Every September since 2004, an interesting tradition has taken place: locals create a giant woven basket with birch, fireweed, and grass, set it out on the beach, decorate it, throw notes into it, and then, at sundown, burn it up in spectacular fashion. Artist Mavis Muller began this unique event, and today, it makes for a vibrant evening, filled with music and dancing, that showcases a strong community spirit and respect for the local environment. People light paper lanterns and send them off into the night sky. Fire dancers move around the burning baskets with flaming batons. You can participate in this inspiring event itself, or even volunteer to help build the basket, which takes a week to create.
In 2013, the event took place at Mariner Park on the Homer Spit. The tradition has since spread outside of Homer and Mavis Muller has held burning basket events in California and Oregon.
