Six Mile Creek Whitewater & Bluegrass Festival!

*** If you are coming to the festival, make sure to read all of this & save this screen/info… this is the only place you’ll find all the information for the festival including info for parking/camping/etc. There is no phone service out there***
*** this year, my dear friends and awesome food vendor “The Hungry Deckhand” will be at the festival Saturday to feed your faces!***

The purpose of the Six Mile Creek Whitewater & Bluegrass Festival is to bring the whitewater paddling community, the music & arts community, and the general public together to share a unique weekend of athletics, entertainment, the human connection and nature on the beautiful shores of Six Mile Creek.

Come race or spectate the CHAOS of paddlers mass-start racing through a narrow, whitewater canyon… guaranteed ear-to-ear grins! While you’re at it, dance your faces off on the shores of the river on Saturday night to some awesome live music! There will be 3 races: Whitewater kayak, pack raft and extreme pool toy races!

EVERYTHING (live music, competition entry, festival entry, camping, bathrooms, parking, hot dogs) is FREE!!!!! As always, there will be an awards ceremony with sweet prizes for race winners (& loser), live music, and a fire show once the sun goes down!

Schedule:
SATURDAY, July 26th, 2025 at the main festival grounds:
11:00 am sharp : Race signup
1pm: racers and spectators leave main festival grounds and drive up the road to the race site
1:30pm sharp: RACE SAFETY MEETING at the top of the race put-in trail.
2 pm : Mass-start extreme race through the 3 biggest rapids of the 1st canyon (KAYAK, canoe, inflatable kayak)
2:30pm: PACK RAFT mass-start extreme race through the 3 biggest rapids of the 1st canyon
3 pm: INFLATABLE POOL-TOY extreme mass-start race … ride an alligator, shark, couch, whatever you want… (whitewater gear is required… aka: drysuit, life jacket, helmet)
* LIVE MUSIC BEGINS 6:00pm!
* Open Mic – sign up at main stage @ 5:30pm…
* Open mic * * 6:00pm-7:30pm
* Orion Donict – 7:45pm-9:15pm
* The Shoot Dangs – 9:30pm-11:00pm
***Special Show by the Alaska Fire Circus – 11pm-11:30pm
* High Step Society – 11:30pm-1am

*** THERE are no trash cans! Bring your own food/beer/water! Take all of your trash, beer cans & cigarette butts home with you! If you see trash, please pick it up. This is a completely self-reliant festival held by a special permit on Chugach National Forest Service land, so it has to be spotless once the festival is over! not a single cigarette butt or piece of toilet paper in the woods can be left behind- there will be Porta potty’s so please use them.

*** BIG NOTE… Since the festival is completely free to the general public (not $100+ like most Alaskan festivals), I really need everyone to donate through GoFundMe or cash to keep this festival free for everyone… at least a $20 donation is really needed to help pay the set-up costs, forest service and government permit fees, portapotty rentals and delivery, event insurance, food, transportation costs, misc expenses, bands, sound tech, etc and keep this festival going year after year!
https://gofund.me/e7e0892b

**** There will be a cash donation box up front near the main stage, please put what you can in there to help make it possible to continue bringing everyone together every year at this festival****

DIRECTIONS to festival: Drive 1 hour south of Anchorage on the Seward Highway towards the town of Hope. Main festival grounds are located at mile 3.4 of Hope Road. Look for festival signs.

PARKING & CAMPING: NO MOTORHOMES, TRAILERS or BUSES (smaller truck campers & vans are ok)- You can park off the shoulder of the road, but DO NOT park over the white lines or you will be towed. Don’t block anyone in and make sure sure sure your car is completely off the road. They are very serious about towing, so please spread the word!!!

CAMPING – Tent spots are everywhere, just get creative, plenty of camping is behind the main stage as well. *** there is a good chance that you might have to drop camping gear off at the festival area, and go drive your car down the road a ways and find a shoulder big enough to pull off over the white line. There is another large camping area around mile marker 1.***

*** DO NOT PARK in the dirt road circle around The Portapotties at the main festival area, cars/ambulances need to be able to drive in and turn around. Big vehicles need to be able to turn around in this loop for emergencies.

* PLEASE PACK OUT YOUR TRASH! Chugach National Forest rangers will be assessing the area after the festival and it needs to be BETTER than it was before the festival to have the festival next year… I need everyone’s participation to do this (pick up any trash/paper, fluff up the grass where your tent was, pick up any left-over food on the ground, etc).

** If you get to the main festival grounds at 1:00pm on Saturday and wonder where folks are at… YOU’RE MISSING THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE FESTIVAL!!!!… the extreme, mass-start sprint races 5 minutes back up the road!! (look for lots of parked cars off the Seward Hwy about a mile north of the Hope Road junction). The extreme races happen from 1 PM through 3 PM, super easy to watch/spectate!

DIRECTIONS to the extreme race area mentioned above: *Competitors & spectators will leave the main festival grounds & drive up the road to the 1st canyon race area just off the Seward Highway about 1 mile north of the Hope Highway junction on Saturday at 1:00p.m. sharp…*** you’ll notice people leaving the main festival area, just follow them***

* If you want to volunteer or help, all you have to do is contribute somehow. Doing things like:
– bring something cool or festive to share with everyone! (Hot tub, etc)
– bring some firewood to the bonfire pit at the main stage area
– pick up any trash you see
●help break down/clean up the main stage on Sunday morning
– help direct people from blocking the road/dirt road loop area
– help set safety during the races
-etc etc etc

***COMPETITORS*** If you want to compete in the river races, you must have a proper life jacket, helmet, and drytop/dry suit.. a drysuit is highly recommended because there’s usually swimmers involved;^) if you don’t have the proper whitewater gear then you can’t compete in the races!!

*** The RACE SAFETY MEETING will be held immediately before the races at 1:30pm sharp at the 1st Canyon race site Saturday. Please be IN GEAR & right next to the highway at the top of the race Putin trail at 1:30 PM sharp for the safety meeting!!!