The tunes will be coming out of Haines Junction this weekend as musicians from around the territory and a few from Outside take to the stages of the Alsek Music Festival and the Kluane Mountain Bluegrass Festival.

Richard Godson, president of the Alsek Music Festival, said today he's hoping people will gain an appetite for Yukon music and have some fun over the 2 1/2 days of festival that will start Friday night.

On the main stage, the dance will get underway at 9 p.m. tomorrow with Break Gate opening at the Dezadeash River day-use area. That will be followed with performances by the Gordie Tentrees Band.

Bluegrass bands Hungry Hill and Open Road will perform at 11 p.m., with Annie Avery R&B closing the dance with a performance at 12:25 a.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday.

Meanwhile, at the Kluane festival at the Grand Hall of the St. Elias Community Centre, the acoustic sounds will begin at 7 p.m. with Simple Messengers performing. They'll be followed by Disturbin' the Peace, Chilly Ridge Rounders, Hungry Hill and Open Road, before the two bands head off to the Alsek stage.

While the Kluane festival focuses on bluegrass music, the Alsek event features mainly Yukon music and performers, with a couple of exceptions this year.

Godson noted a couple of performers Valdy and Simon Fox happened to be in town and asked about performing at the event. They will take to the riverside stage on Sunday afternoon.

On Saturday afternoon, the riverside stage will be set up to entertain a younger audience with children's performer Lana Rae taking to the stage at 1:40. Her performance will be followed by the Fiddle Kids, the Junction Kids, Mr. B and the BBBB and finally More Junction Kids.

Godson noted the event will also include clowns, pony rides and face painting for youth attending the festival.

Meanwhile, on the main stage Saturday, the Big Band will open the day's performances at 1 p.m.

'I always love having the Big Band out on the first day,' Godson said.

Amanda Leslie, Anne Louise Genest, the Bergmans, Steve Slade, Kim Beggs, Heather Lowen and Generation Why, and Nemesis will also preform on the main stage throughout the afternoon.

A third stage, the cabaret stage, will be set up behind the bar with Mikel Miller, Brenda Berezen, Kim Barlow, Susie Ross, Steamed Heat, BJ MacLean, Barb Chamberlain and Jurzza taking to that stage throughout the afternoon.

Workshops will be held at the Kluane festival at 4 p.m. Saturday on topics like guitar maintenance, the mandolin, bass and fiddle, banjo and harmony singing.

Prior to the workshops, there will be performances in the grand hall of the building by Bruce and Deb Bergman and Down to the Wood along with some of the performers from Friday.

Godson is expecting a lively dance at the Alsek event on Saturday night when the Licorice Whips are scheduled to perform. That band appeared last year as Licorice All Sorts at the Friday night dance and had the crowd 'bopping' to 1980s and 1990s rock tunes within five minutes, Godson said.

'It was a really hot dance set,' he commented.

Frozen Bones and The Meat Strips will also perform at Saturday's dance.

At the bluegrass festival on Saturday night, BJ MacLean, Disturbin' the Peace, Hungry Hill, Down to the Wood and Open Road will be on stage at the grand hall.

St. Christopher's Church will be another venue for performers at the Kluane festival with One Way Track, Hungry Hill, Down to the Wood and Open Road performing gospel music from 12 p.m. to 1:20 p.m. Sunday.

Simple Messengers, Down to the Wood and BJ MacLean will be performing at the church later in the afternoon, while the mezzanine and grand hall are used for other performances as well, including Ian and Steve.

At the Alsek festival on Sunday, performances will be at the cabaret stage and riverside stage where Godson will be joined by Kluane festival president Bob Hayes when their band, Ruby Rangers, perform after the 1016 Band.

Valdy, Simon Fox and Manfred Janssen will also take the riverside stage.

On the cabaret stage Sunday, Mikel Miller, Brenda Berezen, Kim Barlow, Susie Ross, Steamed Heat, BJ MacLean, Barb Chamberlin and Jurzza will wrap up the afternoon.

The Kluane festival will include a finale at 3:45 p.m. at the grand hall with Down to the Wood, Hungry Hill and Open Road each performing their own finales before all the bands come together for the grand finale at 4:50 p.m.

Godson noted that at the height of the Alsek festival there are normally between 500 and 600 people.

Hayes said today he wants to see the bluegrass audience have 'great fun' over the weekend.

'We see a real interest in acoustic music,' he said.

He expects bands like Open Road, Hungry Hill and Down to the Wood will provide some highlights for audience members with their traditional bluegrass style.

'They're all excellent,' he said.

Hayes noted the gospel session may also be a highlight for some after it was the 'sleeping hit' of last year's event, when the first bluegrass festival was held.

The combined weekend pass for both festivals is $55. A variety of other passes are available for specific events throughout the weekend.

Everything on Sunday is free. With the exception of the combined pass, all tickets for the Alsek event are sold at the door.

A free shuttle vehicle will be available to and from the Pine Lake campground to the Alsek festival.