gathered along the front of the pen.
Trump turned to the media at one point in his speech. He said, “Our nation is doing better now than ever before. But the fake news media refuses to want to talk about it. They hate to talk about it. Just look at them all.” He pointed toward the pen. There were scattered boos.
It didn’t feel like a press pen at that moment. It felt like a cage. For a moment, the pen paused. Then the non-stop work continued.
It had been a 12-hour day by the time I walked through the pen’s gate toward the exit. A couple of reporters were still filing stories. Chesterton from KTNA stopped on her way out to record a rallygoer talking about their experience. I watched the last of the motorcade drive away. And then I drove away.
By the time I got home, Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Public Media had posted their stories about the rally.
So had the Mat-Su Sentinel. And in it, Amy Bushatz had her answer.
In other election news, we asked the 39 candidates that are campaigning for contested seats in our listening area to sit down for an interview. This includes candidates for the Borough Assembly, School Board, State House, Governor, and US Congress.
About 20 candidates replied and were interviewed. The interviews air Sunday starting at 3 p.m. They will be posted on our website afterwards. These are about 20 minute conversations with each candidate. We should have a schedule posted on Saturday.
Page 2 airs weekdays at 7 a.m., 9 a.m., 11:50 a.m., and 6 p.m.
Tune in at 89.7 in Palmer, 89.5 in Sutton, 88.3 in Chickaloon and Glacier View or online at bigcabbageradio.org.
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Emily Forstner reported this Page Two article and yours truly, Lee Henrikson produced it. If you have an idea for a Page 2 topic, please email us at page2@radiofreepalmer.org.
That’s it for today and the news on Page Two on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026.
Photo: KTNA news manager Marion Chesterton works from the floor of the press pen at President Trump’s rally at the Menard Center in Wasilla on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026 by Emily Forstner.