The 2025 Helen Keller Festival was a vibrant four-day event combining family-friendly activities, education, art, live music, and community spirit all together for a fun filled weekend in Spring Park, Tuscumbia Alabama. Those in attendance enjoyed a wide variety of activities and music through out the weekend:
Thursday, June 26
Downtown Parade at 6 PM through Commons, Main, 5th, and Water streets. Participants checked in by 5:30 PM
Kickoff Street Party (4–10 PM) featured live music, late-night shopping, festival T-shirt vendors at Main & 5th, and food from local restaurants—free entry
Friday, June 27
Marketplace Opening at Spring Park from 3–10 PM, showcasing artists and vendors throughout the Southeast
Music in the Park from 5–10 PM ($5 gate)—performances by Eli Hannon, Ghost River Revival, ViCTORiA, and Empire Strikes Brass
Saturday, June 28
Paint in the Park (10 AM–12 PM) guided by The Artsy Place (Muscle Shoals), wristband included, cost $25
Marketplace reopened at 12 PM and ran until 10 PM .
Keller Kids Activities (12–4 PM) under the pavilion; included slime-making, texture exploration, pinwheel painting, and more—free, for kids ages 8–14
Evening Music resumed at 4 PM with performances by Will Paustian, Greentown, Bluewater Revival, Ledbetter, and headliner country artist Drew Baldridge ($5 admission)
Sunday, June 29
Marketplace open noon–9 PM, free entry
Worship in the Park at 7 PM (free); featured a faith-based concert (“FIX Night”) with artists like Joel Vaughn and Love & the Outcome
The Helen Keller Festival began in 1979 as a tribute to the life of Helen Keller. Thousands of visitors from around the world come to Tuscumbia each year to celebrate the achievements of the remarkable woman who has come to be known as America's First Lady of Courage. Helen Keller was born and raised in this northwest Alabama town, and it was here that she learned to communicate through the tireless efforts of her equally famous teacher, Annie Sullivan. Keller went on to become an international symbol of hope and spent her life working to improve the conditions of the blind and deaf-blind around the world. It is her spirit and efforts to make others' lives better that Festival organizers work to honor.
School children learn Braille and sign language, and play games that help them become more aware of the challenges that face people who are deaf, or blind, or live with physical handicaps. Festival organizers hope to provide the younger generation with an educated and compassionate awareness of the barriers that must be overcome by handicapped children and adults.
The Helen Keller Festival has been named one of the Top 100 Events in North American by the American Business Association and one of the Top 20 June Events in the Southeast by the Atlanta based Southeast Tourism Society. - Source: 2001 Helen Keller Festival Board
