‘Once in a lifetime’ concert held atop Matanuska Glacier

There may only be one word to describe Hope Cassity’s latest adventure in her music career.

“Epic.”

Cassity, an Alabama-born and Nashville-based singer-songwriter, played alongside Ken Peltier, Alaska's biggest country music star, and other artists on Matanuska Glacier for the Rhythms and Blue Ice concert Sunday, June 16.

“‘Epic’ is the biggest word we can come up with,” Cassity said. “It was definitely a big, big, big adventure. It was just really cool.”

Cassity collaborated with Heli Alaska, Northern Media, Everett's, and other sponsors to make this unique concert happen. BMW provided transportation for the band.

“All of the Alaska business that gave me support helped me,” Cassity said.

Thanks to these combined efforts, a select crowd of concert-goers were able to fly out to the Matanuska Glacier to watch Cassity, Peltier, Adam Stewart, Mark Lonsway, Dan Galysh, Tim Hall on the saxophone and Tito Walker perform live amid an immensely picturesque setting. Cassity said Native Alaska dancer Carol Sullivan also, “made it truly Alaskan and memorable.”

“It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience," Everett's/Mat-Su Resort director of operations Amber Glasser said. “It was really well put together and just being a part of it was really special.”

Heli Alaska made dozens of trips shuttling crew, gear and guests from the Glacier View School parking lot to the concert site on the glacier and back.

Glasser spoke highly of the Heli Alaska pilots for their professionalism and helpfulness while safely escorting concert-goers to the event via helicopter.

“I felt so safe and taken care of the whole time,” Glasser said.

Cassity said preparing for and hosting the event was a collaborative effort.

“I think it truly came from a number of things happening,” Cassity said.

Cassity said the event would have never have happened without her meeting Rob Kozakiewicz of Heli Alaska and Janessa Anderson of Northern Media.

“This is all an act of kindness,” she said. “I had called to honor my dad on a bucket list trip, and Janessa and Rob decided to help. It’s not a story of Hope Cassity, yet one of the strength in numbers mentality that we all had together.”

Cassity said the experience evolved from a music video to a short songwriter acoustic show to the “epic” concert on Matanuska Glacier.

“A conversation and a group of angels in the outfield of Alaska became the conduit for this unexplainable joy that came from this event,” she said. “It was a kind act that snowballed into a concert bigger than we all could have dreamed of because of how big everyone showed up to support us. It took every person who laid hands on it. We ended up filming a documentary and growing a huge event out of what was originally planned as a short 45-minute songwriter acoustic show with a guitar and a small amp that became thousands of pounds of gear and all of the logistics.”

Peltier said that he was thankful to participate in such a special concert.

“I'm humbled and honored," Peltier said. “It was beautiful, the first one ever that I know of.”

Peltier praised Cassity's musical abilities. He said that he's collaborated with her numerous times and is always blown away by her talent.

“She's fantastic. She has a very powerful voice and writes great songs," Peltier said. “They say dynamite comes in small packages.”

The concert also served as a cancer awareness event, and Cassity and Peltier are both cancer survivors. Cassity said they took a moment to talk about cancer and share words of encouragement while promoting the Permission to Sparkle Wellness Retreat coming up July 25 to July 28.

“We all had a reason to do that,” Cassity said.

For more information about the Permission to Sparkle Wellness Retreat, visit astridmueller.com/Retreat0724.