Blueberry Arts Festival

The Annual Blueberry Arts Festival presented by the Ketchikan Area Arts and Humanities Council began in 1975 and has been growing ever since. The Blueberry Arts Festival is always the first weekend of August, with over 8,000 community members and summer visitors attending. A few of the community’s favorite activities of the 3-day Festival include the Pet and Doll Parade, the Slug Weigh in and Race, music on the Mainstage, the Blueberry Arts Festival Art Exhibit, the Best Blueberry Dish Contest, Fun Runs, the Blueberry Pie-Eating contest, the Blueberry Beard Contest, the Great Blueberry Ball Roll, PLUS over 130 artist and vendor booths. The Blueberry Arts Festival wraps up Sunday with the Festival’s newest event, the Handmade Human Powered Blueberry Boat Race which includes a grueling almost 100 foot race course filled with tide changes, rapids, bananas, eye patches, sinking boats, drama, and fun.  The final activities of the weekend are the Annual Richard Brautigan, Dick Whitaker, & Lillian Ference Memorial Trout Fishing in America Poetry Slam and the Gigglefeet Dance Festival! Come to down town Ketchikan and see art, make art, admire art, be inspired by art, maybe give an artist a thank you hug, eat good food, and appreciate the community of Ketchikan for all its quirky gloriousness.