Chickenstock is an annual music festival which takes place every summer in Chicken, Alaska. 2016 was the 10-year anniversary.
Chicken, known as “the top of the world”, is a community which was settled in 1902 and founded on gold mining and has a population of 17 inhabitants people - well, 17 people in the summer and in the winter it is normally barren. Those who dare to stay during the winter are snowed in. The one highway leading through Chicken is not maintained from mid-October through mid-March.
The odd community name of Chicken, which actually first chosen to be Ptarmigan. Ptarmigan, is a type of bird which is very prominent in the area. A more common name for this bird in English is “snow chicken”. However, back then the spelling could not be agreed upon so therefore Chicken was chosen to avoid embarrassment.
The founding family (3 of the 17 inhabitants), specifically the daughter, worked in event management and while hanging out with a band one night in a bar after their performance she had the idea for inviting bands from across Alaska and hosting a festival in Chicken. Since land isn’t an issue, and there aren’t any neighbours or neighbouring businesses that would be upset by an event, Chicken would really be the perfect place for such an event. The first year, 2006, was just a handful of bands and a small audience, but this 3-day/ 2-night festival grows year by year and brought in over a 1000 people from all over the world last year (2016).
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