UPDATE: The city of Hancock will cancel the 10th annual Key Ingredients due to air quality concerns amid dangerous smoke conditions. While the air quality has slightly improved since Thursday, city officials made the tough decision to cancel the event. DDA Coordinator Todd Gast says while many people look forward to the tradition each summer, the decision was made out of concern for the health of musicians, participants, attendees, and volunteers. He adds the festival takes months to coordinate and cannot be rescheduled due to constraints with vendors and participants schedules. The city of Hancock looks forward to seeing the community at events later this summer and celebrating the 11th Key Ingredients in 2027.
Canal Run weekend doesn’t start with a fired shot. It starts with a taste of what Hancock has to offer.
Key Ingredients enters its 10th year in 2026, bringing the community to downtown Quincy Street for music, entertainment and delicious treats from local restaurants. The event opens at 6 p.m. Friday, when bagpiper Sergei Casper will march down Quincy Street to kick things off.
“He’s the one that notifies everybody. He marches down Quincy Street playing his bagpipes. So that’s how we start. And then we’ve got about another nine other musicians. And then our bands, our Bling Crosby will be on the 100 block in our pocket park next to, but close to La Cantina,” said Todd Gast, DDA coordinator for the City of Hancock.
This year’s event expects to feature Gino’s, Uncle’s, 5th and Elm at the Orpheum, Sunflower Books and Coffee, the Keweenaw Co-op and the Forge Food Smith.
“A taste of Hancock. So a taste of Hancock restaurants, Hancock food vendors, or local food vendors that are part of our Hancock farmer’s market scene. So we want to fill this in. Our dream is, and I think we’re like right at that point where it’s a street fair,” Gast said.
Last year, Key Ingredients faced potential weather challenges when meteorologists forecasted a rain storm. After communicating with local media partners, organizers made the call to proceed.
“We’re like, is your radio saying? It’s like, well, you’re going to have a path from like 5:30 to just after 8 o’clock. We’re like, okay, get the tents out. We’re having the event. We did,” Gast said.
This Friday could bring a different set of factors. Wildfire smoke from Ontario and northern Minnesota may impact the event.
“We’re keeping an eye on all different agencies and forecasts. There’s airnow.gov. I think that’s one of the ones that we’re really gonna take a look at. I don’t know what their forecasting really is. They give you numbers for now. But we’re not really, we don’t do this very often, like canceling an event. We were looking at what the protocol is, what the amount of hours that we should give, and then use our reliable sources to be able to make those decisions,” Gast said.
The Hancock Police Department will begin shifting traffic around 5 p.m. and set up detours while the event takes place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
For updates on Key Ingredients, check the City of Hancock’s official social media accounts and city website.
