Six Mile Creek Whitewater & Bluegrass Festival (9th annual!) on Saturday, August 13th, 2016!
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 experience the hardcore CHAOS of paddlers mass-start sprint racing through a narrow, whitewater canyon... guaranteed ear-to-ear grins! While you’re at it, come boogie on the shores of the river on Saturday night to some incredible, boot-stompin’ live music! EVERYTHING (live music, competition entry, festival entry, camping, parking) is FREE!!!!! As always, there will be a raffle for some sweet prizes, an awards ceremony for the races, live music, and a fire show once the sun goes down!
MUSIC Schedule:
SATURDAY, AUGUST 13th, 2016 at the main festival grounds:
- 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm: Squeeze Mama
- 7:15 pm - 8:15 pm : The Goddamn Ranch Hand Band
- 8:30 pm - 9:30 pm : Quela Narguela & the Rowdy Rutabagas
- 9:45 pm - 11:30 pm : The Shoot Dangs
- 11:45 pm - 1-ish am : Orion Donict (prepare to dance your faces off)
*** THERE WILL NOT be any food vendors this year or beer garden! Bring food/beer for yourself so you don't get hungry/thirsty! This is a completely self-reliant festival ***
BIG NOTE... I really need everyone to donate cash this year, as I've always lost money or barely broke even (never made a dime) out of my own pocket to put this event on free for everyone... and I really want to be able to pay the bands this year... a $15 - $20 donation is really needed to help pay the set-up costs, permit fees, portapotty rental, event insurance, misc expenses, bands and keep this festival going year after year! **** 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**** Or even better, donate to the KICKSTARTER which you will see on this webpage soon!
DIRECTIONS: 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: 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!!! Please be respectful and don't park on anyone's private property! Be creative and use your common sense.
*** 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.
CAMPING: * Free camping! around the main festival grounds, no room for RV's at the main festival area though, tent camping only. There are plenty of free camping areas along the road to Hope, just be creative. There's a large field, so just find a spot to nestle into, it's a beautiful camping area! There is also an official campground about 10 miles down the road past the town of Hope. Once again, be creative and use your common sense.
* PLEASE PACK OUT YOUR OWN TRASH!!!! It would be awesome to have everyone's help on Sunday morning cleaning up the area... the 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).
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 Canyon Creek bridge overpass on Saturday at 1:00p.m. sharp...*** you'll notice people leaving the main festival area, just use your intuition and follow them***
* If you want to volunteer, all you have to do is contribute somehow. I need volunteers to
- make a fire pit/collect firewood
- pick up trash and bring it to town/the Hope dump on Sunday morning
- help break down the main stage on Sunday morning
- help pack up Sunday morning
- help direct people towards parking
- river safety/rescue racers by boat/throwbag
-etc etc etc
IF YOU WANT TO VOLUNTEER, please contact me at kayaker35@hotmail.com or just help at the festival when it looks like help is needed.
*Competitors* If you want to compete in the river races, you must have a proper life jacket and helmet... a drysuit is highly recommended because there's usually swimmers involved;^) See schedule below for sign-up info...
EVENT SCHEDULE:
SATURDAY, AUGUST 13th, 2016:
11:00 am : all competitors/racers need to walk down to the main festival tent/dome on the shore of the river, grab a racing bib and sign your name, Bib number, and phone number on the sign up sheet. PLEASE return bibs to the main stage tent immediately after the races!
12:30 pm: racers and spectators leave main festival grounds at Boston Bar area and carpool/drive back north to the 1st canyon extreme race series site (5 minutes back towards Anchorage from the main festival site, about 1 mile north of the Seward Highway bridge over Canyon Creek, just before the Hope cut-off road... look for lots of parked cars off the side of the highway at 1:00pm.
1:00 pm - 1:30 pm : Downriver mass-start extreme race through the 3 biggest rapids of the 1st canyon (KAYAK, canoe, inflatable kayak)
2:00 pm: PACK RAFT mass-start extreme race through the 3 biggest rapids of the 1st canyon (pack rafts only)
2:30 pm: INFLATABLE POOL-TOY extreme mass-start race (inflatable pool-toy race...ride an alligator, shark, couch, whatever you want!... (normal whitewater gear is required (aka: drysuit, life jacket, helmet))... pack rafts don't count as an inflatable pool-toy:^
4:00 pm: everyone drives back to main festival area, awards ceremony, bonfire party, & live music begins. AWARDS will be around 7:00pm!
Here's a write-up from a few years back:
http://
and a quick racing video:
http://www.youtube.com/
and a video of some of the live music that will be happenin!:
https://www.youtube.com/
https://www.youtube.com/
Sponsors:
* Cook Inlet Keepers
* Mooses Tooth Brewing Company
* Susitna Sled & Kayak
* Alaska Raft & Kayak
* Chugach Outdoor Center
* NOVA
* American Whitewater
* Alaska Mountaineering and Hiking
* Bills Distributing
* Knik Canoe & Kayak Club
* Great Harvest Bread Company
******* Any questions please email or if you want to volunteer help please Timmy @ kayaker35@hotmail.com or sign up at the festival grounds*******
