Fireweed Festival Returns with Live Music and Family Fun
Organizer Kate Forrest greets guests as they enter the 2025 Fireweed Festival in Copper Center. Photo by Anna Somers.
By Anna Somers
On Saturday, June 28, an estimated thousand people stopped by to shop the vendors and listen to the music at the Klutina River Fireweed Music and Art Festival on Loop Road in Copper Center.
The thirteen-hour event included live performances by nine different Alaska-based bands. Some of the bands were made up of local performers, including the granddaughter/grandpa duo Rheannon and Billy Williams and the bluegrass-influenced Wave Train, whose cover of Talking Heads “Burning Down the House” was an obvious crowd favorite.
Local band Wave Train was one of the nine bands around the state to take the stage at the 2025 Fireweed Festival in Copper Center. Photo by Anna Somers.
Other groups tour all around Alaska, like the Irish-Americana band Whiskey Jacks from Eagle River, or the entire country, like Justin Boot’s Ranch Hand Band from Trapper Creek.
In addition to live music, the Fireweed Festival included over two dozen booths with crafts, plants, clothing, and food for sale. Children could get their faces painted, and friends could try to soak each other in the dunk tank as a fundraiser for the fire department. There was also an entire line of Fireweed Festival merchandise including T-shirts.
The Fireweed Festival has evolved over the years through multiple iterations, with various locations and organizers and sometimes long hiatuses. For the previous three years, the event fell under the auspices of the Copper Center Community Association. In 2025, the summer staple was organized by the Copper River Basin Music and Arts Events, a new entity created to put on the Fireweed Festival and similar events in the area.
Ellianna Craig gets her face painted at the 2025 Fireweed Festival in Copper Center. Photo by Anna Somers.
Kate Forrest, one of the event organizers, told me the goal of the Copper River Basin Music and Arts Events is to create music events that help support local artisans and to provide family-friendly entertainment in the Copper River Valley.
Forrest mentioned how events like the Fireweed Festival are only possible with the help of an entire army of committed volunteers. This year was the first year that the Fireweed Festival charged an admission fee to help offset expenses like paying the bands.
The location was provided by Ron Simpson, who owns Uncle Nicolai’s Inn and who built the stage where the bands performed. Some of the corporate sponsors for the event included Glennallen Fuel, Glennallen Hardware and Lumber, Copper Moon Base Camp, E&M House, and Klutina Kate’s B&B.
Local resident Becca Parrish plays keyboards with Wave Train at the 2025 Fireweed Festival in Copper Center. Photo by Anna Somers.
You can learn more about upcoming music and arts events at the Copper River Basin Music and Arts Events Facebook page.