Mat-Su Valley Fairs & Festivals

For over 75 years, the Alas­ka State Fair has been a gath­er­ing place for all Alaskans, and a ​“last hur­rah” before sum­mer gives way to the long Alas­ka winter.What start­ed as a cel­e­bra­tion for the Mat-Su colonists in 1936 has grown into the state’s largest annu­al event. Each year, hun­dreds of thou­sands of fair­go­ers enjoyed night­ly con­certs fea­tur­ing head­line enter­tain­ers in the AT&T Con­cert Series, car­ni­val rides and games, hun­dreds of…  ...more

Every Fri­day from late May through August, vis­it the pop­u­lar open-air mar­ket in down­town Palmer. Start­ed in 2002, this sum­mer-long fes­ti­val cel­e­brates down­town Palmer and the peo­ple and busi­ness­es that make the town great.

In mid-Feb­ru­ary, the Mat-Su Val­ley hosts the begin­ning of the longest and tough­est snow­mo­bile race event in the world: the Iron Dog. In its 30^th year in 2013, the race fea­tures teams of two snow­mo­bile rac­ers rid­ing from Wasil­la to Nome to Fair­banks, cov­er­ing more than 2,000 miles of rugged Alaskan ter­rain. Sea ice cross­ings, the frozen Yukon Riv­er, and treach­er­ous pass­es await these rugged snow­mo­bil­ers, who don’t slow down for any­thing; some of  ...more

Mush­ing in Alas­ka is often a fam­i­ly activ­i­ty, with entire house­holds devot­ed to the feed­ing, train­ing, and care of dog ken­nels that can house more than 100 canines! Teenagers from these fam­i­lies, plus oth­er teens who have stum­bled into the world of mush­ing, com­pete in a 160-mile race the week­end pri­or to the start of the Idi­tar­od. It’s a small field, usu­al­ly under 15 peo­ple, and the race takes under 24 hours. You can catch the start of the…  ...more

The Musk Ox Farm has host­ed the ​“Run­ning with the Bulls” trail race in August since 2002. Don’t miss out on this unique­ly Alaskan one-of-a-kind race!

Held the sec­ond week­end in June, the town of Palmer com­mem­o­rates the area’s orig­i­nal farm­ers, and Palmer’s colony history.

One week after the town of Wil­low hosts the Idi­tar­od Sled Dog Restart, locals take advan­tage of the groomed trail by play­ing golf on it! Start­ed by the Cham­ber of Com­merce, this icy links tour­na­ment draws some 100 foul-weath­er golfers for a 9‑hole tour­ney. Accord­ing to par­tic­i­pants, the ball bounces on groomed snow just like on real grass. There’s a lim­it of two clubs per per­son, but teams can share their clubs (a put­ter and sev­en iron are…  ...more

Come see the thrill of human inge­nu­ity sur­round­ed by the majesty of Moth­er Nature. At this drag rac­ing track in Palmer — the only Inter­na­tion­al Hot Rod Asso­ci­a­tion track in Alas­ka, and the only NASCAR sanc­tioned oval track in the state, you can have a relax­ing but thrilling day of enter­tain­ment, with races every week­end all sum­mer long. Plus, it’s def­i­nite­ly a must-stop for any hot rod lover or rac­ing fan: this is arguably the most picturesque…  ...more

Tal­keet­na cel­e­brates the dark month of Decem­ber with its annu­al Tal­keet­na Win­ter­fest. This pop­u­lar fes­ti­val attracts folks from Anchor­age and Fair­banks with its famed Bach­e­lor Soci­ety Ball and Auc­tion. Come watch the bid­ding as Tal­keet­na Bach­e­lors fetch as much as $1,000 for a drink and dance at the ball. The auc­tion and ball, held the first Sat­ur­day of the month, are the high­lights. But don’t miss the Parade of Lights, held on the festival’s…  ...more

March is the month to get out­side. The days are longer and the weath­er is start­ing to warm, but win­ter still has its icy grip. To avoid going stir crazy or for some good, clean Alaskan win­ter fun, head north to Trap­per Creek for the Cab­in Fever Reliev­er. Held the sec­ond Sat­ur­day in March in this pic­turesque small town (there are great views of Denali), the cel­e­bra­tion includes a pan­cake break­fast, a raf­fle, cross-coun­try ski races, games,  ...more

If you love blue­grass and camp­ing in the Alaskan wilder­ness, this is the fes­ti­val for you. Bands play for 20 hours each day, and there are ven­dors sell­ing hand­made craft items and food of all kinds. The fes­ti­val is also focused around camp­ing, and the whole fam­i­ly is encour­aged to par­tic­i­pate: there’s even a des­ig­nat­ed fam­i­ly camp­ing area.

The Tal­keet­na Trio is made up of two dis­tances of 20 and 60 miles, FAT BIKES only. Beau­ti­ful rolling ter­rain with nar­row trails, with some riv­er run­ning and each lap takes you through down­town Tal­keet­na. Start­ing point is at the Denali Brew­ing Company.

The Offi­cial Race Start begins in the town of Wil­low on the first Sun­day in March. Come see the mush­ers head out on ​“The Last Great Race” and get a feel for a small-town Alaskan win­ter. The race begins at 2 p.m., with mush­ers leav­ing the gate every two min­utes. Sev­er­al thou­sand fans show up to cheer on the 60 to 70 dog teams; ven­dors sell­ing food and sou­venirs set up at the Wil­low Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­ter. There’s usu­al­ly a shut­tle from Wasil­la, and…  ...more

This annu­al win­ter fes­ti­val, in exis­tence for more than 50 years, is held on back-to-back week­ends at the end of Jan­u­ary and begin­ning of Feb­ru­ary. With the state’s biggest win­ter fire­works dis­play, $1,000 bin­go cash pots, sled dog races, tal­ent con­tests, foot races and fat-tire bike races, the fes­ti­val is a region­al draw and a fun place for trav­el­ers to see Alaskans cut loose.The car­ni­val kicks off with a din­ner at the com­mu­ni­ty cen­ter, where…  ...more

Local bands, live paint­ings, cir­cus per­for­mances, local art ven­dors, and a pos­i­tive atmos­phere. Bring an instru­ment and join in the open jam ses­sions! Bring jug­gling equip­ment, fire spin­ning equip­ment, hoops, etc, and join in the live per­for­mance art.

Mush­ing in Alas­ka is often a fam­i­ly activ­i­ty, with entire house­holds devot­ed to the feed­ing, train­ing, and care of dog ken­nels that can house more than 100 canines! Teenagers from these fam­i­lies, plus oth­er teens who have stum­bled into the world of mush­ing, com­pete in a 160-mile race the week­end pri­or to the start of the Idi­tar­od. It’s a small field, usu­al­ly under 15 peo­ple, and the race takes under 24 hours. You can catch the start of the…  ...more

This big pull­out doesn’t look like much, but each spring bird watch­ers from around the world gath­er here to look for elu­sive species of rap­tors and fal­cons. Migrat­ing north for sum­mer, red tail hawks, sharp-shinned hawks, gyre fal­cons and oth­er birds of prey gath­er in large num­bers here, play­ing on the uplifts along the windy cliffs. In addi­tion to see­ing impres­sive num­bers of hawks and rare species, bird­ers are drawn by the good light, with…  ...more

If you’re look­ing for a tra­di­tion­al 4^th of July, you’ll get that and more in Glac­i­er View. Vis­it this small town with superb views where you can take part in a com­mu­ni­ty get-togeth­er that fea­tures a fly­over of King­dom Air Corps planes, a parade, com­mu­ni­ty bbq (bring your own meat to grill on pro­vid­ed grills), fire­works, and the launch­ing of a vehi­cle off a 300 foot cliff.