Spruce Bog Easter Boutique
Spruce Bog Easter Boutique -Sternwheeler Hotel.Yukon handmade offerings from 52 vendors! Stock up for Mother’s and Father’s Day too!
Festivals and Fairs
Celebrating Yukon Culture
2023 Yukon Rendezvous
After two years of the pandemic, Rendezvous will be back to form and celebrating its 59th festival this February.
Pop Up Art Shop and Holiday Open House
Yukon Conservation Society (YCS) and CPAWS Yukon holiday open houses together, complete with a Pop-Up Art Sale.
First Nations Craft Fair
Traditional Artwork (carving, beading, etc.), Homemade Baking, Silent Auction, Raffle Baskets, and much, much, more…..
The Art Of Japan
On Saturday, November 5, the Japanese Canadian Association of Yukon (JCAY) has teamed up with the City of Whitehorse to bring you Japan Fest.
Augusto! Children’s Festival: A Fun-filled Family Weekend
Augusto! Children’s Festival will offer three days of dance, parties, crafts, music and more from August 12–14 in Haines Junction.
Voices Across The Water
Voices Across the Water follows two master boat builders as they practice their art and find a way back to balance and healing.
Adäka Cultural Festival Comes Back Into The Light—Renewed and International
The Adäka Cultural Festival returns with the light of many suns, in full swing and in person this year! June 29 to July 5 2022
ME AND WILLIE
The 1969 spring carnival talent show was the talk of the town. I begged and pleaded, with my mom, for a dollar to go. She reminded me that I would skip next week’s allowance if I took the dollar now, plus, I had to fill the woodbox with firewood. I assured her that I was …
There’s a new festival in town
A weekend festival in multiple locations. The inaugural Yukon Music Festival, by the YRMTA, runs from April 21 to 23.
ALFF 2022 goes online
A few of the the diverse offerings at the 2022 Available Light Film Festival (ALFF) happening online, and maybe a bit in-person.
Nakai Theatre’s Pivot Festival 2022
Sometimes, you have to pivot! Nakai Theatre’s Pivot Festival 2022 will still take place this January, albeit with some modified programming
Every January we’re Pivoting
Pivot Festival brings laughs sunshine, & much-needed break from the winter blues. 14th year of bringing the unexpected to Whitehorse.
Scenes from the Street Eats and Beats Cultural Festival
A feast for the senses: Scenes from the 2021 Festival. Entertainers, Attendees and Food service providers.
Hot Eats Cool Beats: new family fun street eats festival
An expansion of the Street Eats Festival this year’s festival offers food trucks, live music, art installations and a historical tasting tour.
What’s on for Yukon Riverside Arts Festival 2021?
Yukon Riverside Arts Festival will take place this year in Dawson City August 13-15
How to pivot the Pivot Festival
As with every year, the 2021 Pivot Festival will bring Yukoners surprising work from both national and local performers. Due to COVID-19, the national talent – a comic duo called Folk Lordz – will participate online from wherever they are in Canada.
Isolation, underwear fights and hanging around the house
How Isolation, underwear fights and hanging around the house inspiration for Theatre in the Bush. ‘That would make a great spot for a show.’”
Dawson’s Thaw di Gras
Dawson celebrates almost spring, sort of end of winter, with a local event called Thaw di Gras. An obvious play on New Orleans’ Mardi Gras.
Spice up you January with some variety
If you feel a strong connection to the Yukon and you like variety and fun in your entertainment, or if you’d just like a good excuse to hire a baby-sitter and get together with friends on a cold January evening, you could check out Nakai Theatre’s Pivot Festival 2020.
An appetite for stories
The story you tell in a restaurant is going to be different than the story one tells on a bus. It is nice to get unconventional storytellers into the Pivot Festival and into unusual venues for performances.
Coming into the light
The Adäka Cultural Festival is quickly growing into one of Canada’s premiere Indigenous arts and culture festivals
Focus on the funny folk
Tokyo-born comedian Aiko Tanaka is one of the visiting performers featured in this year’s Yukon Comedy Festival, in both Whitehorse and Haines Junction Ricard Eden makes no apology for putting the focus of the Yukon Comedy Festival on the performers as much as on the audience. “We obviously want to bring up talent that residents …
Comedians Becky Johnson and Kayla Lorette find the laughs in suffering and the unexpected
Comedians Becky Johnson and Kayla Lorette have worked together for nearly a decade. The pair have performed around the world, worked with Second City and This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and acted in Baroness Von Sketch and Schitt’s Creek. Now, they’re taking on the Yukon.
A junction of mountain film, culture and science in Kluane country
The Haines Junction Mountain Festival is in its third year and is a celebration of the United Nations (UN) International Mountain Day (IMD).
Volunteers make Rendezvous!
It is no secret that without volunteers, there would be no Rendezvous. Each year hundreds of Yukon residents step up to continue a tradition that started over 55 years ago. It is these volunteers who contribute to the success of the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous festival and make it such a memorable event and experience. Rendezvous …
It’s beginning to look a lot like … (you know)
The pre-Christmas season will soon be underway here in the Klondike, actually beginning a few days before this piece can see print. It’s a season of bazaars and open houses that lead up to the actual holidays. It begins with the oldest and largest of the bazaars, the Little Blue Daycare Christmas Bazaar. This will …
Remembering (and never repeating) history
The Japanese Canadian Association of Yukon (JCAY) recognized the 30th anniversary of the success of the Redress campaign in 1988.
It’s (almost) that most wonderful time of the year …
This year’s Spruce Bog Craft Fair features a wide array of crafts, from quilts that mirror paintings, to paintings that mirror nature, to knit designs that are seen in current fashion, or to locally-made gourmet coffee Spruce Bog. Two inspiring and motivational words that bring back many pleasant memories, both of crafting and shopping; they …
It’s (almost) that most wonderful time of the year … Read More »
Geek the Halls, a craft fair for the geeks-of-us
The second annual Geek the Halls craft fair is a different affair than the larger, more established craft fairs. But the vendors participating are a different sort of crafters and artists than the traditional Yukon crafters. Carrie Jackson, the Yukon Comic Culture Society president, explained that the society hosts creators who are focused on geek …
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The Yukon’s exclusive arts and crafts
Only two weeks to go until the 2018 Cranberry Fair, when, again, over 40 artists will gather to present the Yukon’s exceptional artistic craftsmanship.
The Junction and JAR (Junction Artist in Residence)
Landing in Whitehorse for the first time, Henry Navarro Delgado arrived in the Yukon knowing nothing about the place. Delgado wanted to remain as open-minded as possible when he settled into the coveted Junction Artist in Residence (JAR) Program in Haines Junction.
The Queer Songbook Orchestra
The Queer Songbook Orchestra is a Toronto-based 12-piece chamber pop ensemble making their Yukon debut on September 30. The group formed in 2014 and has been dedicated to exploring and elevating queer narrative in pop music. “I was at loose ends after several years freelancing in the indie pop music scene in Canada,” said Shaun …
Moosehide – shining a light across the North
The 2018 Moosehide Gathering in Dawson City was, once again, a smashing success. The local Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in relocated to Moosehide, two miles north of Dawson City on the Yukon River, during the gold rush of 1898, to escape the insanity of thirty-thousand lousy, drunken gold-hungry stampeders. It is a refuge for Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, and the …
Magic under the mountains
Haines Junction is gearing up for the second-annual Augusto Children`s Festival. It’s the Yukon’s only arts and music festival for children.
Celebrating 30 years of northern art and artists
First Nations artists and performers, from across the North, will gather with artists from around the world for the Great Northern Arts Festival on July 13–22.
Paradise is ‘plugging in’
The Yukon’s annual electronic Paradise Music Festival is back and is set to take off July 27–29 at Kettley’s Canyon, at Marsh Lake.
Pride in Dawson City!
Pride is back in Dawson City! Pride Week is happening from July 9–15 and, as part of the celebrations, a parade will be taking place on July 14 at 5 p.m.
It’s an attack of breakdance, hip hop and street-style art
Intense break-dance battles, powerful performances, live painting showcases and wild parties — CypherFest consistently delivers it all.
Atlin Lit Up! lights up the Yukon writing scene
The Atlin writers’ festival not only offers music but also offers literature, readings and workshops.
Cranberry Fair … where ‘Quality, Originality, Creativity and Diversity’ meet
Each year, in Whitehorse, the Northern Fibres Guild invites the world to one of the Yukon‘s most exclusive sales events—Cranberry Fair.
Seize your Canada Day
No summer in the Yukon can be complete without the yearly Canada Day events. The very mention of Canada Day can conjure up memories and build anticipation for just about any Yukoner.
It’s a cultured Canada Day in Mayo
The Mayo Arts Festival and Canada Day celebrations are highlights. Everybody is looking forward to the celebrations. 2018
The Adäka Cultural Festival … celebrating our diverse First Nations arts and culture
The 2020 Adäka Cultural Festival at its idyllic location, the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre located on Whitehorse’s beautiful waterfront.
National Aboriginal Day
It’s the longest day of the year, and what better way to appreciate this new Canadian statutory holiday than to visit local First Nations and to be part of this national celebration and enjoy live music, artist demonstrations, traditional food, ceremonies and more.
Serving laughs straight from the oven
The Whitehorse comedy scene is on a roll as of late. One of the events that has helped cultivate this resurgence has been Baked Laughs, the stand-up nights presented monthly at Baked Café.
Riverside rave
Beginning on May 31, guest DJs will perform on the Whitehorse Wharf, providing a summer dance floor for Yukon families and dance music fans.
Yukon’s summer music festival review
The good, the bad and the absolute crazy : here is an overview of the top summer music festivals in the Yukon.
Bluegrass, ‘newgrass,’ straight-ahead country and more …
This year’s Kluane Mountain Bluegrass Festival, June 8 to 10, in Haines Junction, will feature a lineup of world-class acts.
Top 10 tips for your first summer in Whitehorse
Here are some tips and tricks to starting out in Whitehorse as a Cheechako (which is the name for being new to the north of 60th parallel).
A funky little family
Café des Voix at Cafe Balzam at the Takhini Hot Springs on Jan 31. PHOTOS: courtesy of Elaine Schiman Café des Voix is always looking for new talent Yukon accompanist Grant Simpson helped found Café des Voix in 2016 as an extension of Jazz Yukon workshops that had been occurring since 2011 and as “a …
Kicking it Special O-style
Special Olympics Yukon enriches the lives of Yukoners with an intellectual ability through opportunities to train and compete in sports, and the gala is a fundraiser to help them provide programming.
Party at the Hill
Since 1999, Simapalooza has become a yearly tradition for Yukoners to enjoy their local ski hill with a variety of events and prizes. Now in its 19th year, Simapalooza is bigger and better in anticipation for its 20th year anniversary next year.
Dawson City International Short Film Festival is downloaded for its 18th Year
Screenings for the Dawson City International Short Film Festival began in October, with five or six people meeting twice a week to view what would eventually add up to between 400 and 500 submissions for the Easter weekend festival.
A different kind of volunteer
Tom Gibbs doesn’t get as many hugs as he used to. As the president of the board of Special Olympics Yukon these past five years, he isn’t working with the athletes as much and he isn’t able to give out as many of those encouraging hugs.
The Winterlong Podcasting Co
On March 24th the Winterlong Brewing Co. will be slinging more than beer when they play host to two popular Los Angeles based podcasts.
A weekend of laughs
The Yukon stand-up comedy scene can be fickle. Some years comics will perform to packed houses that turn people away at the door. Other years, not so much. Whether it’s a lack of comics, audience, or both, northern life can bring a number of challenges that make live comedy difficult to maintain. Richard Eden, George …
Keeping the weekend weird
Thaw-di-Gras, Dawson’s spring-or-late-winter carnival, is adding a day this year, with events beginning on Friday, March 16 and running through Sunday, March 18.
Thaw di Gras is going to the dogs…
Dawson City is gearing up for it’s annual Thaw di Gras spring carnival. One of the most popular events for families is the annual dog show, held at Diamond Tooth Gertie’s.
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 …
Heating up the music scene with Frostbite 2018
The Frostbite Music Festival returns in 2018, on a new date, and has embraced the theme of rising from the ashes.
Sharing a love for film
There are meetings. There is paperwork. There are grants to apply for and cheques to sign. But, for Jessica Hall, being the president of the Yukon Film Society is all about… people. “The thing I really like about being on the board is my fellow board members and the staff,” she said. “They are all …
Let there be light
The 2018 Available Light Film Festival (ALFF) features a strong Indigenous presence in this year’s films – and in the audience, with more than 40 guests attending from Outside.
It’s so bad, it’s good
In honour of James Franco’s upcoming film release of The Disaster Artist, I figured I had to take a look back at where this film actually started, and that meant watching The Room (2003). The Disaster Artist is a dramatization of The Room. The Room is written, directed, produced and stars Tommy Wiseau and is …
A wild and wonderful night
This weekend the Yukon Fish and Game Association (YFGA) is hosting their annual Wild Game Banquet at the High Country Inn. The event will include the usual camaraderie as well as the awards from the Big Bull Night, which took place in November, a silent auction, and a feast of Yukon harvested wild game. Cocktails …
Freezing for the sake of art…
Ask most people what they do during the cold month of January, and they would say, “Stay inside and keep warm.” The (s)hiver Arts Society, however, wants to change that.
Life 40-seconds at a time
Yukon storyteller Ivan Coyote and songwriter Sarah MacDougall are excited to premier their latest collaboration in Whitehorse.
Ten days to celebrate Pivot Festival’s 10th year
The Pivot Festival runs Jan. 24 to Feb. 3 with local and national acts Since Nakai Theatre launched the Pivot Festival in 2008, there have been some big names and unforgettable performances that have graced stages and pop-up theatre settings in Whitehorse. The festival has boasted bringing unconventional and award-winning shows from across Canada and …
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Dawson City Music Festival aims for sustainability
The Dawson City Music Festival (DCMF) will be holding its annual general meeting on Thursday, January 18, at Yukon College. The meeting was to have been before Christmas, but analysis of the topics raised at a well-attended membership meeting in mid-October caused the board to decide to refine its thoughts a bit more before presenting …
Dawson City Music Festival aims for sustainability Read More »
Off the page and onto the screen
Get your cameras rolling and warm up your gear because the annual Yukon 48-Hour Filmmaking Challenge starts on Friday, January 12. It’s a yearly team-up between the Klondike Institute of Arts and Culture in Dawson City and the Yukon Film Society in Whitehorse. The event gives participants two days to complete a short film with …
An afternoon of coffee and fresh ideas
On Sunday, December 10, you are invited to come out to the roastery at Bean North Café and listen to readings by several poets and writers.
Christmas cheer and improving health care
The 15th annual Northwestel Festival of Trees will kick off on Thursday, Nov. 23 with the Business After Hours (BAH) Humbug event at the Yukon government Main Administration Building foyer. The annual fundraising event for Yukon health care concludes on Dec. 2 with the Alkan Air Grand Ball, a formal seated dinner that is already …
Debaters Bound
Whitehorse comedian Jenny Hamilton will be performing live on the CBC Radio One show The Debaters in North Vancouver on Nov. 22
Kids and parents can play in the big sandbox
The 45th annual Geoscience Forum is organized by the Yukon Chamber of Mines as an opportunity for everyone to learn more about mining, aviation, the environmental sciences and other aspects of the mineral exploration industry.
Whitehorse All-City Band invited to perform in Toronto
The 20-year-old Whitehorse All-City Band Junior and Senior Wind Ensembles have been honoured to receive their first invitation to compete at MusicFest Canada, a national music competition in Toronto next May.
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.
Nicole Edwards and friends lift up their voices for local charity
This project gives Yukon audiences another opportunity to create a new and beautiful memory of what Edwards can do with music.
Yukon’s version of Oktoberfest
The Yukon Beer Festival is returning for its fifth year on October 13 and 14, with proceeds benefitting the Boys and Girls Club of Whitehorse. Local beer aficionados will be able to taste beer from more than a dozen brewers and distributors travelling to the festival from across Canada, as well as local Yukon brewers …
Wines With a Cause
Wine-lovers will descend on the High Country Convention Centre on Thursday, October 19, for the 26th edition of the Rendezvous Rotary Wine Festival. These grape connoisseurs will have over 200 wines available for sampling and tasting. Those lucky enough to hold one of the 100 priority tasting tickets secured one of the hottest tickets in …
Turn Your Eyes to the Skies
Yukoners – and others – who enjoy celestial pursuits may want to follow the stars to Kluane’s “Northern Nights” Dark Sky Festival at Kathleen Lake this weekend. This is the second time around for this event, which is jointly sponsored by Parks Canada and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC). Viktor Zsohar is a …
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 …
Trinidad’s Carnival: Experience of a Lifetime!
Carnival is a massive street party that falls the week before Ash Wednesday, which is in late February/early March, and is observed annually in many countries around the world. It is celebrated with especially great vigor in Trinidad and Tobago. It’s basically a culturally-rich party parade, filled with beautifully diverse people in elaborate costumes dancing …
Fermented, Stewed, Baked and Brewed!
While that cornbread didn’t end up in a gallery, it did inspire did inspire the food oriented event called The Ingestible Festival
So Good, So Try It
The Yukon Culinary Festival sounds like a good way to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary. “The definition of Canadian cuisine that we use is local, seasonal, sustainable ingredients in the hands of many cultures,” says Eric Pateman, the festival’s main organizer. “This being Canada’s 150th, we have an opportunity to tell this story through the food.” …
Falling in love with the Yukon
Every week in the Yukon I fall more in love with this Northern magical place. This week was the Kluane Mountain Bluegrass Festival.
I Love the Smell of Perfume in the Morning
Which brings me to one of Canada’s neatest little music festivals. To protect my sources, I won’t identify it, except to say it has been an annual event in southeastern Ontario for more than four decades. But this year, the festival’s very existence may hang in the balance. Not because of financial irregularities. Not because …
Discovery Days: Yukon’s Moveable Holiday
The Yukon’s Discovery Day Holiday is kind of hard to pin down. Likely the Monday closest to the day gold was discovered on Bonanza Creek.
Stay for the Conversation
“Prepare to be moved, disturbed, engaged. Come for the film. Stay for the conversation,” says Canadian author and media critic Geoff Pevere. Pevere is director of programs for Rendezvous with Madness, a Toronto based film festival focused on movies that delve into the world of mental health and addiction. The festival is travelling across Canada …
New Ideas on What to do with Old Stuff
The recent closures of the Salvation Army and free stores at Raven Recycling and the Whitehorse Waste Management Facility have made it difficult to source affordable used goods and to donate unwanted items. Without a local outlet for reuse, many of these items will end up being thrown out. Zero Waste Yukon is working to …
Augusto! Children’s Festival the First of its Kind in the Yukon
“We are proud and excited to be founding the Yukon’s only dedicated art and music festival for children,” says Darlene Sillery, one of the five main organizers of the Augusto! Children’s Festival in Haines Junction this weekend. “We have a great variety of workshops and an excellent group of presenters, including visual artists, performing artists …
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Fishnets and Chainsaws
From antique carousel and ferris wheel rides, to wearable art and cake bake off contests, to beer and wine gardens, to beach wrestling and the Fisherman’s Rodeo, the Southeast Alaska State Fair really does have something for everyone. The longstanding annual festival, which takes over the 25-acre fairgrounds in the small town of Haines, Alaska, …
Dawson City Music Festival Amps up for its 39th Year
It may be the 39th year of Dawson City’s beloved annual music festival, but this tried-and-true summer favourite is always sure..
Celebrate National Tlingit Day with a Fun Packed Weekend in Teslin
The biannual Haa Ḵusteeyí Celebration and community gathering in Teslin this month presents a unique opportunity for Yukoners of all backgrounds to connect with the Tlingit community. “Everyone is welcome. We want everybody here. We want to share and showcase our culture to the world,” says Melaina Sheldon, community arts and events coordinator at the …
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A Year of Firsts at the Yukon Arts Centre
There’s a lot to look forward to at the Yukon Arts Centre (YAC) this coming season. “We want all Yukoners to enjoy the arts and not have to go down to Toronto,” says YAC Marketing and Development Director Sarah Frey. This season the centre is celebrating its 25th anniversary year. “It’s a big year for …
Celebrating Film During the Arts and Music Festival
There’s going to be a new projector at the Globe Theatre this year when the Available Light Film Festival (ALFF) takes its films to the Atlin Arts and Music Festival. Andrew Connors, artistic director of ALFF, says this will give a sharper image than previous years, but he notes that no showing at the Globe …
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Make the Most of Your Canada Day!
Summer sun brings with it loads of visitors to the various Yukon campgrounds, especially on the long weekends. Those folks joining the campers for the Canada Day long weekend will be missing out! On July 1, Canada is celebrating its 150th birthday. The festivities, therefore, will be 150 times bigger than they have been in …
Taking the Sound of the Yukon to a National Stage
On July 1, the community choir, along with the Persephone Singers and the Chamber Choir, will take their sound to Ottawa. As part of the annual Unisong Choral Festival, they will sing with and for choir members and audiences from around the country and the globe.
Tout en musique pour la Fête de la Saint-Jean
La Saint-Jean, qu’est-ce que ? À l’origine, une fête païenne célébrée, le 24 juin, depuis quelques siècles, qui a, par la suite, été christianisée. On y faisait des feux de joie, on chantait et on dansait, le tout pour célébrer l’arrivée de l’été et le jour le plus long de l’année! Depuis une cinquantaine d’années, …
Celebrate First Nations Culture
The Adäka Cultural Festival was nominated by the Tourism Industry Association of Canada for a 2015 Cultural Tourism Award.
Double-barreled day of action in Dawson City
June 10 will be a double-barreled day of action in Dawson City, as it always is during what could be called Commissioner’s Day. The two events on this day – the Commissioner’s Tea and the Ball – are always held on the Saturday closest to June 13, which was the date in 1898 when the …
Come as You Are
Don’t wait for your invitation in the mail – Yukon Pride isn’t an exclusive event. “I think sometimes that some of our straight allies, they feel like they need to be invited to an event, which I totally understand,” says Rian Turner who, along with Fi Griffin, Chase Blodgett and Stephanie Hammond, is one of …
A Good Old Time in Haines Junction
Bluegrass music goes back to the Appalachians. The 2017 Kluane Mountain Bluegrass Festival headliners are The Boxcars from east Tennessee.
Three Days of Dance
World travel has its place, but Sharon Shorty says a lot of Yukoners need to get out and take a trip into their own territory. And, she says, if you want to start with Haines Junction, The Da Kų Nän Ts’etthet Dance Festival makes it easy. The bi-annual festival, now in its second year, takes …
Celebrating the Power of Art
A mural festival in the Yukon will draw artists, youth, and the general public together to decorate some buildings in Whitehorse with a colourful palette. The 2-month long Yukon Heritage Mural Art Festival is kicking off on Saturday, and organizers are inviting anyone and everyone to pop by, check out what’s going on, pick up …
Lobsters for Literacy (And More)
Whitehorse might be the site of the northernmost East Coast kitchen party in Canada this summer. On Friday, May 26, the Mount McIntyre Recreation Centre will serve as the venue for a Rotary Club dinner featuring fresh Prince Edward Island lobster and Celtic tunes, courtesy of Keitha Clark and the Sláinte North band. The event …
Gold Show: The Rush is On
Early in May, with the deadlines for the 2017 edition of the Dawson City International Gold Show approaching, Coralee Rudachyk was busy, but calm. As the General Manager of the Dawson City Chamber of Commerce, she has the primary responsibility of making sure everything works out according to plan. The plan is a pretty solid …
Exploration and Discovery
The mining industry plays an important role in the lives of Yukoners. The Yukon Chamber of Mines wraps up their annual mining week with a free interpretive tour of the Whitehorse Copper Belt region on the evening of May 4th and the Mining Exploration and Discovery Camp on Friday May 5th at the S.S. Klondike …
Telling the untold stories of the Yukon
The first days in the creation of the play Map of the Land, Map of the Stars took place in the summer of 2015 along the banks of the Yukon River. A group of artists gathered with stories, images, objects, and songs – items that they were drawn to and that were rooted in the …
Wild Times
“They’re [cranes] a much more delicate bird, compared to the swans,” says Carrie McClelland, a wildlife viewing biologist with Environment Yukon. “They stand three and a half to four feet tall, with a six foot wingspan, but they only weigh around seven or eight pounds. They’re very slender.” Lesser sandhill cranes migrate each year from …
Celebrate the Art of Filmmaking this Weekend
The cupboard behind Dan Sokolowski’s head is still covered with the multi-coloured Post-it notes he’s been using to assign the 86 short films in this year’s Dawson City International Short Film Festival to various categories for Friday, Saturday and Sunday screenings that will fill up this Easter Weekend. The films were selected by a group …
A Southern Story with a Northern Connection
The OUT North Queer Film Festival brings film lovers an American documentary with a local twist on April 9. Southwest of Salem tells the true story of four young lesbian women accused of sexually assaulting two underage girls and using them in satanic rituals in the early 1990s in San Antonio,Texas. They were wrongfully convicted …
A Creative Way to Spend Your Vacation
Artists, musicians, songwriters, general creative types and arts lovers alike might want to think about taking a little vacation time this summer. The Keno City Music and Art Workshop For Adults is returning for its second year, with workshops running July 24th through to August 7th. The event runs for two weeks, in week long …
Cooking Up a Career
Teresa Kozakewick grew up in Alberta. Raised by a father who had a passion for food, she had always been drawn to cooking. She enjoyed watching her dad cook on special occasions. Now her passion has become a career path. After moving to the Yukon, she enrolled in the Yukon College Culinary Arts program for …
Bringing Yukon literature to the world stage
Each October, the city of Frankfurt in Germany plays host to the second largest literary trade fair in the world, with 7,153 exhibitors representing 106 countries present in 2016. The Frankfurt Book Fair (known as the Frankfurter Buchmesse (FBM), in German,) is a tradition spanning more than 500 years, with the first book fair being …
Arts, Culture and Creation
“Artists show the world unseen,” says Tahltan First Nation artist Rhoda Merkel. “Teachers show students a better form of themselves.” Merkel, who was raised in Whitehorse but lives in Atlin, combines both talents in her newest project, the Sam Johnston Storytelling Festival, which takes place Tuesday, March 7 in Teslin. The festival is a collaboration, …
Thaw di Gras appeals to Locals and Visitors
Dawson’s impishly named Thaw di Gras carnival is still thought of as a spring carnival, even though a good March weekend will still be in the minus teens and a bad one may be in the minus 20s with wind chill. Whatever the weather may bring, much of this March 17th to 19th weekend will …
Something for Everyone
However, the Koot to Kat Alpine Adventure Race has a list of requirements: a partner, beacon, shovel, probe, communication device (phone or GPS) and the ability to get yourself up and over Mount Ripinski. The Winter Fest runs from Friday, March 3rd to Sunday, 5th. The Haines “First Friday” event also takes place on March …
Life After Tragedy
When asked about the message she hopes to convey in the film, Ohama responded, “It’s a moving and inspiring story of how people find real joy, love and meaning in life again… even in the face of extreme loss. In our busy, cluttered world filled with stress… we tend to forget how to see and …
Take a Midwinter Break
“Her Majesty’s Royal Feast is a brand new and exciting event,” says Dave Blottner, executive director of Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous. This event will feature a five course meal catered by six local restaurants, with a speech by the Rendezvous Queen and a string quartet. The event will take place at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre …
Yukon Stories
Arctic Secrets Directed by Allan Code, a Whitehorse based filmmaker, Arctic Secrets is a symphony of immensely strong and surprisingly fragile elements that comprise the wilderness of the Yukon Territory. Stunning imagery abounds in this visual adventure through its waters, mountains, and forests. Focusing mainly on the more arctic regions of the territory, Code and …
Writing Down the Soul
Anyone who has ever put pen to paper knows it can be a daunting experience. To stare at a blank page waiting for the strike of inspiration. When something is finally put down on paper, is it something others might want to read? What works? What can be done differently? Brave New Words is a …
Sweet Swing
The All City Band is comprised of students between the ages of 12 and 17, playing alongside more experienced adult musicians. The group is comprised of sections: the All City Jazz Band, the Junior and Senior Concert Bands and the Grade 8 Band. “The All City Band is a great musical opportunity for students in …
(S)hiver Me Timbers
“The dark and the cold are conducive to creativity,” says Carly Woolner, one of the co-founders of Dawson’s (S)Hiver Arts Festival. Blair Douglas, the other half of the team, chimes in with a smile: “They are also conducive to everyone staying home.” Together these sum up the motivations behind the festival, which has a mandate …
Triple Threat
The Pivot Theatre Festival – Nakai Theatre’s annual performance showcase – begins a seven-night run this weekend in multiple Whitehorse venues. In addition to smaller-scale offerings such as a theatrical pub walk, an evening of spoken word material and a “speed-friending” event called Stranger Connections, the festival will feature the three major pieces, including: A …
Yukon 48 hour Film Challenge Back Again this Year
If you’ve always wanted the challenge of making a film in a short amount of time, here’s your chance. The Yukon 48 Hour Film Challenge, hosted by the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture (KIAC) and the Yukon Film Society, will once again be offering filmmakers of all ages a chance to test their mettle …
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About a Fair
From stunning jewelery, fine arts and unique crafts to quality prepared foods and personal care products hand made by Yukon artisans, the 12 Days of Christmas has become one of the largest Yukon craft fairs over the past decade. From its humble beginnings as a one day Christmas market in 2005 it has gradually grown …
Mining All the Options
Saturday, Nov. 19 is the Yukon Chamber of Mines’ Family Day and on Sunday the Forum Trade Show showcases the industry. Monday the Core Shack opens with drilling samples of recent prospects. Mann, an independent consultant, hasn’t missed the Geoscience Forum since the late ’80s. “If you live and work in this territory it’s the …
Book Fair Fever in Frankfurt
British artist David Hockney displayed his latest piece here: a complete collection of his artwork in a huge book. The book costs about 2,500 Euro and contains 62 years of Hockney’s work. It was set up on a stand so visitors could browse through it. The Arts+ exhibition shows that books are not only about …
Keeping the Dream Alive
When Jolie Angelina McNabb was buried 16 years ago, Kwanlin Dün elders gave her the name, Blue Feather Eagle Woman. The Bluefeather Music Festival started in 2010 as a tribute concert to Jolie, who committed suicide. She had a dream, that she wanted to do something for youth, something to give them hope so they …
It’s not you, It’s the Yukon
This is part 4 of a four part series, chronicling one woman’s Tinder dating experience (or lack therof) in the North. I heard a rumour that the old pond hockey tournament in Whitehorse was started by a woman seeking to land an Alaskan husband. I also heard that it worked. The Buckwheat Ski Classic …
A Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis)
I am pleased to announce that I recently had my first encounter with a sandhill crane. I have never gone to the Crane and Sheep Festival in Faro, which is held in May, and the time and place when the cranes fly over the town. Years ago, I saw flocks of sandhill cranes in November …
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 …
Doors are Open for Culture Days
The Yukon is recognized for its rich cultural diversity, and you are invited to experience it during the seventh national Culture Days and Doors Open celebration, from Friday, September 30 through to Sunday, October 2. “The best place to start your Culture Days experience is at The Old Fire Hall,” says Michele Emslie, co-ordinator and …
On Gertie’s Closing Night, Expect the unexpected
On Saturday, Sept. 24, patrons of Diamond Tooth Gertie’s Gambling Hall in Dawson City are in for a treat as Gertie and her gals put on the final show of the season. Throughout the summer, the casino offers three different stage shows each evening at 8:30 p.m., 10 p.m. and midnight. Each show is different …
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Exotic Animals to Visit the Yukon
A wide variety of exotic animals from Cuvier dwarf caimans, pythons, tortoises, tarantulas, a black lemur and opossums are being brought to Whitehorse for the Canadian Accredited Zoo & Aquarium (CAZA) Professionals 2016 Conference running Sept. 21 to 24. These animals will be showcased in select elementary schools in Whitehorse and at a series of …
Two Chefs, a Dinner and a Whole Lot of Beer
If you love beer and food, you’ll love this spin on the traditional Winemaker’s Dinner: Hops ‘n’ Grub. Seated at a long table with a hundred of your Whitehorse neighbours, you will dive taste buds-first into dishes created to pair with select brews. Four chefs are working together to create the meal: Troy King …
Eat Your Art Out
‘Tis the season where giant vegetables are being harvested from gardens and potentially prize-winning jams are being churned out for display in the hopes of gaining a ribbon. This was the case at Dawson City’s horticultural exhibition as part of Discovery Days last week, but you won’t find large or entertaining vegetables adorning the tables …
Do Festival-Goers Dream of Electric Beats?
Over two days, 20 DJs, local dance troupe BoSo and a live painter will perform at the 11th annual Paradise Electronic Music Festival.
A Weekend of Free, Homegrown Music
It may not be on the scale of the Atlin or Dawson music festivals, but the second annual Keno City Music Festival has a cachet all its own. First, it’s casually organized. Second, there’s no charge. “It’s a free festival for the community, by the community,” says Cud Eastbound, one of the organizers. “We’re just …
The Yukon Culinary Festival Tells a Story of the Yukon, Through Food
The Yukon is filled with culinary hidden gems, according to Eric Pateman. A culinary expert, Pateman had no idea how rich the Yukon food scene was until Debra Ryan, manager of strategic planning for Air North, finally persuaded him to visit. Now he is a main organizer of the Yukon Culinary Festival, running from August …
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Be Amazed at What We Can Grow Up Here
Whether you have a green thumb or not, you’re invited to the Horticultural Exhibition in Dawson City on Aug. 13. Tarie Castellarin and Helen Dewell have been involved in organizing the exhibition since 2013. The event itself dates back to the early 1900s. “In the past, the exhibition was huge and used to be four …
Priska Wettstein: A Love Affair with Photography
Priska Wettstein’s love affair with photography began in 2008 when husband Paul presented her with a camera.
Hands-On Haute Couture in the Junction
From beading to working with hide and hair, “Textile and fashion endeavours are followed by a huge number of locals,” says Heiko Hähnsen. He’s the director of the Junction Arts and Music, or JAM, an organization that “nurtures the arts”, according to its website, and is hosting Haines Junction’s first Hands-On Craft Weekend. Given that …
Artists Going Flat-Out
Question: What does a steam roller have in common with wood block printing? Answer: Joyce Majiski and Linda Leon. The two Yukon artists are hosting a spectacular event from August 5 to 7. Each day between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. at the skating oval in Shipyards Park a road packer will be rolling over …
A Celebration of Tradition and Culture
From July 28 to 31 the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation will welcome everyone to their traditional territory. The First Nation is hosting the 13th biennial Moosehide Gathering, taking place at Moosehide Village, which is located 3 km downriver from Dawson City by boat, or 4.5 km by forest trail. Entry and camping is free. During …
Another Field, Another Festival
Claire Ness wasn’t even born in 1969, when the most famous rock festival in history took place. It’s possible her then-20ish parents, Roy and Penelope, have regrets about not joining the throngs of music-loving hippies who flocked to Max Yasgur’s dairy farm near Bethel, N.Y., for three days of musical magic known affectionately as Woodstock. …
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 …
Bringing Crowds to Dodge: 38th annual Dawson City Music Festival
The Dawson City Music Festival (DCMF) is a major draw. “One of the bands getting a lot of attention is called the Wet Secrets,”
Underground at the Core
By the time Danny Fernandez was 10, he had visited over two dozen countries during six years spent aboard a floating hospital that provided free surgeries and medical care to some of the world’s poorest people. “I don’t think I realized how cool it was at the time. Looking back, I definitely feel being immersed …
For the Love of Northern Art
Every year for 10 days, northern artists and art lovers gather in Inuvik, a small town of 3,400 in the NWT, to celebrate culture and creativity. Entering its 28th year, the Great Northern Arts Festival features almost 60 artists from the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Running from July 15 to 24, the activities …
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 …
A Cultural Affair
One of the fun things about fermented foods is passing on bits to others, knowing they will grow and spread like a great idea. It required a bit of a mental leap to go from creating my first ferments to seeing this possibility, kind of like going from growing your own lettuce each year to …
Atlin Arts and Music Festival: A Feast for the Senses
The Atlin Arts and Music Festival, music, visual arts, film and food, is about building community through music and art.
Aroused and Ecstatic
Ping pong might be what prevents Shawn Hall from harpooning Matt Rogers, or keeps Rogers from dismembering his musical partner with an axe. The duo known as The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer discovered the stress-relieving game in London, England during a recent tour. “We went to a night club and there were 75 ping …
Resisting and Resurging
This year the Yukon Film Society (YFS) returns to the Adäka Cultural Festival with more First Nations programming. The collaboration between Adäka and YFS allows all the screenings to be free. Screenings run July 3 and 4 at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre during the festival, which takes place July 1 to 7. Screenings begin …
2016 Adӓka Cultural Festival: An Exploration of Old and New
2016 Adӓka Cultural Festival: Kaska drummer Dennis Shorty , Gwich’in fiddler Boyd Benjamin, & Inuit throat-singer Kathleen Merritt
The Joys of Reading Aloud
Jack London’s The Call of the Wild is not a particularly long book. A mere 70 pages, perhaps a few more in a version with illustrations, it is often published between the same covers as its thematic opposite, White Fang, often along with some of the better known short stories to round out the page …
A Canada Day Celebration Worth Driving To
Mayo Arts Festival offers a unique way to celebrate Canada’s birthday with artists, workshops and musicians from the Stewart River Valley
A Big Night in a Small Town
The Teslin Arena is going to be rocking on June 25. Canadian country acts Aaron Pritchett, Cory Marquardt and Roger Gabriel are coming to town to put on a country music show. It benefit the Teslin Minor Hockey Association and the Teslin Recreation Society. About 450 people live in Teslin. This is the biggest event …
Chasing Stories in Skagway
My shakedown cruise for our trailer has come to be my annual pilgrimage to the town of Skagway to attend the North Words Writers’ Symposium, held this year from May 25-28 in the windy town. This was the seventh annual event, of which I have attended all but one since the first in 2010. The …
Summer Fun has Begun
Look around. The birds are singing, canoes and kayaks are back on Subaru roof racks and my neighbour seems to have an urge for gardening at 11:30 p.m. These are signs of summer. It’s a change from spending much of our time inside, sipping hot tea and feeding the woodstove to living the wild and …
Out of the Rec Room
Scott Wilson doesn’t credit either ’50s TV host Arthur Godfrey or campy falsetto Tiny Tim with the current popularity of the humble ukulele. Instead, the Whitehorse musician thinks it likely stems from a few years back, when Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s hauntingly beautiful medley of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “What a Wonderful World” became …
Easy Riders
Next Thursday up to 300 motorcyclists will descend on Dawson City for the 29th gathering of Dust 2 Dawson Motorcycle Ride. Dick Van Nostrand, a long time Dawsonite, helps organize the gathering. He’s been involved since almost the beginning. “We had just bought the Downtown Hotel in Dawson City in 1995, when I met some …
Hot Ticket to Ride
France has the Tour de France. Italy has the Giro d’Italia. And here in the Yukon, we have the Kluane Chilkat International Bike Relay. The relay sees cyclists ride the spectacular 238.3 km from Haines Junction, Yukon, to Haines, Alaska. The race is split into eight legs and can be done as a relay by …
Farewell Winter, Hello Summer
After a long Yukon winter, you look forward to packing away your warm winter coat. We all look forward to the warmer days.
Come On Out To the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre
On June 21st the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Society will be hosting National Aboriginal Day at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre. The festivities are open to the public and will include games, music, food, kids activities and cultural displays. Krista Reid, the cultural programing coordinator for the society, says they are excited about this year’s event, …
5 Must-See Pieces at Nuit Blanche
Back for a third year, the annual Whitehorse Nuit Blanche all-night arts festival brings together national and local artists for an unforgettable solstice weekend. Fancy yourself a night owl? Get ready for 12 hours of engaging and artsy fun as you wander downtown to see exhibits take over Whitehorse. You’d rather go to bed early …
Chalk It Up
I had a great chat recently with Heidi Loos. She is organizing the first Yukon Chalk Art Festival for Unlikely Events Yukon. The Festival will run June 11 and 12, 2016, 10 am. to 5 pm. at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre parking lot. Two workshops will take place at the parking lot of Dana …
Follow Our Trails
Audience members with program “maps” in hand will be guided through the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre for a unique performance adventure from Gwaandak Theatre, showcasing the spectacular riverfront and Yukon stories about who we are and where we come from. Gwaandak Theatre in association with the Yukon Arts Centre and Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre (KDCC) …
I Know What You Did
In Giovanni Boccaccio’s 14th century collection of novellas called The Decameron, seven young women and three young men entertain each other with stories for 10 days inside a secluded villa near Florence as they tried to escape the Black Death. More than 650 years later, Toronto playwright and multidisciplinary theatre maker Jordan Tannahill found himself …
On Top of the World at the Top of the World
Ever wanted to toss a log or throw a 20-pound rock? Top of the World Highland Games and Celtic Festival in Dawson City is for you.
Big, Loud and Funky
Major Funk and the Employment is a big band with a big sound. It has some big changes since bassist Etienne Girard put the group together.
Pickin’ on The Junction
In the pines, in the pines, the Kluane Mountain Bluegrass Music Festival will take place June 10, 11, and 12. It is held annually at the St. Elias Convention Centre and St. Christopher’s Log Church in beautiful Haines Junction, Yukon. The mostly volunteer-run festival is the first of many music festivals held throughout the Yukon …
Stay on the Trail
“It requires a lot of discipline to stay on the trail – not just the ski trail,” says Gary Bailie, “but the trail of life.” Skiing is definitely a way of life for Bailie, who has been running and coaching the Whitehorse-based youth cross country team the Kwanlin Koyotes since 1999. His hard work and …
Oh, Beer. Maybe Next Year?
It’s a gathering where you may sip the tingly bitterness of a pale ale, sample salty snacks from the “bacon booth” and lock eyes magically with your future spouse. No wonder tickets to the Haines Beer Fest have sold out faster than ever this year. The event takes place May 27 and 28, in Haines, …
Celebrating Jack London’s Legacy
One of the stops along Dawson’s 8th Avenue Writers’ Block is Jack London Square, home of a part of Jack London’s Klondike cabin and the Jack London Museum, in a setting modeled after a painting by Jim Robb. This year marks the 100th anniversary of London’s passing and the Klondike Visitors Association is marking the …
It’s Not All Greek
When you think of the Greek philosopher, Plato – if you think of him at all – the expression “party animal” might not come to mind. But Zuppa Theatre Co. would like to change that. The Halifax-based troupe has taken one of Plato’s best-known works, The Symposium, and re-cast it as a modern party – …
Who’s Out There?
Don’t bother asking Damien Atkins whether or not he believes in UFOs. He won’t tell you. What the Toronto-based playwright and actor will do instead is talk about his one-person play, We Are Not Alone, which he’s bringing to Whitehorse next month as part of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival. “When I do interviews about …
Life, Love and Trevor
Dogtown: the Musical, a story based on the life and fate of a local dog named Trevor, will be one of the many productions featured during the Magnetic North Theatre Festival, taking place June 9 to 18 Nakai Theatre and the Yukon Circus Society are the co-presenters of Dogtown: the Musical, which will be playing …
Nothing, Nothing, Nothing… Then Honks Galore!
Sometimes it seems like maybe they might not come. Then you hear them: the faint, high-pitched croaking, growing louder and louder. Then the sky fills with hundreds of sandhill cranes, flying in huge Vs that morph and swoop as the birds soar to catch rising thermals. Everyone in Faro drops what they’re doing to look …
The role of the KVA in the Klondike
When a group of Dawsonites dressed up in Gold Rush garb to meet a Canadian Pacific Airlines riverboat in 1962, they had no idea that this simple one-off publicity stunt would put down roots and that the fledgling Klondike Tourist Bureau would evolve into the Klondike Visitors Association (KVA) about 10 years later. Today, the …
The Next Act
Longtime Yukon teacher Mary Sloan and rapper Eminem have something in common. They both got their careers started in Detroit’s notorious 8-Mile district. However, Sloan’s teaching environment from the beginning to the end could not have been more different. Growing up in Michigan, Sloan was just 20 years old when she began her first teaching …
Intimate, Insightful and Non-Traditional
It’s 1929, Virginia Woolf publishes her famous extended feminist essay, called “A Room of One’s Own,” exploring the gender disparity between women and men. Fast forward to 2016 and discussion around gender politics has widened to include people living beyond the male/female binary. Cyn Lubow’s documentary film A Womb of Their Own asks the question, …
National Theatre Festival Comes to Whitehorse
“It’s the only national theatre festival in Canada,” Selene Vakharia tells me. She, along with a handful of other local creatives, are working on the Yukon end of the traveling theatre festival: Magnetic North, based in Ottawa, which moves to a different Canadian town every second year. “This year they picked Whitehorse,” Vakharia says. With …
The New Girlfriend is French filmmaking at its best
The New Girlfriend (Une Nouvelle Amie), a French drama from acclaimed director and screenwriter François Ozon, had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014. It has received several international award nominations and won best picture at Spain’s San Sebastián film festival. The New Girlfriend is loosely based on the 15-page crime …
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Everything But the Sake
Japan is a country that is rich in history and has made quite the presence within popular Western culture. Think ninjas, samurai warriors, cherry blossoms, sushi, anime – the list goes on. On April 2 you can experience many of the wonderful things Japan has to offer at the festival hosted by the Japanese Canadian …
The Danish Girl Attracts Controversy on Several Fronts
At some point, perhaps, acting credentials and not gender identity, will dictate who gets what role. Until then, high profile films like The Danish Girl and Dallas Buyers Club will continue to raise hackles in the transgender community for having cisgender (a term coined in the 1990s to denote a person whose self-identity matches their …
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We Burnt It Away
This past weekend, Yukoners burnt away their winter blues at the annual festival of the same name.Photographer Dylan Nelson was there to capture the action.
Year 17 sees an abundance of Yukon Films at the Festival
On Easter weekend the ballroom of the Oddfellows Hall will be filled with hundreds of short film fans celebrating the 17th edition of the Dawson City International Short Film Festival (DCISFF) and cramming in as much as they can of the 500 hours of screen time that will fill up the days. This is the …
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OUT North Queer Film Festival Turns Five
Freeheld Throughout Freeheld we are reminded of how people are so often a combination of the ordinary and the extraordinary. A fictional account of the Oscar-winning 2007 documentary short of the same name, Freeheld is the true story of police detective Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore) and her fight to transfer her pension benefits to her …
A Room within a Room
The intensely charged film Room was the Winner of the Audience Choice Award for Best Canadian Feature at this year’s Available Light Film Festival. If you missed it in February, The Yukon Film Society is bringing it back to the screen March 20th. Adapted from Ireland-born writer Emma Donoghue’s Booker Prize nominated novel of the …
Announcing Yukon’s Unofficial Other March Long Weekend
With late February temperatures maxing out at +4 in Dawson, it’s hard to say just what this year’s Thaw di Gras, Spring Carnival will be looking at for weather, but the Klondike Visitors Association (KVA) has once again encouraged a wide variety of groups to get involved in outdoor and indoor events for the weekend …
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For A Good Time Check Out This Show
Whitehorse is a hotbed of artists, dancers and performers brewing with ideas and creativity and this weekend we’ll have an opportunity to see what’s in their minds. On Friday and Saturday the Brave New Works show will be presented at The Old Fire Hall. This year co-artistic directors Mellisa Murray and Zoe Verhees have invited …
Crafts to Brighten Up Your Spring
“We’re very excited about the warm welcome at our new location,” says Pam Charman, events organizer for the Yukon Crafts Society. After many years hosting the Spring Spruce Bog Craft Fair at the Gold Rush, they’ve moved to the Westmark. And with a higher-than-normal number of vendors, this year’s fair needs two rooms to fit …
What’s on at Rendezvous
It’s that time of year again, when it’s totally normal to see girls walking around in period costume, when men compete in beauty pageants, when that guy with the really long beard who comes into the restaurant you work at starts talking about the medal he hopes to win. And this year is no …
Valentine’s Events for the Discerning Singleton
I have mined to come up with activities that might make Valentines Day as awesome as any other day of the year, even if you’re flying solo.
Frostbite is Back
Yukon’s winter music festival, Frostbite is back for 2016, finally. A small group of volunteers have been working hard to make this happen.
Hone Your Craft
This year marks the 14th anniversary of the Available Light Film Festival. Each year, the festival seems to grow and attract greater talent from a variety of places. This year also has a substantial amount of filmmaking workshops, some free and others requiring tickets. The festival’s keynote address will be from Dylan Marchetti, chief creative …
Cinema for Lunch
The Available Light Film Festival running Feb. 6–14 there will be showing films during the daytime, right in the middle of your lunch hour. So pack a sandwich or a smoothie and head over to either the Yukon Arts Centre or the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre for some truly fascinating cinema. Here is a rundown …
Art Crawl Dawson Style
Blair Douglas and Carly Woolner are hoping you’ll join them outside to have some fun this weekend. They are organizing the second annual edition of The (s)hiver Winter Arts Festival, taking place in Dawson City on Jan. 30 and 31. “We want to get people out to celebrate when everything is shut down and quiet,” …
Literary Fisticuffs
Local Yukoners will face-off to defend their favourite books as part of the Northern Lights Writers Conference, running Jan 23-23. Author of Best Laid Plans and 2013 Canada Reads winner Terry Fallis will be “refereeing” the event. The winning book goes home with the glory, the winning contender goes home with money for a charity …
The Must-See Guide to the Pivot Theatre Festival
By La Compagnie L’Immédiat/Camille Boitel Jan. 27-29, 8 p.m., Yukon Arts Centre Co-presented with the Yukon Arts Centre, this European classic comes all the way from Paris, France. Perhaps more exciting than the distance travelled, or the point of origin, is that its Yukon debut will also be its North American premiere. Yukon audiences will be …
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Awesome Canadian Films
For years Canadian cinema was referred to as invisible cinema for its lack of global impact and struggle to compete with Hollywood’s massive export of blockbuster films. Each year film festivals around Canada aim to disprove this notion and push the potential and visibility of Canadian cinema to other parts of the world – and …
Available Light Film Fest shines on Canada’s North
This year’s Available Light Film Festival (ALFF) features a series of films draw audiences’ attention to the experiences of life in the Canadian Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. The North on Screen series comprises a third of the Yukon Film Society’s 14th Annual film festival, which runs Feb. 7 to 14 in Whitehorse. Nunavut Inuk filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk (Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner) returns …
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Making Plans for the Midnight Sun
Rumour has it the 2015 lineup is the Kluane Bluegrass Music Festival’s best yet. No shortage of interest in headlining 2 decades in.
Holiday Gift Guide
As we enter the holiday season where advertising, social media, and storefronts are shouting at us about all the things there are to buy, one might wonder whether all this shopping will lead to anyone’s happiness. Researchers out of Cornell University had a similar thought. Thomas Gilovich and Amit Kumar published their research in the …
Invitation for an Authentic Experience
Yukon First Nations are planning ways to offer authentic cultural experiences for visitors. The plan to bolster cultural tourism among the Yukon First Nations has been in the works for a while, but this week people from across the Yukon Territory are getting together for a conference in Whitehorse to discuss ways to strengthen this …
A dispatch from the Frankfurt Book Fair
The Frankfurt Book Fair is the biggest book fair in the literary world. Publishers, agents, authors and readers from all over the world come to the five day event. It is a place for business, readings, culture and discussion. This year 300,000 visitors came to the book fair. During the event there are many literature …
Folks Rocking the Blues with Soul
Whitehorse-resident Selina Heyligers-Hare, or as she’s billed in the upcoming Blue Feather Music Festival, Selina H., is only 18 years old. She just graduated from high school. However, she has 13 years of experience making music and can hold her own on a big stage. When Heyligers-Hare was five years old she started playing the …
Blue Feather Turns 15
Gary Bailie has taken a personal tragedy and turned it into the fuel that powers him to produce the popular Blue Feather Music Festival. Now in its 15th year the annual music event was never meant to be the large-scale music festival it has become. It initially began as a celebration of life for Bailie’s …
Telling stories
Sharon Shorty and I first met back in 2005 when I worked at the Yukon College Library with her awesome husband, Derek Yap. Sharon was born and raised in Whitehorse and is a member of the Teslin Tlingit First Nation. She is a storyteller, beader, regalia maker, wife, playwright, mom, and actor. But what I …
Deep Ecology
The year was 1971. Three Dog Nights’ “Joy to the World” became RPM’s top chart hit alongside The Stampeders’ “Sweet City Woman”. Pierre Trudeau was Prime Minister and James Smith was Commissioner of the Yukon. Smith was instrumental in creating the Kluane National Park and Reserves and designating the Chilkoot Trail as a National Historic …
Taking His Music Around the World
Homegrown singer-songwriter Gordie Tentrees is releasing his sixth album, Less is More, with a Northern tour this month. Tentrees is playing in Skagway, Dawson City,Keno City, and two shows in Whitehorse. This Northern tour follows his recent tours through British Columbia, the United States and Australia. In the next six months he plans to tour …
Good beer is like fine wine
“Tasting beer is a very similar process as tasting wine,” says Kaori Torigai, president of the Yukon Beer Festival Society.
Unravelling the layers of existence
A brilliantly layered and sensitive look at the contrasting stages of life, the 2014 film The Clouds of Sils Maria stars Juliette Binoche as Maria Enders, an accomplished stage actress who becomes painfully aware of the relationships between herself and the characters she portrays when she is asked to perform in the play that kick-started …
The beauty and the decay of life around the planet
Since being presented the Palme D’Or and Best Director credits at the Cannes Film Festival for Paris, Texas (1984) and Wings of Desire (1987) respectively, German filmmaker Wim Wenders continues to be intrigued by the human condition has ceased to allow his intrigue of the human condition to weaken. Wenders’ more recent films Buena Vista …
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Revisiting the Klondike Big Inch
Each year during the Riverside Arts Festival, the ODD Gallery sponsors a paired set of exhibitions called The Natural and the Manufactured, each dealing with some way in which people and their plans have had an impact on the environment around them. This year one of those exhibits, the one indoors at the gallery itself, …
Slynking into Paradise
Evan Chandler spent his first 27 years in Brisbane, Australia, before he started thinking it would be “cool” to see what life is like in another country. But two years ago, when he decided to move to Canada, expanding his musical reach was just one element in the mix. “I chose Vancouver because it’s right …
The Paradise Beat
“Welcome to paradise,” Kevin Jack says. Thus begins my tour of a property that edges onto the swampy back of Marsh Lake. An old gold mining site, it is a refuge for old gold mining things: a tiny log cabin with grass growing out of the roof; metal drums sunken into the ground on a …
Wild Cards
The 4th Dawson Daily News Print & Publishing Symposium, part of the annual Yukon Riverside Arts Festival, is taking a walk on the wild side.
Boulder On!
Do you like climbing rocks? Do you enjoy hiking in a gorgeous valley? What about making friends? Walking a tightrope suspended between two giant boulders? Do you like having fun and being happy? If you answered yes to any of these, you’re in luck. This Saturday, the local climbing community will host a revival of …
Concierge at Large
Most youngsters try on adult roles from time to time, but few go from role-play to reality as seamlessly as Eric Pateman moved into a career in hospitality. The founder and president of Edible Canada has photos of his 5-year-old self with a waiter’s towel draped over his arm, serving lunch to his grandparents, complete …
Pop-up Fashion
Jessica Vallenga has an eye for quality-made clothes; she is an artist trained in textiles, and she makes clothes. She turns embroidery into pendants and earrings, and she makes lingerie. As well as making clothing, Vallenga keeps her eyes peeled for second-hand finds wherever she goes. Most recently, it was Seattle, where she found a …
Atlin’s Ian Fest
Ian Tyson, iconic minstrel of life in the West/North. 68yr old hearing an 81yr old singer at Atlin Arts and Music Festival felt young again.
Festival Fare
Festival season is in full swing, and every weekend sees crowds descending on another Yukon community for a bit of all-night sun revelry. My personal favourite, and often my only festival of the summer, is the Atlin Arts and Music Festival. This year’s festival had an impressive array of food vendors who seemed to be …
Frolic for Foodies
At the end of July, foodies from across the country will travel north to take part in the 2015 Yukon Culinary Festival. Now in its third year, the festival will showcase and celebrate the Yukon’s local food movement to visitors and locals alike. Taking place over four days, from Thursday, July 30 to Sunday, August …
Writing Across the Borders
An ambitious pan-Northern ensemble of seasoned musicians from all three territories will make its debut in Whitehorse next week as one of the performance highlights of the fifth annual Adäka Cultural Festival. The New North Collective will bring together the songwriting and performing talents of four Yukoners, two residents of the Northwest Territories, and a …
Playing With Fire by Theo Fleury
I heard Theo Fleury speak at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre in Whitehorse last summer during the Adäka Cultural Festival, but hadn’t had a chance to read his autobiography, Playing With Fire, until recently. I finished it quickly. He writes forcefully about his addictions and the abuse and neglect that underpinned them. Much of the …
The Midnight Sun Camera Obscura Festival
A camera obscura is an optical device, and is the prototype of the photographic camera we know today. It consists of a box or room with a hole in one side. Light from an external scene passes through the hole and strikes a surface inside, where it is reproduced and rotated 180 degrees. Camera obscuras …
Whitehorse Nuit Blanche Survival Guide
I am no stranger to the all-night art festival rodeo. I’ve been to three of them, in two different cities — using all different methods of transportation. I’ve marvelled at and participated in hundreds of exhibits and meandered home in the early hours of the morning fitting in late night snacks and riverside coffees along …
When the Darkness Bleeds Daylight
June 17 – 21 2015: Dawson City Midnight Sun Camera Obscura Festival. This is the follow up to last year’s Dawson City Solstice Symposium
More than just music
Meet Jordi Mikeli-Jones — a renaissance woman. She is the owner of the popular Triple J’s Music, Tattoos and Piercing. She is president of Kona’s Coalition, a non-profit organization that works towards improving animal welfare in the Yukon. She was the first female resident DJ in Whitehorse, and she is the founder and promoter of …
First Nations share through fashion
It’s her first day on the job and Chantal Rondeau is starting with a list of the Yukon’s 14 First Nations. “I cross them off when I get a piece of their clothing on the runway,” she says. The producer of the Adäka Fashion Show, the splashy finale of the upcoming Adäka Cultural Festival, June …
Ancestral Ways
Juanita Growing Thunder-Fogarty lives in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, in the tiny community of North San Juan, on the same property her paternal ancestors settled during the California Gold Rush of 1849. But her heart is inextricably linked to the Great Plains territory of her Sioux and Assiniboine forebears, and the beading …
A Little Help from Friends
According to Marc Paradis, it’s starting to resemble a mini-music festival. He should know. The Whitehorse drummer has performed at pretty much every major music function since he arrived in the Yukon 35 years ago. “We don’t have an Alsek festival any more, which used to be the highlight of early summer for a lot …
The Newest Coffee and Beer Headquarters
Micah Quinn likes a challenge — whether it’s hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada (4265 kilometres) alone, or re-imagining a local Whitehorse coffee shop as a dynamic new hub for the community, he’s up for it. Late last year Quinn was finishing a contract at Yukon College. He had spent the last …
Cranes Fly High Up in the Sky
The thermals above the town of Faro may account for the “tens of thousands” of sand hill cranes that fly above it each spring. Or so Rose Fulton speculates. Fulton works for the town, and is the Faro Crane and Sheep Viewing Festival coordinator. She says she’d be the event coordinator, but there aren’t enough …
Flowers in the Concrete
Rich Hill, playing at the Yukon Arts Centre on Sunday, is a poignant observational snapshot of three boys on separate, but similar, journeys through the early days of youth, as spent in America’s povertystricken heartland. Poverty is crushing. But it’s always amazing to see that the human spirit, especially in children, is remarkably diffi cult …
OUT North comes of age
Contemplating what to write about this weekend’s OUT North Film Festival, which runs from April 17 to 19 at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre, my brain landed on the word “age”, and stubbornly refused to budge. So, with apologies for the occasional reach, what follows is a quick tour of how the thread of age, …
The Midnight Sons Band: Working Hard and Going Far
The Midnight Sons Band is making a mark on the Whitehorse music scene and is now looking to build a national fan base.
The Wild & Scenic Film Festival Makes a Whitehorse Debut
The Wild & Scenic Film Festival (WSFF), screening at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre on March 5, aims to create a space “where activism gets inspired”; it is the largest environmental film festival in North America. The group behind this festival, the South Yuba River Citizen’s League (SYRCL, pronounced “circle”), is California based organization that …
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East Coasters Come North
When I reach Jon Mckiel he’s in the middle of a New Brunswick snowstorm. I’m in the Yukon, where the temperature has dipped below -30°C. We talk about what to expect when he arrives in Whitehorse to perform at the Available Light Film Festival on February 13. He’s never been here, and I’ve never been …
ALFF Breakdown, Part Two
Thursday, February 12th The day kicks off with the festival’s final installment of the Fire Hall Film Talks, a series of free lunchtime discussions between filmmakers and artists about behind-the-scene development of projects. Thursday’s talk is on the changing face of music videos and narrative film. Panelists are singer-songwriter John Southworth; Violent director and member …
Film Festival Round Up: Part One
The 2015 Available Light Film Festival is bringing a jam-packed program to Yukon Arts Centre this February. The first half of the festival, Feb 7 to Feb 11, is covered here. Itinerary from Feb 12 to Feb 16 will be in next week’s paper. Prices of events may vary. Get your day planners ready — …
Tanya Tagaq Reclaims Stories of her People
For those who missed Tanya Tagaq on stage at music festivals in Dawson and Atlin, the Available Light Film Festival (ALFF) is giving Yukoners another chance to experience this acclaimed musician’s work on February 10 at the Yukon Arts Centre. Tagaq rocketed onto radar-screens last year when her newest album, Animism, won the 2014 Polaris …
Two 4 One Breaks New Ground
Move over Ben Affleck and Julia Roberts, the Canadian filmmaking world would like to thank you for solidifying conventions for the romantic comedy genre, so Two 4 One can break those conventions into a million pieces. This progressive look at real-life love is refreshing and accessible: a movie about a transgendered Canadian in which an …
The Wooden Sky Kicks Off ALFF
For Yukoners who miss having a music festival in February, the Yukon Film Society has stepped up. This year, the Available Light Film Festival (ALFF) has expanded to include musical performances. Andrew Connors, ALFF director, explains: “It’s twofold. We realized that the way we configure the Yukon Arts Centre for cinema, we move the screen …
Dan Mangan is Back in Town
Dan Mangan is almost as excited to see the Yukon again as Yukoners are to see him. In 2010, Mangan played both the Frostbite and Dawson City Music Festivals and was impressed by the local cultural scene. He says, “it seems to me like there’s a really good music community up there, a really strong arts …
(S)hiver Festival
A brand new event will be taking place in Dawson City on Saturday, January 24. The (s)hiver festival promises a night of art, light, and creativity in response to the dark cold of a northern winter. Originally from Vancouver, festival organizers Blair Douglas and Carly Woolner arrived in Dawson last summer. Both are artists; Douglas …
Imagination and pain on display in Newfoundland yarn
Joel Thomas Hynes’s blackly tinted, yet poignantly observant perspective, brings you his best film yet. Cast No Shadow, playing at the Yukon Arts Centre on February 10, is a beautifully filmed narrative about the most terrifying demon of all: the one within. Set in the ever-shadowy outport Newfoundland, a world of dilapidated musty kitchens and …
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The Web of Family
Two distinctly different takes on the theme of family are among the highlights of this year’s Nakai Pivot Festival, which kicks off on Saturday, January 17 . Ralph + Lina is a two-handed “acrobatic comedy” performed by the husband and wife team of Dan Watson and Christina Serra, who first conceived the project while they …
People Will Always Need Stories
“ One hundred writers from around the world in 86 events”, was the motto of the 2014 Vancouver Writers Festival. It kicked off with an author many were looking forward to hearing from: Karl Ove Knausgaard, a literary sensation from Norway, who has published an autobiographical six-book-series called My Struggle. He writes about big issues …
Premium Suds
2014, craft beer options were the T & M lounge or the Yukon Beer Festival. Brainchild of Andrea Pierce now Kaori Torigai will be president.
The Scientific Lens
The Yukon Film Society and Yukon Arts Centre present the return of the Available Light Cinema series on Sunday, September 21 with two films of the scientific variety. The science fiction film screening at 9:00 p.m. is Jonathan Glazer’s chilling parable Under the Skin. Scarlett Johansson stars in it, and it has been compared to …
Busy Weekend in Dawson City
“This weekend is an iconic celebration of what’s great in Dawson,” says Paul Robitaille. Discovery Days, the Riverside Arts Festival & more
Whirlwind of Yukon Flavour
It all began with fireweed pepper jelly. I did not know such a thing existed, but I am very glad I discovered it. I arrived at Rivendell farms at 6:00 p.m. for the Feast of Farms, the closing event of the Yukon Culinary Festival. As I made my way across the parking lot, I was …
Not Easy Being Green
If you’re heading out to Circle D Ranch for a few days of music and food this weekend, you’d be well-advised to bring your own eating and drinking gear, or at least a toonie to “rent” a plate. The three-day outing, now known as the Frog Food Festival – Served with Music, is being billed …
A Foodie’s Dream Come True
Birch syrup, fireweed jelly, juniper berry shortbread, and low bush cranberries are a few of the ingredients that will rise to the occasion for the Yukon Culinary Festival. Among the festival events is the Tastes of Whitehorse food crawl, beginning July 31 at 5:30 p.m. It will encompass the tasty delights of five local restaurants …
Pig-roaster with Serious Cred
Chris Irving has cooked for Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family of Spain. He’s made sushi and fried chicken for the four “just normal kids” of David and Victoria Beckham. He’s cooked on luxury yachts and in fancy hotels, not to mention the private mansion of master chef Gordon Ramsay. Now he’s coming home …
Makushan-maker
Florent Vollant’s first exposure to music was in his family’s cabin on a trapline in Labrador. After a successful caribou hunt, the family would celebrate with traditional songs and dances, in the Innu tradition of the makushan, or pow wow. “I was four or five years old the first time I remember the sound of …
Feels Like a Celebration
First, she says, it allows artists, performers and cultural sector workers “to come together once a year to share inspiration, to share ideas, to learn new skills, to inspire each other.” Alexander is a co-founder and executive producer of the four-year-old festival, which runs this year from Friday, June 27 through Thursday, July 3 at …
The Sunstroke Music Festival is a Sign of Summer
Solstice is nearly upon us, which means the annual Sunstroke Music Festival is almost upon us, too. For those who are new to the festival, it’s a non-profit fundraiser for Kona’s Coalition. The coalition helps animals in the Yukon by educating people, advocating for animals, and providing financial support when needed. It is a two-day …
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Taxicab Theatre
Gab in a cab, do time in the hole, or ponder what lies behind schoolyard shootings. These are just some of the options available to audience members as Nakai Theatre presents version six of its Homegrown Theatre Festival next week at the Guild Hall. The lineup of 12 local shows runs the gamut from a …
One Foot in a Moccasin, and One in a Sneaker
Culture has been described as the immune system of a people, and in a world where so many distractions are coming at us on a regular basis, Yukoners can take comfort in knowing that we are home to a beautiful and thriving culture. Last year, Yukon First Nations celebrated the 40-year anniversary of the document, …
A Flood of Activities
The middle of March is important for more than just spring break — it also marks Canada Water Week. Described as the week to celebrate water across the nation, Canada Water Week is held annually in the third week of March, coinciding with the United Nations’ International World Water Day on March 22. Heather Jirousek …
More Quality Films to See on a Big Screen
Fresh from one of its most successful festivals to date, the Yukon Film Society presents a trio of superb films in its monthly Available Light Cinema series, March 22 and 23. Headlining the bill is the triple-Oscar winning Twelve Years A Slave, followed by award-winning documentary Cutie And The Boxer, and a new Coen Brothers …
Films from the Out-side
The Yukon Queer Film Alliance are hosting the third annual film festival OUT North this weekend at The Old Fire Hall in Whitehorse. The eclectic festival delivers a variety of lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender-related films. “The first OUT North was in 2012,” says festival co-producer Debbie Thomas. “We take it a tiny bit at a time and try …
Ten Years of Tuesday Night Jams
On March 11, at the Old Fire Hall, the local francophone band Soir de Semaine will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of their very first gig. “We played at Steve’s music store,” Marie-Maude Allard says. “The place was packed and all we had was two original songs and a few covers.” Actually, Soir de Semaine …
The Boost a Battle Can Give
For many bands the step to a big stage is challenging. That’s the Battle of the Bands in Whitehorse has been a continued success.
Filling the Frostbite Void
For 35 years the Frostbite Music Festival has been bringing bands to Whitehorse to showcase new music to an appreciative audience. Year after year organizers chose acts that were a combination of emerging talent breaking onto the music scene in a big way, as well as established musicians and unknowns. Except not this year. They’re taking …
Rockin’ Riverdale
This February finds Whitehorse music aficionados scratching their heads in a manner not seen since the Trudeau administration. After 35 years of jams and jingles, the Frostbite Music Festival will fall silent this year. But while some see disappointment, others sense an opening. Enter Josh Paton and Marcus Steiner. Paton is the proprietor of Epic …
The Dawson City Music Festival Focuses on Quality over Quantity
2014: Frostbite and the Kluane Bluegrass, are taking the year off, Dawson City Music Festival (DCMF) soldiers on.
An Invitation to Experience the Thrill and the Grit
The mix of open-flowing creativity, with a dash of fear, makes for a high that’s addictive for theatre performers — and especially for playwrights who perform their own plays. Usually the audience goes home with ideas swimming around, but we’re not buzzing the same way. Next week we can come close. The Pivot Theatre Festival, …
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Poignant Labour Docs Screen in Whitehorse
The Canadian Labour International Film Festival (CLIFF) celebrates its fifth anniversary in the Yukon on Wednesday, November 20. CLIFF is an initiative of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), presented locally by the Yukon Employees Union (YEU). Designed to showcase the realities of working life in Canada and around the world, CLIFF will present …
Clowns running amok at Yukon Arts Centre: Humour in the finest traditions of Bugs Bunny
Skating on wash buckets, pratfalls, explosions and fart jokes – Fart jokes! What can be better than fart jokes? – combine for a rollicking fun circus show. “It’s the funniest show I’ve seen on a Canadian stage in five years,” says Eric Epstein, the artistic director of the Yukon Arts Centre. He had heard good …
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Gearing up for 48 Hours of Filming Madness
The date may have changed this year, but the timing is the same. Contestants in the Yukon 48 Challenge still have just 48 hours to devise, film and edit a short film for presentation. While usually held in January, this edition of the contest will take place Nov. 15 to 17 in both Dawson and …
The three faces behind the Yukon Film Society: There’s more than one way to eat popcorn
A group of movie lovers gathers on a frigid Sunday in Whitehorse. In an apartment living room, they watch movies and eat popcorn. They laugh with a good comedy and are swept away with a gripping drama. But the home of Yukon Film Society president Michael Vernon is not being used just for a good …
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Frostbite brings music from all over the world: It’s the Thrill on the Hill
Brenda Barnes knows that the best way to get rid of cold is to get lots of bed rest. But the Frostbite Music Festival begins Friday, Feb. 11, and she is its producer. But, two weeks ago, it was Day 12 of her cold and the list of her emails (the ones that arrived before …
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The Good, the Old and the Creepy: A look at the Available Light Cinema’s eclectic new season
Andrew Connors has you in mind. All of you. And it isn’t even creepy. Well some of it is — like Upstream Colour — but most of it is just harmless fun. “Diversity in programming was the point,” says the Yukon Film Society’s executive director about this fall’s Available Light Cinema roster. “We are trying …
Delving into the History of Bear Creek
Bear Creek Compound is owned by Parks Canada now, but it was once the thriving centre of operations for the Yukon Consolidated Gold Corporation (YCGC), and it’s safe to say that Dawson would not have survived as long as it has if YCGC had not been mining he creeks up until 1966. One of the …
The Word is Art: Arts festival and publishing symposium take place in Dawson next weekend
The festival season isn’t over yet in Dawson City. From August 15-18, the 13th Annual Yukon Riverside Arts Festival will take place at various venues around town. The Festival features workshops, live music, guest lectures, artist talks, exhibitions, special events, public art projects and a gallery hop throughout the downtown core. Writers will also have …
Tiring the Kids Out: Frog Mountain Music Festival features plenty to keep kids busy on July 27
Frog Mountain Music Festival’s third annual event will feature a diverse program of activities to tire out the youngsters.
Sharing Traditional Art with Europeans
On May 30 Dennis and I left a big flood behind in Ross River, and landed in Germany where many cities, towns and villages were also flooding. We are here on our annual trip to promote tourism, culture, and Yukon artists, including and Dennis’ artwork. It’s something we volunteer to do – we are promoting …
A Man of Few Words with a Taste for the North
Juno nominee Danny Michel is a singer/songwriter, producer and soon-to-be CBC radio host. With a long list of qualifications under his belt and numerous touring dates set up across the country, Michel has made time to come up to the Yukon. And he says it’s because he wants to. “I like to travel, meet new …
Available Light Film Festival promises great stories, great film
For the sixth year, Northern film buffs will have the chance to “reconnect with the world and immerse themselves in great film”. Andrew Connors, the director of the annual Available Light Film Festival (ALFF), is satisfied he and his volunteers have found enough feature films to satisfy its mandate of telling great stories. If one …
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Staging local talent
As the sunshine creeps into the evening and temperatures slowly rise toward double-digits, some art organizations’ seasons are winding down. One of the final accomplishments in focus for Nakai Theatre is a barrage of local performance artists. Also affectionately known as the Homegrown Festival. “It’s emerging artists, first-time artists and artists who are devoting their …
Artrepreneur: Corsets and a Hunger for Colour
It’s spring. For Cori Giacomazzi, that means busy. I had the chance to visit this Canadian garment artist in March at her home in Skagway. I had seen her work at the Yukon Riverside Arts Festival in Dawson City. I had admired the conceptual corset made of old paint-and-glue-stained Carhartts and the one she was …
Faro’s sheep and cranes ready for their closeup
Faro’s Crane and Sheep Viewing Festival has attracted international attention before as it grows yet again in its fifth year, but this time the International Crane Foundation will help attract even more attention. The Wisconsin-based organization has a crane preserve that protects representatives of all 15 known species. It has a global mandate and has …
The Adäka Cultural Festival Aims to Include Everyone
2013 Adäka Cultural Festival: 28 performance groups, 44 visual artists and 50 workshops over 6 days at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre.
Morse of the North: First Nation poet featured at Poetry Festival
“Fool that I was, for many years, I tried to reject any notion of an artistic life,” says poet Garry Thomas Morse. “For me, a poet is not just someone who pens pretty lines or teaches theory or hangs out with poets. You can blame my Native background for my shamanistic viewpoint [but] for me, …
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Making New Tracks
In the past 10 years more and more First Nation dance groups have been popping up. People have decided it’s pretty cool to learn their traditional drumming, singing and dancing. Bracken Hanuse Corlett calls it de-colonization. Hanuse Corlett is an audio-visual artist with the group Skookum Sound System, which uses current technology and traditional sounds …
2013 Adventures at the Haines Beer Fest
We got the stern border guard at Haines customs this year. No, we’re not bringing any firearms, plants or suitcases full of money, but I do have six beer entries for the homebrew competition. “The what? The who? How big are them beers?” He didn’t get it. Nobody warned him that several hundred thirsty Canadians …
Pelly Dancing
After their initial inception, the Selkirk Spirit Dancers had a hiatus, and some wondered if they would ever dance again. Started by Carmen Baker, the dance group is based in Pelly Crossing and is now comprised of 45 dancers. The large number in itself is enough to set the group apart, however what makes the …
Yukoners Mastermind a Winning Homebrew
If I was a better planner, I would have made my way down to Skagway at the end of April for the annual Craft Brew Festival, but sometimes my father’s genes kick in and I end up a little scattered. Luckily, I have friends who need to geek-out over conical fermenters, brewing efficiency, yeast viability, …
African, French and Japanese Groups Showcase Their Culture
They are not always featured in history books, but since the Klondike Gold Rush people of many ethnic backgrounds have called the Yukon home. On Sunday, June 23 the Adäka Cultural Festival will host the Sharing Our Spirit Community Celebration, a day of events bringing together the culture of these different groups that have put …
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Healing and Transformation: Ravenstail Weaving
“A woman needs to have an art form,” says Tlingit Tutchone master weaver Ann Smith. And she feels a responsibility to pass on the art of weaving to the next generation of First Nations women – which is exactly what she and Alaskan Tlingit Chilkat master weaver Clarissa Rizel will do during the Adäka Cultural …
Keeping the Stories Alive
Tammy Lee Josie was literally pushed onto the stage at 14 years old. She was watching her grandmother, Edith Josie, perform her family’s Vuntut Gwitchin stories at the Yukon International Storytelling Festival in 1998 when festival coordinator Louise Profeit-Leblanc asked if Tammy Lee knew Edith’s tales. “Then my grandmother pointed at me and said ‘Your …
The thinking-man’s folksinger
There’s a new folksinger passing through the Yukon … and he’s prepared. He may never have been North before, but Cort Delano’s “got my tin pan and gunny sack.” This Albertan roots musician, like many who make their first journey north, has a friend he grew up with, Darren Van Langen, a friend who has …
Small Town, Big Arts Festival
MAYO The Village of Mayo, named most astutely after a certain Alfred H. Mayo, one-time circus acrobat, is hosting, for the fifth year in a row, a back-bendingly large assortment of homegrown artistic and musical talent. Set this year on summer solstice, June 21, the Mayo Arts Festival, along the banks of the Stewart River …
Artrepreneur: Art to Share Spirit
SYANA’s first annual Yukon First Nations Arts Festival will have a strong visual arts and crafts focus. That’s what the society’s members asked for. Executive Director Sonny Voyageur had SYANA members fill out a questionnaire. Most said they would like to see the society’s activities focus on visual arts and crafts. Voyageur finds that arts …
The boulder you get
The sport of bouldering does not end with “conquering” a boulder but, rather, “understanding” it. The sport’s founder is a mathematician and accomplished gymnast, while its most successful participants do not necessarily possess great strength. The Ibex Valley Bouldering Festival (not “Competition” … but “Festival”) is a good chance to see this sport and to …
From his Basement to the Stage
If you’ve had your ear to the Yukon ground in the past year, you’ve probably felt a vibration shaking from 86Heaven – they’re an informal conglomerate of Yukon hip hop artists headed by Warren Strand a.k.a. Abstract Original. Strand is of Southern Tutchone decent, representing the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations and the majority of …
The nations of the Yukon celebrated
A long time ago, Deb Jutra was at the T&M Hotel when a visitor said to her, “This is amazing, I see seven different cultures here and they are all getting along.” “Oh, yeah,” said Jutra, not in a surprised way but, rather, in an “of course” kind of way. “In the Yukon, we are …
Artrepreneur: Cutouts and Curious George
Whimsy, angst and wit play in Joseph Tisiga’s drawings for the show Indigenous Incisions — or an Indigenous Ambivalence of the Abandoned Modern Man — opening Sept. 4 in the Yukon Arts Centre Community Gallery. Or should I call him J. Ciga? That’s how he signs his drawings. Ciga (pronounced cih-guh, with a short sharp …
Laughing at the unlaughable
Bruce Horak no longer needs the catharsis that his play, This is Cancer?, has been for him. But other people do and, so, he will continue accepting invitations to travel with the play he wrote and stars in. Indeed, having only just been here for one show this past winter for the Pivot Festival, Nakai …
The Yukon is Not Just a Place
Naturally, I miss the Yukon. To be specific, it certainly wouldn’t be the weather (heh … sorry), but far more importantly, the people.
Sweet Dessert Wines For Long Winter Nights
Working the Rotary Wine and Fine Food Festival last month, I was reminded all over again why I love the world of wine. There were new wines to discover and old familiar ones that I hadn’t seen in a while. And the same was true for the people I met and poured for. For those …
Have Fun Learning At Wine and Fine Food Festival
Sharing wines is a wonderful experience. Coming on Oct. 23, here in Whitehorse, is an opportunity to gather with friends, try many new wines and make a contribution to the local community … all at the same time. The Rendezvous Rotary Club is holding its 17th Annual Wine and Fine Food Festival at the High …
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Variety Is The Spice Of Francophone Film Festival
Le secteur culturel de l’Association franco-yukonnaise is bringing north some of the greatest cinematographic creations of the year in the world of francophone film, Canadian and foreign. From Oct. 16 to 19, the Francophone Film Festival is coming to Whitehorse. Once a year, this event provides the rare opportunity to view new, independent French films …
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Provocative Fringe Theatre
When it comes to theatre, David Skelton says he believes Whitehorse audiences are “brave and sophisticated”. As Nakai Theatre’s artistic director, Skelton admits that last year’s Pivot Festival came with a small dose of controversy. However, he’s ready for another go this January when the avant-garde performance event hits the stage for its second run. …
It’s gonna be a ‘blue’ folklore
Skookum Jim Friendship Centre is doing something different this year with its 2009 Folklore Show on Saturday, Jan. 31: it will be A Night of Blues. Well, it is always a little different from year to year. This 36th edition’s theme emerged after Chris Nash, the producer, and the Folklore Committee saw which acts were …
Yukon Fashion to Swarm Ottawa Runway
When you live in a place where it is winter for half the year you would expect fashion to be restricted to parkas and boots, but that’s not the case. Tomorrow night in Ottawa three Yukon designers will show their work at Northern Scene’s contemporary themed evening, SWARM, which features music, art, fashion and a …
Supporting the Economy Through the Arts
Supporting the Economy Through the Arts You could expect a 10-years lifespan from mining projects, and Hakonson is well aware that placer miners have been roaming the creeks since 1898 and show no signs of stopping, but the short life of Viceroy’s Brewery Creek Mine and the short lived Clinton Creek asbestos mine tend to …
Taylor Mac wants to shake you up
Taylor Mac would like you to know that he doesn’t want to offend you. If his fantastical makeup and clothes surprise you, then that’s OK because if you are surprised, then you are being shaken up a little. And shaking things up is what this drag queen considers his job to be. If audiences are …
The many ‘faces’ of the Pivot Festival
When David Skelton discusses the upcoming Pivot Festival, he keeps coming back to the example of Joseph Tisiga. The young Yukon First Nations artist is ready to burst out and Skelton likes to think his Nakai Theatre helped him along the way. That is, after all, the purpose behind Nakai Theatre. “We develop local artists,” …
Sasquatch Prom Date will have fun at Frostbite
The bearded man shrugged on his Carhartt jacket and then levelled a gaze at Genesee Keevil. She was sitting by the window, wearing a cover-your-eyes bright-pink wig, and her slightly too-loud voice only added to the spectacle. “Where are you playing?” came the unexpected question. “Frostbite, next weekend,” was the cheery answer from Keevil. “I’m …
Pretty and Witty and Gay
The Old Fire Hall in downtown Whitehorse will host the second annual Out North Film Festival on the weekend of April 19-21. Buoyed by last year’s successful debut of the only Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,Transsexual (LGBT) film festival North of 60, organizers Fiona Griffin and Debbie Thomas have assembled a package of five features and six …
‘How People Got Fire’ premieres at ALFF
It’s been three years, but How People Got Fire is ready for its world premiere at the Available Light Film Festival. “I started calling it, ‘How People Finally Got Fire’,” says Daniel Janke with a tone of weary fun. Janke, the writer/composer/director, is better known as a composer of contemporary music and creator of the …
Beer and Beautiful Music … Together
What goes together even better than peanut butter and chocolate, Laurel and Hardy, or ice cream and dill pickles? We think it is beer and music. We have been a long-time supporter of music in the Yukon, starting with our very first sponsorship of the Frostbite Music Festival. The brewery was three weeks old when …
2009 ALFF is bigger and better
Andrew Connors is very pleased with his 32-page program for the upcoming Available Light Film Festival. “Last year, it was 24 pages,” says the festival’s director. He explains that there are only slightly more films being presented this year. The difference is in the “value-added events”. Connors says these include panel discussions, information sessions and …
Artrepreneur: A Fascination with Flax
As I write this, 78-year-old Helmut Becker toils tirelessly, beating his hand-grown flax and hemp fibres for Yukon artists. He’s doing it in Ontario, so I can’t see him. But it sure makes writing this article like indoor work with no heavy lifting. Becker is coming to the Yukon June 4 to 14 because of …
Hops Across the Pond
Back in March, we sent one of our brewers on a jaunt to jolly old England. Alan went there to participate in a beerfest put on by a group of pubs, J.D. Wetherspoon (JDW). At each beerfest, JDW features 50 different beers in their pubs, most of which come from around England, but some of …
World of Words: Poetry Festival reached for the stars
When local poet Michael Reynolds reads at the 2009 Whitehorse Poetry Festival, he’ll join a closely connected group of guests that includes Michael Ondaatje, Don McKay, CD Wright, Adam Sol and Erin Mouré. “It’s exciting that we will all meet in Whitehorse!” said Mouré from Montréal. Organizer Clea Roberts said the June 19-21 festival attracts …
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P-Wing: Not your daddy’s cover band
Pegasus Wing beckons listeners to recall the profound messages and blissful sounds made by artists whom (unbeknown to them at the time) stood at the 80s doorstep of strange musical wonder, having just come off a 70s classic rock high. André Gagné, Fiona Solon, Ken Hermanson, Micah Smith, and Mike Millar (with an “a”) collectively …