BBAF 2025 WAS A BERRY BIG SUCCESS THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!!!
A HUGE THANK YOU TO THE VOLUNTEERS, VENDORS, CONTRIBUTORS & ALL THE PARTICIPATING SLUGS!!!
AND OF COURSE, THANK YOU BIG SKY FOR SHINING YOUR SUN!!!
BEST BLUEBERRY DISH WINNERS:
1st Place - Kim Cool "Blueberry Baklava"
2nd Place - Jennifer Beaty "Blueberry Sweet Rolls with Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting"
3rd Place - Bonsen Yusuf "Blueberry Lemon Cinnamon Rolls"
Peoples Choice - Samantha Hansen & Whitney Crittenden "Blueberry Feta Salad"
ART EXHIBIT WINNERS:
1st Place Adult - Grace Freeman "The Kindness of Ravens"
2nd Place Adult - Lori Orlowski "Midnight Flora"
3rd Place Adult - Sarah Huerta "Ravenstail Weaving"
1st Place Young Adult - Jayden Huerta "Cedar Hat"
1st Place Youth - Cora Belle Mitchell "Blueberry Dragonet"
Honorable Mention - EmaLee Oshima "Festival of Floating Lights"
People's Choice - Karen Ray "A Blueberry Tease"
PIE EATING CONTEST
1st Place up to 7yrs - Einar Piercy
1st Place 8-12yrs - Ella Wade
1st Place 13-15yrs - Michael Michaud
1st Place Adult - Nicole Martinez
SLUG RACE
1st Place - Oscar "Oscar"
2nd Place - Kahlan "Jewel"
3rd Place - Sixten - "Gandolf"
BIG SLUG CONTEST
1st Place - Einah
2nd Place - Caz
3rd Place - Sailer
HANDMADE HUMAN POWERED BOAT RACE
Adult Fastest - "Shark" Cooterie Board
Most Artistic - "Shark" Cooterie Board
Youth Fastest - Blueberry Starship
The Sinker Award - Krusty Crab Pizza
POETRY (LINGCOD LIMERICK) SLAM
1st Place - Kathy Rousso
2nd Place - Michelle Gray
People's Choice - Gretchen Fitzgerald
VERUSHKA AWARD
Renice Huitt
The Annual Blueberry Arts Festival presented by the Ketchikan Area Arts and Humanities Council began in 1975 and has been growing ever since. The Blueberry Arts Festival is always the first weekend of August, with over 8,000 community members and summer visitors attending. A few of the community’s favorite activities of the 3-day Festival include the Pet and Doll Parade, the Slug Weigh in and Race, live music, the Blueberry Arts Festival Art Exhibit, the Best Blueberry Dish Contest, Fun Runs, the Blueberry Pie-Eating contest, the Great Blueberry Ball Roll, PLUS over 160 artist and vendor booths. The Blueberry Arts Festival wraps up Sunday with the Handmade Human Powered Blueberry Boat Race which includes a grueling almost 100-foot race course filled with tide changes, rapids, bananas, probably a dead salmon or two, eye patches, sinking boats, definitely a curious harbor seal, drama, and fun!!! The final activity of the weekend is the Annual Richard Brautigan, Dick Whittaker, Lillian Ference, and Phoebe Newman Memorial Trout Fishing in America Poetry Slam! Come see art, make art, admire an artist, be inspired by art, maybe give an artist a thank you hug, eat good food, and appreciate the community of Ketchikan for all its quirky gloriousness.

