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There are plenty of reasons to get outside when Alaska's long daylight hours reach their zenith. When the calendar marks the first full day of summer, Kenai Peninsula visitors and residents can celebrate the midnight sun in a variety of ways with games, music and food.

Visitors and residents can choose between four festivals on the Kenai Peninsula this weekend. Folks staying in the Central Peninsula area can take their kids to the Family Fun in the Midnight Sun festival at the Nikiski swimming pool and then go to the Diamond M Ranch for KDLL and the Kenai Peninsula Bed and Breakfast Association's Summer Solstice Music Festival. Those headed toward Seward on Saturday can stop by the Moose Pass community hall for the summer solstice festival there. And across Kachemak Bay, folks visiting Seldovia for the weekend can attend the Summer Solstice Music Festival.

The Nikiski Family Fun in the Midnight Sun festival begins with a three-mile and five-mile run, said festival co-coordinator Rachel Parra. The run winds its way through the wooded trail system adjacent to the pool. The five-mile run follows the same route until it gets to the Kenai Spur Highway and meanders through several residential areas, Parra said. Registration for the runs begins at 9 a.m., the race starts at 10. Parra said everyone in the family can participate, and it's sponsored by the Nikiski North Star Cosmic Reading Program. The entry fee for the run is $15 and participants get a T-shirt.

From sack and three-legged races to egg and water balloon tosses, kids, ages 1 through 12, have several opportunities to come home with prizes at the festival, Parra said. There will be a 35-foot inflatable obstacle course and a jump castle. There will also be carnival games, food and music by Stefanie Bouchard. Adults will also have the chance to obtain information from local politicians, Marathon Oil, the Nikiski Chamber of Commerce and the American Red Cross. Several community organizations will also sell food. The festival begins at noon and lasts until 4:30 p.m.

"We have more booths this year, we're also doing 4H pony rides," Parra said, adding that the obstacle course is new as well. "We always hope for good weather, we usually get several hundred people that come through."

The Family Fun in the Midnight Sun event began in the 1960s. Audrey Johnson, a festival volunteer, said she can remember when the festival was held at the Bishop Creek Bar right outside Captain Cook State Park on Father's Day. They moved it to the Nikiski mall in the early 80s, she said, and wound up at the swimming pool in about 1993.

"It's been a community event that has just grown," Johnson said, adding that back in the 60s the event was called Kiddies Day. "In the early days they had gifts for every child that turned out and then as the community grew they had sack races and money thrown in sawdust. (Now), it's geared more towards sports."

Johnson said back in the early 60s the summer solstice festival was the one community event held in Nikiski. People would reunite with old friends and neighbors, and no one cared if there were winners or losers.

"They just started the elementary school out here, all the kids went to the Kenai schools," she said. "This was the one event a year that brought the whole community together."

For folks on the Central Peninsula who want to start their celebrating early and stay out late, KDLL's Summer Solstice Music Festival features 24 hours of jazz, rock, bluegrass, blues and country at the Diamond M Ranch beginning at noon on Friday and Saturday and end at midnight on both days. Because of the leap year this year, rather than hold the festival one day, JoAnne Martin, a coordinator for the Kenai Peninsula Bed and Breakfast Association, said the festival will be held two days instead of one.

"We looked at the sun calendars and they said the solstice was on the 20th, and we looked at other calendars and it said the first day of summer is the 21st, which means the solstice," Martin said. "Alan (Auxier) is the one who chose the 20th and in years past I think the first solstice festival was on the 21st and it was on a Saturday. And they kept it on the solstice weekend."

On Friday, the festival will be sponsored by KDLL and on Saturday the Bed and Breakfast Association will sponsor the festival, Martin said. Because of this, KDLL set admission on Friday at $8 and the Bed and Breakfast Association will charge $5 on Saturday. Those who want to attend the festival both days can pay $13.

Auxier, KDLL station manager, said the two-day festival this year is an experiment, primarily because the actual solstice came on a Friday, and is not sure if it will be continued that way next year. Normally, KDLL held its music festival the day of the summer solstice regardless of what day a week it fell, he said.

"This is our big summer fundraiser," Auxier said. "This is about the only thing we do in the summer."

Bands like the Joe McMurrian Quartet and Alaska Thunder Funk are featured at the festival, which includes local artists like Joe Ray Skrha and the Mabrey Brothers Band. Martin said there will be horse back rides and llama cart rides in addition to the music as well as cow chip throwing contests, turkey drop contests and milking contests.

"People can also take a tour of the farm and the cow milking contest was real popular with the little kids," she said.

Families headed toward Seward over the weekend will want to stop at the Moose Pass community hall at least for a little while. Kids will have the chance to play games and win prizes at this year's Moose Pass Summer Solstice Festival and adults will be able to hear the Whipsaws play, said Judy Ohners, vice president of the Moose Pass Sportsman Club. There will be a pie baking contest this year and several vendors at the festival, Ohners said. Even though the festival itself is free, proceeds from bake and food sales and Sunday's auction go toward the Moose Pass School, volunteer fire station and library.

"With the Girdwood fair not happening, people will be more apt to come out because they're not going to have the Girdwood fair to go to," Ohners said. "We're hoping to have good weather and make some money."

The Seldovia Summer Solstice Festival begins on Thursday with a performance on the Tustumena ferry en route from Homer to Seldovia. The festival continues with music by national and local folk artists at 6:30 p.m. at the Susan B. English School. A song circle at the Tidepool Cafe will take place at 10 a.m. on Saturday and workshops will follow. Performances will continue at 6:40 p.m. at the school. Adult tickets to the performances are $25 for each day, adult workshop tickets are $10 for all workshops and adult all festival passes are $39. Child performance tickets are $10 for each day, child workshop tickets are $5 for all workshops and child all festival passes $20.

Jessica Cejnar can be reached at jessica.cejnar@peninsulaclarion.com.