Aleyska Blueberry Festival

I think after this festival, I'll have blueberries for the rest of the year. This event thrown by Aleyska, was an amazing event that captured what the community of Alaska is all about. My friends and I were weary of finding blueberries, since we got to the event on a late Saturday afternoon. However, there was more than enough to go around. The Aleyska Blueberry Festival has become a cherished tradition in Girdwood, celebrating the local blueberry harvest. There was a pie-eating contest and savory cooking demonstrations on what to do with your freshly picked blueberries! The live music was also an amazing treat. The food trucks knocked it out of the park, and the art vendors were beyond impressive.

We arrived a the festival at around 2PM in the afternoon. After quicky stopping at the Crow Creek Mercantile, for some snacks of course, we set out down the road. As to be expected, the street was lined up with cars for at least two miles. We parked in the parking lot right across the hotel. Entering the festival was like stepping through a portal to a new world. I was immediately greeted with the smell of freshly baked blueberry pie and beautiful artwork on display for a lucky tourist to buy. As we walked around the event, we stopped at multiple local artists to support their business. We grabbed multiple business cards and bought some beautiful pieces. One artist in particular spotted my eye- Epilogue Bone Art. This artist makes beautiful pieces out of bones, harvested in Alaska ethically. She dyes the skulls in bleach to clean them, and on some dunks them in blueberries sauce to stain the skull, which produces a beautiful dark sea blue color.

The handmade jewelry was such a gift to experience. Alaskan artists have such a connection with nature, it is very heavily shown in the artwork. I loved that most of the artists incorporated blueberries into their work, especially for this event. After about 2 hours of walking around and "oooing and awwing" we decided to grab some food. Now, the lines were exceedingly long, to be expected. I ate a bison burger with a side of mac and cheese, and my friend split a blueberry funnel cake with everyone. The food was all delicious. We let out stomachs settle and made plans to take the tram up to the top of the hill to start picking away at some blueberries. The tram costed $10 for each person. It was about a 30-minute ride to the top. There are two stops you can pick between, one in the middle and the other one at the end of the tram. We took the tram to the end of the line; however, I would just stop at the midway point- that's where all the blueberries seemed to be.

It took us quite a while to find a good picking spot. We kept walking until we could find a safe place to drop down into the bushes. We noticed underneath the lift, if you decided to try and walk down that way, it is very steep, be extremely careful if you do decide to go down this way. After about 20 minutes of walking around and looking through bushes, we found a prime blueberry spot away from everyone else. Tucked about 50 feet off the beaten trail, on the edge of the marsh, we found beautiful, lush and ripe blueberries. We instantly grabbed out jars and started picking away. With the occasional, delicious salmonberry we made headway and filled up a large glass jar. If we had buckets, I'm sure we could fill it all up. We did regret not taking more, but we were also happy to leave more for the next day of the festival.

After about an hour of picking blueberries, we turned in for the day. With blue stained hands, a jar filled to the top of blueberries, and smiling grins on our faces; we worked our way back to the car. This festival was an absolute amazing time. 10/10 going back next year. It is defiantly suitable to bring small children, since the event is in a confined area on the hotel property. The parking was a little intense, however I would just keep driving towards the parking lot and skip parking on the road. Thank you Aleyska for throwing a great event to praise the blueberry harvest and support local artists and business.