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two black labs sitting

Puppy Mayhem, Puppy Love

About 18 months ago, my husband and I were having a peaceful morning coffee together, chatting about various household issues. Our then eight-year-old black Lab (Sula) was asleep on one end of the sofa—her preferred napping spot. Suddenly my husband said, “If I die before you and you are left on your own, would you like to have a dog for company? I know that I would.” When I said “Yes” (tentatively), he immediately embarked on a search to find a black Lab puppy whose life would overlap with Sula’s.

Managing avalanche terrain

Eirik Sharp, owner and operator of The Sharp End: Mountain Adventures, with his extensive avalanche background, is bringing change to how the Yukon manages avalanche terrain.

Searching for a way out

Genevieve Fleming is counting on Whitehorse audiences to take in the upcoming Guild Theatre production, even if just to indulge in some cold-weather Schadenfreude. In one sense, the Vancouver-based director suggested in an interview, staging French existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre’s 1944 play, No Exit, is like holding a mirror up to our own society. “We, the …

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Amsterdam to Tucson to Yukon

Cory Weeds credits the influential jazz label, Criss Cross Jazz, for his initial introduction to long-time friend and musical collaborator, David Hazeltine. In the mid-’90s, the Vancouver sax player, impresario and Juno-winning producer had finished his studies at the University of North Texas and returned to his home roots. Before long, he was spearheading a …

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Are you ready for a good time? Love country rock?

Teslin will again be hosting an electrifying country-rock concert called Teslin Rocks Country, featuring a slate of excellent contemporary Canadian country artists. Headlining the show will be two artists from from British Columbia: Aaron Pritchett and The Washboard Union.

Zsuzsi Gartner: Aspiring to the darkly tragi-comic

Zsuzsi Gartner built her early career as a writer in journalism, working as a newspaper reporter, then a TV current affairs producer and then a magazine writer and editor, but has been interested in creative writing from an early age.

Going green never looked so good

Fahrenheit Hair originally offered only hair services, but have recently expanded into further beauty services that include body sugaring, massage, threading, organic skincare and lash extensions.

Stand up for Stephen McGovern

On March 9, Yukon comic Stephen McGovern will be gearing up to take the stage at the Just for Laughs Northwest comedy festival in Vancouver. The 10-day event beginning March 1 offers a wide variety of shows that highlight Canadian and international comedy. McGovern makes his Just for Laughs debut performing in The Outsiders Comedy show, which …

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Lots of condos, no place to live

From chic, clean condos, to drafty old Chevy vans, the 2017 documentary film Vancouver: No Fixed Address brings you the residential experiences of, in the words of F. Scott Fitzgerald “the inexhaustible variety of life” in Canada’s most expensive housing market.

Debaters Bound

Whitehorse comedian Jenny Hamilton will be performing live on the CBC Radio One show The Debaters in North Vancouver on Nov. 22

Good vibes: Blue Feather Music Festival

Blue Feather Music Festival is entering its 17th year and is still holding true to its roots, providing healing, sharing culture and providing positive opportunities for youth to grow.

No earbuds aboard

Have you heard the one about the farmer’s daughter, the music teacher, the composer and the jazz singer? It’s not a joke. They’re all the same person: Karin Plato. Although she has called Vancouver home since 1985, Plato grew up on a grain farm near the tiny (current population: 129) community of Alsask, Saskatchewan. That’s where …

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Filling the Void

For Patrick Jackson, the owner and operator of Changing Gear, it seems like only yesterday that he moved from Vancouver up to the Yukon, but 20 years later he’s still here using his experience and passion to run a successful store. Jackson started the sporting goods consignment store Changing Gear just over a year ago …

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Hidden Memories Revealed at Fringe Festival

Five years ago Hidden Memories started as a one-act play Lillian Nakamura Maguire drafted to improve her dialogue skills for a creative writing class. Now the full-length version will be featured in the Vancouver Fringe Festival’s Advance Theatre: New Works by Diverse Women on September 13. “It’s the first time Hidden Memories will be read …

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Who knit you?

In 2015 my husband, Roger, and I visited Newfoundland; we rented a vehicle and hit the road. The breathtaking western shore drive took us through Gros Morne National Park and along the coast to L’Anse aux Meadows. A knitter for most of my life, I was struck at the knitting industry alive and thriving on …

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A Home Away from Home

“Gaby was four when she was diagnosed in June 2016, and her birthday is in October so she’s five now,” says Keira Kucherean. Her life changed dramatically when she was told that her daughter Gabriella has medullary pilocytic astrocytoma, a type of brain stem tumor, and that she would need ongoing treatment in Vancouver. Because …

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The Super Bowl of Ethics

It might be called a “bowl,” but in this competition, you won’t see any kickoffs, quarterbacks, punted balls or wide receivers. You will, however, see contestants huddled in tactical contemplation, quietly discussing obligations, responsibilities and best strategies on how to advance the play, and if the judges have anything to say about it, getting a …

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Border Lines

If I were to search out the exact opposite of local, homegrown food, I would pass through the security gates at an international airport. The sportsbars, food courts and even neo-eco-healthy cafés are part of an isolated microcosm that I’m sure has allowed for evolution in isolation of the trends towards local, fresh food that …

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Plant-Based Contemplations

If you think Mexican food, you might think meat. Sure, Mayan cuisine includes an exotic array of spices, herbs and plant-based delicacies- elote (corn on the cob often served with crema, chili powder, lime or cheese), tamales (pockets of corn wrapped in banana leaves and steamed), sopes (fried masa dough with beans and other toppings), …

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Mighty Neighbourly

After living in Vancouver for three years I’d become accustomed to people giving me strange looks if I smiled at them in the elevator or while waiting in line for a coffee. When I returned home to the Yukon it was a pleasure to rediscover its camaraderie and community. People band together to help one …

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For the love of beer

Kaori Torigai loves beer in much the same way others love baseball.  Or World of Warcraft. Like baseball, there are a mind-boggling array of statistics to consider. And, like World of Warcraft, there is a huge cast of characters. And, as in both baseball and World of Warcraft, beer is social, it can be shared …

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A Special Baby: Ellen’s Story

Ellen had four babies at Whitehorse General Hospital. Her births were always fast and she liked the support that she got at the hospital. In her fifth pregnancy her baby was diagnosed with spina bifida at the 20 week ultrasound. Spina bifida is a birth defect where there is incomplete closing of the backbone and membranes around the spinal …

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Cello Lessons in the Communities

“They just don’t stop!” That’s the coordinator of the Yukon Cello Project, Nico Stephenson, describing the energy and enthusiasm his students bring to music class each day. “Whether that’s playing cellos, or playing outside, they just don’t stop.” While it means that some youngsters struggle to sit still, it also means there is a collective …

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Chronicling the Peace

From her cabin on her parents’ farm near Fort St. John, B.C., Jody Peck can see the broad, meandering Peace River, not far from where her family first settled in 1924. On a recent Friday afternoon, Peck was about to start assembling the merchandise she and her band, Miss Quincy and the Showdown, hope to …

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Journeys That Open the Heart

Whitehorse musician and adventurer Thorin Loeks is off on another journey. On June 4th, Loeks started to hitchhike from his home just outside of Whitehorse up to Dawson City where began a cycling trip. His initial plan was to bicycle south to Montana. There, he was going to switch his bike for a paddle, and …

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The Return of Bushwhacker: Wiser, Stronger, And Ready to Party

Next week sees the triumphant return of a woefully under-represented genre in the Whitehorse music scene – heavy metal – brought in the form of the progressive metal four-piece Bushwhacker. The group has been hard at work in Vancouver over the past five years; they will be returning to their home turf on July 16th …

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CypherFest

For the sixth year in a row, Breakdancing Yukon Society (BYS) is inviting professional and aspiring dancers from across Canada for a weekend of performances, dance battles and workshops. This year they are bringing up two renowned dance groups to the Yukon for the festival: OURO Collective and Tentacle Tribe. OURO is a dance collective …

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More than Just Coffee

I catch Heike Graf between the lunch rush hour at the Caribou Crossing Coffee and picking up her five year old daughter from school. “It was busy today,” Graf, the owner of the coffee shop in Carcross, says while wiping the counter and putting a tray of fresh pizza on the display. The smell of …

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Folk VERCH-uoso

If you’ve got a yen to hear some some good old-fashioned country fiddle playing, you won’t want to miss April Verch. Verch, along with bandmates Cody Walters (banjo and electric bass) and Alex Rubin (guitar and mandolin) will be stomping, singing, fiddling and strumming their way into Whitehorse Friday, March 4th. A self-described “Ottawa-Valley Girl,” …

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Life of a Musician

Canadian singer-songwriter Louise Burns just completed a month’s residency in Dawson City as the songwriter in residence.  

Back on Bourbon Street

James Danderfer didn’t intend to be a clarinet player. In Grade 6 he selected the drums as his preferred musical vehicle, but the band director overruled him. “He looked at my choice, then he asked to look at my hands, and then he asked to look at my teeth,” the Vancouver musician says. The verdict: …

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Honouring a hero

George Maratos was just three years old when Terry Fox was becoming a household name across Canada and elsewhere. Still, he claims to have a “kind of” memory of the young B.C. runner’s heroic 1980 odyssey known as the Marathon of Hope. “My parents were gripped by it, and I have a feeling that kind …

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Harmonica George,Blowin’ strong

After playing harmonica for more than 40 years, Harmonica George McConkey finally feels he is getting to the venerated status “old blues guy”.

Hiking the West Coast Trail

Gruelling. Gruelling is the word used to describe the West Coast Trail in the official online guidebook. The trail is a 75-kilometre backpacking trek, situated on the southwestern edge of Vancouver Island. It boasts equal parts beautiful, dense green rainforest sections, ocean cliffside views, mud bogs, old growth trees, waterfalls, and scenic ocean beach sections. …

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Sibling Revelry

Brigitte and Caroline Desjardins-Allatt were well into elementary school before learning about their father’s musical past — and the instruments stashed in the family garage. “Before he met my mother, he used to play a lot of music with his ex,” Brigitte Desjardins explains. “Then she had an accident and died, and I think my …

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From handler to racer

After almost a decade of being a Yukon Quest handler, partner, sponsor, and anything else required, Tamra Reynolds is embarking on her very own Yukon Quest. Her journey to the Quest start-line started in 2003. While living in Vancouver, Reynolds ventured up the Dalton Highway in Alaska to the Arctic Circle. On that trip, she …

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Finding our Faces

Melissa Carlick learned about residential schools in a class, First Nations 100, during her first year at UNBC in Prince George. Afterward she asked her dad, and found out that he went to Lower Post when he was a child. “It made sense when I found out,” she says. “That’s why I don’t know my …

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Bicycle Parts Reborn as Art

Philippe’s Bicycle Repair occupies a modest little house on Wood Street. The front yard is filled with many bike parts, but they are not strewn about as one might expect; rather, they are arranged – designed to catch the eye and imaginations of those who pass by. Inside, Philippe Leblond, the owner, builds and repairs …

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Our Olympic contribution

The Yukon’s cultural contribution to the Vancouver Winter Olympics is all coming together. On Tuesday, Feb. 16, at the Yukon Arts Centre, audiences will see what the world will see later that week from B.C. Place. One Word: The Yukon Experience, pulls together select performances from The Yukon Experience and What the Land Remembers. It …

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Monk-made Belgian Brews

I would like to write about a fabulous bar I went to in Whitehorse that served a wide selection of Belgian beer but, unfortunately, it doesn’t exist. Instead, I recently went to the Chambar Restaurant in downtown Vancouver and was greeted by one of the best beer menus in miles – all Belgian. Chambar is …

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A Beer Snob Confesses

I admit it, I’m a beerist. Not quite so harsh a thing as being a nihilist or a sexist, but I have high expectations for the beer I drink – beer snob, maybe. I recently ordered the “Mystery Can” on the beer menu at a barbecue joint in Vancouver’s Gastown. I was encouraged by the …

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A Yukon Playwright Presents the Yukon

Celia McBride will be representing us at the 2010 Olympics, in Vancouver. Is she a curler? or a luger? Neither, actually. She’s a local playwright with an incredible opportunity on her hands. As the host country of next year’s Olympics, Canada has been afforded the opportunity to showcase its provinces and territories on the world …

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