Festivals & Fairs
Issue: 2019-09-25, PHOTO: courtesy of Paris Pick
Still feeling the love
Paris Pick has been up to a lot this past year. Last November, she was featured in What’s Up Yukon for the local release concert of her debut album, Feeling Love, and its subsequent touring. It’s been nearly a year since then, but the Whitehorse... Read more
Issue: 2019-09-18, PHOTO: courtesy of BreakOut West
Break on through
With the emergence of streaming services, social media and new technology redefining challenges in the musical industry, how does an emerging musician advance their career past the local scene and into touring stardom? That’s the question that... Read more
Issue: 2019-06-19, courtesy of Adäka Cultural Festival / Archbould.com
Coming into the light
It was in 2011 that the first ever Adäka Cultural Festival was held on the waterfront outside the Old Fire Hall. Read more
Issue: 2019-06-05, PHOTO: Dan Davidson
How real life can inform fiction
In the course of his Massey Lecture series in 2013 (published as Blood: The Stuff of Life, from House of Anansi Press), Lawrence Hill used a fair amount of autobiographical information for anecdotal evidence to enliven his research material... Read more
Issue: 2019-06-05, PHOTO: courtesy of Queer Yukon
Sing it loud, sing it proud
Some people are surprised it’s only been 50 years; others are surprised it’s already been 50 years. One of the biggest questions Marc-Andre Belair has, is how to contextualize for attendees of this year’s Yukon Pride that homosexuality was... Read more
Issue: 2019-05-22, PHOTO: Harry Kern
Kluane mountain twang
The Kluane Mountain Bluegrass Festival (KMBF) has an unfair advantage. It has never had to work to attract world-class performing acts and is known widely on the festival circuit as “the one to play.” The performers, awestruck by the St. Elias... Read more
Issue: 2019-04-10, PHOTO: Dan Davidson
Dawson City International Short Film Festival celebrates two decades of short films on April 18 to 21
Dan Sokolowski is about three weeks away from launching the 20th edition of the Dawson City International Short Film Festival (DCISFF) when we sit down in his corner of the building that’s home to the Klondike Institute of Art of Culture (KIAC.)... Read more
Issue: 2019-04-03, PHOTO: Alex Jager
In paradisum electronica
Everybody knows the Yukon has its share of folk music and roots rock, but they don’t often think about electronic music. According to Kevin Jack, they should. Four years ago, when Jack opened to the public what had been an invite-only affair for... Read more
Issue: 2019-03-13, PHOTO: Dan Davidson
Thaw di Gras is Coming Soon
It’s perhaps still a bit wintery by March 15, but that is the annual date when Dawson City celebrates what is nearly the end of that season with its Thaw di Gras “Spring” carnival. The event runs over a weekend, from March 15 to 17... Read more
Issue: 2018-11-28, PHOTO: Erik Pinkerton Photography
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... Read more
Issue: 2018-11-28, PHOTO: courtesy of Bruce Binder Photography
A junction of mountain film, culture and science in Kluane country
Like any person who’s ever driven into Haines Junction, the Kluane mountain range will take your breath away with its sheer beauty. Its residents live year-round in the small community that has had over 50 years of scientific research conducted in... Read more
Issue: 2018-11-21, PHOTO: Dan Davidson
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... Read more
Issue: 2018-11-14, PHOTO: courtesy of the Yukon Comic Culture Society
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... Read more
Issue: 2018-11-14, PHOTO: courtesy of the Yukon Craft Society
It’s (almost) that most wonderful time of the year ...
Spruce Bog. Two inspiring and motivational words that bring back many pleasant memories, both of crafting and shopping; they evoke a sense of excitement in so many Yukoners who have an appreciation for the incredible talent and variety of our... Read more
Issue: 2018-11-14, PHOTO: courtesy of the Northern Fibres Guild
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. On November 25, the doors open for another grand exhibition and sale at the Kwanlin Dun... Read more
Issue: 2018-11-14, PHOTO: Joe Mabel via Wikimedia Commons
Remembering (and never repeating) history
The Japanese Canadian Association of Yukon (JCAY) will be hosting events this November in recognition of the 30th anniversary of the success of the Redress campaign in 1988. Fumi Torigai, former president of JACY, for 9 years, now community... Read more
Issue: 2018-09-05, PHOTO: Pixabay
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... Read more
Issue: 2018-08-01, PHOTO: Darlene Sillery
Magic under the mountains
Haines Junction is gearing up for the second-annual Augusto Children`s Festival. With 28 workshops for kids aged five to 12, on puppet-making, magic, Southern Tutchone dance, circus skills, ukulele playing … and many more. It’s the Yukon’s only... Read more
Issue: 2018-07-11, PHOTO: WUY file photo/Alex Jegier
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. The Paradise Electronic Music Festival was born 13 years ago after festival founder, organizer and local DJ, Kevin... Read more
Issue: 2018-07-11, PHOTO: Dieter Weise
‘Celebrating 30 years of northern art and artists’
This summer marks almost 30 years of the Great Northern Arts Festival. The annual arts festival is held every summer in the vibrant town of Inuvik, from July 13 to 22, at the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex. Each year, artists and performers from... Read more