Business

A portable sauna

Heating Up With Yukon Sauna

Yukon Sauna, started by Tyler and Joyce Rempel, originally came to be when the two wanted a portable sauna for their own use.

Soap Maker, Joella Hogan

Yukon Soaps

It has been a big year for Joella Hogan. Hogan has owned The Yukon Soaps Company, in Mayo (the heart of the Yukon)…

Keep the Humanity in the Work

In a world where there is now a mix of work environments, here are some tips for working from home — for employees and employers (and family)

Air North food service

A Convivial Conveyance

Flying to Toronto on Air North: relaxation. No change of airline, no transfer of luggage. I figured they were also going to feed me.

Douma Alwarid

Being Unorthodox in the Yukon

Unorthodox Yukon is one of the Yukon’s most-colourful spaces. The store’s owner, Douma Alwarid, is funny, open and animated.

Porta Pottys

The Business of Portable Toilets

Porta Potty, outhouse, Johnny-on-the-Spot, and honey bucket. I got to ask every question you never thought to ask about those plastic booths.

Warm up with a slice of Joe

From thirty below to three hundred above: Joe’s Wood Fired Pizza One minute you’re in Whitehorse, standing outside NVD Place (or, as it’s more commonly known, the Old Canadian Tire) and then you walk into Joe’s Wood Fired Pizza and wonder how on Earth you got to Dawson so quickly. Joe Cooke cheerfully waves at …

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Yukon Venture Angels has launched

Yukon Venture Angels is an angel investment group. Experienced & first-time angels looking to learn about growing businesses are welcomed.

Karaky Grocery: Tastes of home

International foods from many countries and a variety of cuisine – Middle Eastern, South Asian, European and Japanese.

Taxi sign

Misfits versus City Hall – Part 3

Contrary to the adage “You can’t fight City Hall,” we had – and we’d won. A 25c raise sounds like peanuts. The fact is we received a 33% raise

field of pumpkins

Pumpkins in the North

Getting Pumpkins to the Yukon isn’t easy. There’s a lot of shipping logistics to bring them from B.C., maybe Alberta, maybe even California.”

Welcome to the Belly of the Bison!

Belly of the Bison offers dishes that are “upscale but simple,” as Scmidt describes them. “The food is elegant comfort food,” she said.

Recycling your wreck

Some old trucks are a source of antique reverence to the past, but too many abandoned cars are an unfortunate part of Yukon’s landscape.

A Yukon Horror Story, So Far

Graphic novels are Gallagher’s favourite art form. This exhibit is an artistic journey to produce a horror graphic novel set in the Yukon.

Paris Pick – A Star is born

Whitehorse musician Paris Pick’s most recent video, the title track from her album I Can’t Help It , is blowing up on YouTube

Jeszika Mae’s Joy of Cooking

Macarons represent the bonbons side of Jeszika Mae’s business slogan: “Bacon and Bonbons – smoked meats and sweet treats.”

Canoeing this summer?

Whitehorse’s canoe and kayak rental companies are shifting their focus to the local market for a summer without tourists.

Yummy dumplings

Anne’s Dumplings took off in the last year. Anne Huang-Power can’t keep up with the demand for her dumplings.

King of Bowls Troy King

King of Bowls

Night Market offers a taste of Thai Troy King, the executive chef behind the recently-opened Night Market, is a person who seems to live by the Asian-fusion restaurant’s slogan, “grab life by the bowls.” King is already known for heading up the team at Wood Street Ramen. I meet with him to talk about Night …

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Dress Local

Audrey Levesque is the creator and maker of Made by Auds. She designs, cuts and sews her small garment collection from a room in a Gold rush-era hotel in Dawson City.

Bringing BBQ to the masses

Smoke and Sow, from food truck to Whitehorse restaurant. The menu includes beef brisket, pulled pork, racks of ribs and whole chickens.

Changing Gear changing hands

Changing Gear ticks off several boxes: it’s well set up, it’s a great facility, it’s something he can grow with, and the location

Local beer and good cheer

There’s a whole lot of local in Gather Café and Taphouse, a recent addition to Whitehorse’s burgeoning culinary and bar scene.

Brothers in beer

Polarity Brewing, the latest addition to the Yukon craft beer scene, is a labour of love.

Going to the dogs!

Road Dogs is a music store, a coffee shop and the new Yukon Online Marketplace. It’s a place to buy a guitar, peruse vinyl while you enjoy a great cappuccino, and the pick up spot for a new online marketplace for Yukon products.

Fruits of the wine

You may have heard, we have a winery in the Yukon now. This winery comes from the team at Yukon Berry Farms. They were looking for a way to use their haskap berries to create secondary products that have a long shelf life and good margins – fruit wine.

Tie one on

Whitehorse is home to a tiny fly shop with a big heart Big fish. Tiny fly shop. At just 10 feet by 12 feet, and built in a mobile tiny-home style, H20 Troutfitter fly shop – located in the parking lot next to the Gold Pan Saloon in downtown Whitehorse – is the smallest fly …

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Locally raised, locally made

July 22 is National Hot Dog Day (which is, apparently, a thing) and why celebrate with just any ol’ meat on a bun when you could have one made with locally raised pork? Support a farmer, love your butcher.

Putting delicious food into the hands of Yukoners

Wayfarer Oyster House provides takeout and off-sales during the time of COVID-19 COVID-19 has dramatically changed things for Yukon’s restaurant community, including Wayfarer Oyster House. “If there’s a word to describe everything right now, it’s different,” explained the co-owners of Wayfarer Oyster House, Andrew Seymour, Brian Ng and Eddie Rideout.  “Like our peers across the …

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Cooking up some good

The Yukon Chef Collective is a group of local culinary professionals giving back by creating meals for the Whitehorse Food Bank

Sundog: Where Taking Care of You Feeds Other People Too

When guests started cancelling in February, Yukon resort owners Heather and Andrew Finton knew 2020 was going to be a challenge. When the borders to the States and around the world closed they knew their tourism business needed a brave new start. “We looked around at what’s here on site, and how to share it,” …

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Pho-fix

Making sure Yukoners can still get their pho-fix is not the only way Lan Tang, owner of Pho 5 Star Restaurant, is contributing during the pandemic.

Support local with a beer and some Indian food

Things are different for everyone in the new COVID-19 world and companies everywhere are having to change their business models to adapt. Nowhere is this truer than for the Woodcutter’s Blanket. “It’s been difficult, it felt like it happened overnight,” said co-owner James Maltby. “It has forced us to do a 180 on our business …

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Bringing more than tourists

At the 16th annual Bravo Awards, the Yukon Convention Bureau (YCB) recognized those who live here and make a difference by offering the best spot in Canada to hold a conference or meeting.

Getting on the Wrench

[one_half] What motivated you to get into this trade? When I was in high school I joined a Skills Canada Yukon Skills club for hairstyling. After learning about the trade I was totally motivated to make hairstyling my full-time career. Was there someone who got you excited about this path? Erin Neufeld, who was my …

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So cheesy

Cultured Fine Cheese has become a specialty shop that offers the necessary ingredients for a fabulous meal and the perfect snack.

“Never a Boring Day”, Meet Joel Stacey

I was motivated to begin trade school when I realized I was enjoying my summer carpentry jobs more than my university studies, and could get paid to do it!

Serving up kindness

Whatever we do, there is always room for a little kindness. That was the message I took away after meeting with Meg Rodger at her new eatery, Kind Café, on Hawkins Street in downtown Whitehorse.

Thirty-five years and counting

For more than the past three decades, Däna Näye Ventures has helped Yukon businesses succeed. Now, on the eve of the organization’s 35th anniversary, it has been honoured by Startup Canada for its entrepreneurial efforts. 

Meet Cassandra the carpenter

Carpentry has made my life better by giving me a job I love. I don’t dread getting up in the morning and am happy to go to a job I like with a crew that feels like family.

Nature’s Workshop

Eleven years ago, Jason Patreau was in Afghanistan with Task Force 1-08, 2nd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry Battle Group. (PPCLI.)  He would be stationed there for nine months, not only engaging in active, combat but also humanitarian efforts such as rebuilding schools. This would be his sixth and final year with the Canadian …

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Summit Kombucha is making an ancient fermented drink Yukon’s favourite healthy beverage

Nicole Schoeneberg (left) and Hilary Seymour (right), owners of Summit Kombucha, enjoying their blueberry and basil kombucha, at their brewery Have you tried kombucha; the effervescent sweet/sour beverage? Statistics say you likely have. This ancient fermented tea drink is now the fastest-growing market in North America and experts say it could be worth $3.5 billion …

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A pearl formed in these oysters

Even after a year of operating in downtown Whitehorse, Eddie Rideout, co-owner of Wayfarer Oyster House, stresses that his restaurant does more than just oysters. Some people still associate the 6th Avenue eatery with its pop-up origins, when Rideout and co-owners Brian Ng and Andrew Seymour would show up at different bars around town to …

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You talking to her?

“When you haveit flat tire, you throwit over there and you takeit spare tire from that pile. Every three days you takeit air filter out of car and you putit on dirty air filter pile and then you grabit filter from clean filter pile and putit in car. It’s your job to wash cab, you …

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Local squared

Chef Robert Brouillette, of the storied Gold Pan Saloon in Whitehorse, is passionate about showcasing local ingredients. Brouillette began working in restaurants at age 16. After working in his family’s Québec vineyard for six years and studying in fine French bistros with chefs from Paris, Bretagne and Alsace, Brouillette’s sense of adventure brought him from …

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Saved by The Caribou and wolves

Considering the Caribou RV Park at km 1403 of the Alaska Highway was established in 1974 and your humble correspondent lived in Atlin from 1977 to 1984, I must have driven right by it hundreds of times over the years without giving it a look or even a thought. I knew it was built by …

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Yukon Gardens continues to grow

Facility expansion has made winter growing possible Growing up in a small town in Saskatchewan, and during his high school days, no one knew Lorne Metropolit’s name. But they did know that he was Mac Metropolit’s son and he did good landscaping work. So, he was known as “Mac’s son” and if anyone needed a …

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Number one, with a bullet

Almost a year into its brick and mortar bagel shop in Horwood’s Mall, Whitehorse’s own bit of bagel bliss is going strong. The smell of boiling and baking bagels is immediate when you step into Horwood’s Mall. Co-owners and operators, Adrian Burrill and Alena Puskas, make bagels with their team (Hannah Warrington, Brent Gallant and …

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From the cradle to the grave

Well-Read Books celebrates a lifetime of books with its 20th anniversary and it’s a labour of love for the partners that own the store, which has established itself as a venue for the arts community. Over the years, Well-Read has hosted everything from a wedding to a wake, as well as numerous poetry readings, storytellings, …

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From the cradle to the grave

Well-Read Books will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year and it’s a labour of love for the partners that own the store, which has established itself as a venue for the arts community. Over the years, Well-Read has hosted everything from a wedding to a wake, as well as numerous poetry readings, storytellings, concerts and …

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Tech company grows byte by byte

You’d be forgiven for thinking Triniti Technology only sells cell phone cases. Sylvio Lin, general manager for the Whitehorse-based company, knows that’s what it looks like from the outside.  “Most people think we just sell electronics,” said Lin. “They have no idea what else we do in terms of repair and servicing.” Beyond the cell …

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A breath of fresh air

Solar air heating panels could be mounted on the side of the house Energy efficiency and well-ventilated healthy air. Yukon Innovation Prize finalist Shane Wolfe is attempting to maximize the potential of heat-recovery ventilation (HRV) units that are integral for those two concepts to co-exist in a building. Northern construction has worked extensively to balance …

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Worming their way onto a kitchen counter near you

Yukon Innovation Prize finalist Sabrina Clarke was a worm composting novice when she first moved to Montreal. In fact, the city didn’t have a composting program at all and residents had to devise their own solutions. Clarke lucked out by developing an idea she’s parlayed into a new project, Yukon Wigglers. “A friend [in Montreal] …

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Potent and pedal-powered

Russo roasts Firebaen coffee with a bike-powered roaster. “And then I go home and stretch,” he said, laughing.

Outpost is in this year

Neil Macdonald (left), Dave Hamelin and Jayden Soroka formed Outpost 31 to create a full-service production company in the Yukon. Their success resulted in an invitation from Telefilm Canada to attend the 2019 Cannes Film Festival in France. In 2018, the Yukon saw vast growth within the local film industry. One of the reasons for …

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Can you dig it?

The Government of Yukon has provided Yukon Women in Mining with funding for a series of events called Yukon Mining Days, scheduled to take place in communities across the territory. Working in partnership with the Government of Yukon and The Yukon Mining Alliance, the events are free to the community and focused on highlighting the …

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This isn’t any regular pop-up

There’s no doubt things are popping with Klondike Kettle Corn. The small business went from selling a few bags of kettle corn at the 2010 Fireweed Community Market to having the product available at local grocery stores, gas stations, fundraisers, parties and via popcorn subscription box. For Katie Young (aka Katie Popcorn), it involved moving the …

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Modernizing a photographic landmark on Second Avenue

A few weeks ago, Woodcutter’s Blanket launched the latest in its expansion efforts—a microbrewery. The bar plans to offer a rotating assortment of beers which will go straight from the kegs to your glass, making the beer “as fresh as you can get it” according to Woodcutter’s co-owner, James Maltby. This has the added benefit …

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Gearing up for the season

It’s the ultimate garage sale, especially if you’re the type to keep more bikes than cars in your garage. This spring, the Contagious Mountain Bike Club (CMBC) is hosting its annual bicycle garage sale. Anyone can bring a bike (or bikes) to Shipyards Park on May 4 and leave them with CMBC members to be sold. The …

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Ditch your fear of public speaking

Whether you’re interested in being a leader or looking to grow your business, speaking in public is a surefire way to establish expertise and credibility in your field. Unfortunately for many, the thought of public speaking is enough to cause them to shrink back and turn down opportunities that come their way. Public speaking seems to …

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Velvet Antler Productions

Nobody gets put in the corner

Some ladies show up in high heels and lipstick; others roll into the dance studio right after having rolled off the couch. There’s no right way to come to class, said Kate Fitzgerald over the phone in late February. Her voice was low and sultry—the result of a cold rather than any concentrated effort to …

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Dimensions Tech Services

Dimensions Tech Services is a specialized company that mostly provides technical training to emergency services staff in the Yukon.

Emma’s Quick Guide to a safe and sound studio

The main things I consider, as a painter, are ventilation, natural light and cleanup. Ventilation is challenging in the Yukon because in the winter you lose so much heat by opening windows.

He builds them (and they are coming)

Tyler Nichol, originally from Dawson City, has been building parks since he was a kid on the Dawson Dome and has gone from gold miner to a nationally renowned park creator in Canada.

Managing avalanche terrain

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

Revolutionizing endurance training

“We’re just at the cusp of changing an entire sport, and it’s coming out of a town of 23-thousand people. It’s incredible where we’ve got to,” said Alastair Smith, co founder of Proskida. Current performance-monitoring technology that’s widely available in the sport doesn’t tell you how much you’re producing; it just tells you how much …

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The Deli

Fifty years of meat, sausage and community

The Deli, as it is fondly nicknamed by so many, is a local icon to most Yukoners (not just those in Whitehorse), as well as to many travellers from around the world. (This tribute was written to help celebrate its 50th Anniversary on December 14, 2018.)

Expanding the Elements

When you walk into the newly renovated Elements Hair Studio and Day Spa, you wouldn’t know that its location was formerly a swimming pool. You might even forget that you are in Whitehorse. Whitehorse’s only true day spa moved into its new space in the Gold Rush Best Western Hotel in February, expanding its size …

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Lettuce off the grid

Food security is an ongoing concern for northerners, as remote communities as well as Whitehorse struggle with access to reliable and affordable produce from southern suppliers. Executives at the Yukon-based power company Solvest Inc. think they’ve found a solution. The company is in the pilot phase of a project that aims to provide an off-the-grid …

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Making cooperative space a community place

Long-time Yukoners have watched with interest as the “old Food Fair” building has undergone extensive renovations on Second Avenue. The building has long sat vacant and curious viewers have watched with interest, wondering who the new residents might be. That wait is now over as the new YuKonstruct space has opened for members and the …

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Ten years in Whitehorse and ready to celebrate!

Born in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Antoinette GreenOliph came to Ontario at 13 years of age. She recalls that her family was the only black family in the neighbourhood and recollects the awkward questions and excluded feelings of growing up different. She fell in love with food at a young age. “I was …

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Ford has a better idea

Jasmine Bill (left), Charles Chief, Jacquie Shorty, and Alexander Gatensby receive Whitehorse Motors’ August contribution to the KDFN Youth Advisory Council from Tina Woodland In the old days, it was just carburetors. Now, 50 years later, everything has changed, according to Tina Woodland, owner of Whitehorse Motors. Cars are computerized, the dealership has moved locations and …

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Do you even BAH?

Business After Hours (BAHs) are a regular fall and winter activity for networking professionals in Whitehorse.

Inspired by ‘place’

Anto Yukon’s 100 per cent natural and vegan soaps and essential oils are inspired by by the artist’s favourite Canadian landscapes.

The art of pelts, skulls and antlers

Cindy Klippenstein is a small-business owner with a degree in fine arts degree, who spends her days fleshing, tanning and mounting hunting trophies as the Yukon’s only full-time taxidermist. And she couldn’t be happier.

Learn to fly

Alkan Air offers the chance to try flying through their Discovery Flights. Alkan Air Flight School opened three years ago and Jenna Collee, chief flight instructor, said the Discovery Flights get people interested in flying.

No maple trees? No problem

To find authentic maple syrup, made from Canadian maple trees, you go to Richard Beaudoin. This Yukoner has taken up the task of introducing Yukoners to authentic Canadian maple syrup.

A new home for GoNorth Whitehorse

by Yvonne Freiderich GoNorth expands its car & RV rental business with RV service, repair and storage at its new location on Mt. Sima Road “Summertime is RV time—for locals and tourists alike! Whether you want to rent an RV or you need your own unit repaired, GoNorth is proud to serve you,” said the …

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Herbal passions

When Beverley Gray started her business, over 20 years ago, it began with filling a need for her own family.

Garage Sales 101

Garage sales are friendly Saturday morning events where we get a chance to socialize with other shoppers and the households, neighbourhoods and organizations hosting the sales.

Garage Sales – Doing it for (the) community

In early April, 79-year-old Lorraine White did what lots of Yukoners do: she held a garage sale. White, who was moving to Vancouver Island, sold her furniture and old china at her Takhini senior’s residence, and gave away the rest. Moving on or moving out are two reasons for garage sales. Connecting with community is …

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Going green never looked so good

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

Celebrating the role of mining in the Yukon

The Yukon Chamber of Mines has prioritized outreach and community engagement as part of their programming. Heading into its 10th year, the annual Mining and Exploration Camp, which is held during Yukon Mining Week each spring, is one of two major events geared towards that work. (Family Day, held during the annual Geoscience Forum in …

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Go Big, Jack

Big Bear Donair shares a parking lot with the old Salvation Army and wouldn’t be the first location many would look to for a new business venture.

Powering community media North of 60

Tagish-based open-source technology guru and founder of Open Broadcaster, “Radio” Rob Hopkins is a driving force behind the use of this technology in northern Canada A group of broadcasters and open-source technology enthusiasts are having get-together at the Days Inn in Whitehorse on March 23. The open-source North 60 conference brings together professionals from different …

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Handmade with passion

Take a drive south of Whitehorse, using the mountain range and tall pines as your guide, you will find yourself in the lovely community of Carcross. In this little hub works a very talented jeweller, Shelley MacDonald.

Changing northern skylines: Mary Ellen Read and the art of collaboration

I meet the architect Mary Ellen Read at the cocktail bar Woodcutter’s Blanket in Whitehorse. With a grin she guides me around the windy corner to show me a pit, where you can see the log building’s basement’s concrete exterior, a face normally covered by earth. She checks with James Maltby, the owner of the Woodcutter’s, …

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Helping the community climb to new heights

Chris Gishler, owner and operator of Equinox Adventures, has spent the last 15 years building and developing his outdoor adventure and education company as the Yukon has continued to grow. Back in 1999, Gishler arrived to Whitehorse in preparation for a Mount Logan trip in Kluane National Park, only to discover plane issues, which led …

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Sourdough Rendezvous Dereen Hildebrand Business Decor Contest

Ready, set, paint your windows!

Brenda Buren (left) and Lindsay Agar (right) present staff from BMO ribbons for Best Bank and Best Overall in the 2017 Business Decor Competition Yukon businesses have been celebrating Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous with window painting and decorating for decades. The festive atmosphere builds anticipation for the event and helps cultivate the Klondike Gold Rush-era feel …

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Unlearning for success

It’s the year of the woman, ladies. In the height of the #MeToo movement, Times Up, and many other global shifts, women are taking a stand and making change by acknowledging that we face unique challenges and tackling them head on.

A conversation with Niki Greenough

People want to be creative, but they don’t necessarily want to have to have all the stuff it takes to do a craft. They can come here, pay the one price, and then take their piece home with them.

A new craft beer in town

There’s a new brewery opening in the Mount Sima area. Deep Dark Wood Brewing is hoping to be open and available to the public around Christmas.

The evolution of Icycle Sports

Icycle Sports started in the summer of 1998 by Patrick Plemel in his basement in Riverdale. In 1999 they opened their first location on Wood Street, then had multiple locations until 2006 when they moved to their current location on Quartz Road. Since its inception, it has undergone many changes, including a change in ownership. …

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From passion to success

It’s been 20 years since Thomas de Jager first discovered the Yukon. Today, he runs his successful business Yukon Wide Adventures that gives locals and tourists the opportunity to enjoy the Yukon’s outdoors. Thomas, originally from Monheim, Germany first came as a tourist through Alaska and the Yukon in 1996. His parents were avid kayakers …

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Yukon built entrepreneurs

Third generation, born-and-raised Yukoners, brothers Myles, 26 and Tanner Hougen, 24 have begun their own journey into the Yukon entrepreneurial market.

An interview with Kayla Morrison

When you decide to pursue baking as a career, there’s only so far you can go up before the only option is opening up your own place.

Glass of wine with that pedicure?

Head to Toe is the first ever salon to offer a bar service to their customers, including mimosas, house wines, scotch, coffee and baileys, and import and local beer.

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.

Go North, Young Printers

Located at 204 Strickland St., the Arctic Star Printing building has been a part of the downtown Whitehorse scenery since 1983. Now they’ve got a new location. The company acquired Inkspirationz at 120 Platinum Road in July, and as of September 11, the two companies are now operating from the same workspace. “It will allow …

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Filling the Void

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

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Accelerate your business results

Independent Management consultant Stefan Voswinkel has a question for Yukon entrepreneurs: “What does success mean to you?” Voswinkel is running a five-session workshop aimed at helping business-minded Yukoners figure this out for themselves. He says it’s essential to prioritize your values. Once you’ve reached the point where you know what your goals are, it makes …

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Stephanie Dixon

Local Female Entrepreneurs Share Their Best Business Advice

Wondering how to get your business from side hustle to full time? Struggling with balancing kids, hobbies and relationships, while building your brand? Looking for inspiration and motivation to get you through the inevitable blocks and challenges that comes with being an entrepreneur? Women face unique challenges when launching into the world of business. For …

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Flying High

To hear Hugh Kitchen tell it, operating a Northern aviation business seems a lot like trying to romance a porcupine. Besides needing opportunity, courage and excellent timing, “you have to be flexible and fast on your feet.” Kitchen ought to know. He’s been involved with Whitehorse-based Alkan Air for the past 35 years, both as …

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In talks with Luann Baker-Johnson

Rhiannon Russell: You opened in June 2016. How has the first year of business been? Luann Baker-Johnson: Absolutely spectacular. The community support is phenomenal. We always thought that this medium is wonderful and almost addictive in nature. It is. We’ve had over 5,000 people come in here for Hot Dates — that’s a one- or …

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They’re here to help

If something isn’t working, try differently, not harder. Art therapist Zoë Armstrong lives by these words, but last fall, she embodied this expression even further: she decided she needed a change from the local counselling agency where she had been working for five years. It wasn’t that Armstrong wasn’t connecting with, and forming meaningful relationships …

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Yukon Women in Mining

Yukon Women in Mining wants to raise the profile of mining as a vibrant career option, especially for Yukon women and youth. To do that in May they launched the Experiential Extravaganza in three Yukon communities. Over 30 representatives from 20 companies built a travelling exploration camp in Pelly Crossing, Faro and Dawson City to …

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Fireweed Jelly

Fireweed Jelly Yield: approximately 15 x 125 ml jars Ingredients: 8 cups fireweed blossoms (no stems or leaves) ¼ cup lemon juice 4 ½ cups water 2 packages powdered pectin 5 cups sugar Method: Collect the fireweed blossoms. Avoid the green stems and leaves. I harvest the blooming stalks while my patient wife picks and …

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Follow Your Passion in the Yukon

Erik Nielsen International Airport Manager since October 2016, Robert Manlig, the first Filipino Canadian to hold the position, has found his calling in the Yukon. “Aviation has always been the love of my life. It’s an exciting industry,” Manlig says. “It never gets old watching planes land, take off and listening to ATC (Air Traffic …

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Gypsy Goulash

When you’re in the backcountry, sometimes you don’t have a lot, but you need something fast, tasty and hot. This is a simple, highly adaptable dish that can be made almost anywhere, with a wide variety of ingredients. This version uses kidney beans, but any kind will do. Only the eggs and tomatoes are essential. …

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Take My Jeans… Please

It’s May. The time to spring-clean which, for me, means emptying out my closets and passing on the gently-worn-but-no-longer-fitting clothes to someone else to love. Especially my jeans, which have survived my hopes of losing weight or growing taller or simply waking up one day with a perfect body. The jeans that are like new, …

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Cool to be kind

Meg Rodgers is a self-proclaimed “whole food junkie” who exudes kindness in everything she does. It’s not only in the name of her baking company, Kind Whole Foods, but in the kindness she extends to the planet, via the mouth-watering, cruelty-free delicacies she so passionately creates as part of her self-started business. “I think we …

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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 …

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Programmers work miracles

Oh what a wonderful time we live in. If you are in a strange, new city and need to know where the best coffee is served, there is an app for that. Just touch your smartphone. If you need to know if those noodles are gluten-free, well, the package has a barcode and you have …

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Feeding the North

Food is important to me because I have a large family. Five boys under the age of nine” says Sonny Gray, CEO of North Star Agriculture Corp., as his company will soon announce plans to start construction in the Yukon. Like many in the Yukon he’s concerned about fresh produce. Yukoners like to buy local …

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Grazing around the world

Don’t you just hate it when you place your order for a dinner, after agonizing for 10 minutes, and then see something even better being carried past your table to someone else? The Cellar Steakhouse and Wine Bar, at the Edgewater Hotel, finally has as a solution: They are called Tapas.  These mini-meals are miniature …

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Camp Fire Cake

Sometimes, you just need cake. I’ve baked this from scratch before, but this is the one time I’m going to advocate boxed over homemade: when you’re deep in the backcountry it’s just too much fuss to pack in all the things you need to make a decent cake. The last time I made this, I …

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Wanted: Ideas

Applications are open until March 12 for the third annual Yukon Innovation Prize. The contest, which is hosted by the the Yukon College’s Cold Climate Innovation program and the Yukon Department of Economic Development, is seeking health and wellness-related entrepreneurial ideas related to the unique challenges posed by living in the North. Previous themes have …

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Bush Gypsy’s Banquette

Sometimes when you’re in the bush you need lots of calories, but you don’t have lots of time (or energy) left at the end of the day. By prepping the first part of this three part recipe for dinner, you have yourself a hearty, quick breakfast, as well as lunch or dinner the next day …

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A Home Away From Home

Stepping into Johnson’s Crossing Lodge nestled off the Alaska Highway at historic Mile 836 feels more like walking into your mom’s living room than a highway lodge. Vintage tins and rusted relics line the shelves overtop a cozy room with tables and chairs. A table top is scattered with hundreds of puzzle pieces waiting to …

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Lean, Mean, Pedal Powered Bean

It’s a chilly January evening, and 20 some kilometres south of Whitehorse, the cyclic hum of a whirring metal drum comes to a climactic finale with a “snap, crackle, pop.” It may be cold outside, but 34-year-old Michael Russo, dressed in insulated overalls and a down filled jacket, is aglow as he steps off an …

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A Local Getaway

We also enjoyed petting the many friendly animals that live with the host family. Eight dogs, a horse, a donkey and several chickens can keep adults and kids busy during their stay. Looking inside the guestbook we realized just how many guests have already had a great time in this cabin since 2008. Phrases like …

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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 …

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Building Tourism From the Ground Up

The Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre, a cultural hub of our capital city, will see national delegates focused on aboriginal economic development arrive on Monday, October 3 for the CANDO 23rd annual conference: Partnerships for Prosperity, Change Collaboration and Opportunity. CANDO (Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers) is a federally registered, non-profit society that …

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Pickled Rosemary Carrots

Bring on the cozy sweaters and pumpkin spice – it’s fall! My Facebook has been blowing up with harvest pictures: oversized squash, pounds of potatoes, and buckets of berries. I’ve also been seeing pictures of other people’s canning projects, which always inspires and motivates me to come up with new and exciting recipes. If you …

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Imagination & Artistry at the Whitehorse Etsy Sale

Etsy.com’s coast-to-coast pop-up event is back in Whitehorse for a second year, celebrating local artisans. Over a dozen vendors will be there with wares for you to touch, smell, see and drool over, and buy.   The event takes place in 38 communities across Canada on the same day. Etsy.com is a online forum where …

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Curry Cauliflower Pickles

When I was a kid, we had yellow curry powder in the house for exactly three dishes: curried rice with raisins, curried chicken steamed buns and these deliciously addictive curried crab puffs my parents would make for special occasions. Although very mild as far as heat level goes, the power of that spice has always …

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Raspberry Jam

I recently discovered a great trick for keeping strawberries fresher for longer: wash them in a one part vinegar to 10-parts water solution, then leave them out to dry before storing them in the fridge. There’s no vinegar aftertaste, and your strawberries will last way longer! I figured this trick would work equally well on …

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A new place to knit

Jackie Yaklin is a true knitter. If you see her at the dentist office, she likely has knitting needles in her hands conjuring up something warm for someone. “It is like an obsession and I seem to be really obsessed with starting projects,” she admits. “I have four projects going on right now.” Yaklin likes …

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Cumin Mango Chutney

Having trouble finding uses for your abundant mango crops? Look no further than this exotic chutney, combining the bright, tropical flavour of mango with the warm, spicy-sweet tones of cumin. If you’ve never had it before, chutney is sweet and savoury, with a chunky, salsa-like texture. It’s a perfect addition to a cheese plate, a …

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Wine Jelly

My first try at making wine jelly occurred recently while visiting my hometown of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. My mom and I spent an afternoon together attempting a wine jelly and a cherry whisky jam. I say “attempting” because the results were less than ideal. This could have been due to a number of things: a …

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Ready to work; ready to shine

The Yukon Association for Community Living is trying something they’ve never done before: they’re entering the film business. The organization has a mission is to advocate for, and support individuals with, developmental disabilities and their families and guardians have made a film as a promotional tool to attract employers to hire their clients. Kathleen Hare, …

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Entrepreneurs share success

Just because you have a great idea for a business, it doesn’t automatically follow that you have an idea of how to get it up and running. What does follow is a lot of research into areas you may have no experience with: market studies, permitting, supply chains, advertising, patents, etc. StartUp Whitehorse aims to …

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Bottoms Up!

Feeling thirsty this Saint Patrick’s Day? Your librations need not come from far away this weekend. Home-grown beer and spirit producer Yukon Brewing has recently released something new into their line up; a Yukon-made whisky, Two Brewers Single Malt. February 13th marked the much anticipated release of their first batch, of which approximately 700 bottles …

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Hawaii in a Mason Jar

One thing I often notice about winter is the way it makes you really appreciate warmth. It feels great to get out of the cold, cuddle up under a blanket and enjoy a hot beverage while you jealously flick through pictures online of other people’s beachside holidays. I’ve lived in Yukon for almost a year …

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Avoiding Lemons

Up until mid-July of last year, I had always had the same car – a 1999 standard transmission Honda CRV. When the rear CV joint went, I was cash strapped and just needed a vehicle to get me home to the Yukon from Naramata, BC, where I was working as a cherry picker. I wound …

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The Art of Eating

Suppose you are a French entrepreneur, and you are looking for a new business idea to develop in Whitehorse. What do you do ?   For a safe bet, you stick to the old saying “Do what you know.” Entrepreneur and epicurean Sylvain Belmondo did just that. After many months in the making, the Gourmet …

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Hypnosis is a serious business

The office is spacious, warm, comforting. An oh-so-welcoming leather sofa and recliner are along the far wall under a soft pool of light. One wall is painted a deep blue; another, a deep purple. “Those are my favourite colours,” says Lee Ann Thomson in a profoundly soothing voice. Then she admits, “And, yes, blue and …

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A natural way to look good (and feel good)

Standing in the hallway of the Horwood’s Mall, looking into Climate Clothing, you don’t immediately see the First Nation influence in the neat rows of clothing. You see earth tones, trending toward the dark due to the season, and little surprises here and there in a comfortable store. But First Nation teachings lives in the …

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Better Together

The Potluck Community Co-op is ready for its next step. For the past year and a half the Potluck, focused on ‘good food’ beginning with local and organic, has run a weekly pop-up shop with online ordering. While ‘breaking even’ according to board member Bernie Hoeschele, the little business has been challenged by wanting to …

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Extraneous Bananas

When your friend blows into town, you hang onto your hat and lay on the groceries, especially the Stolichnaya Vodka, or “Stoli”, as he calls it. Your friend is a Martini drinker, and particular about his cocktail of choice. He likes a dry Martini, so the vermouth must be dispensed via a tiny spray bottle. …

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Homegrown Business

Proud Yukoners want to shop Yukon – but sometimes it feels hard to do that. With so many of our goods and services being provided by companies on the Outside, it often feels like we’ve got no choice but to shell out to the big boys. For those who prefer to shop in their own backyard, however, …

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It’s Been a Slice

If you’ve walked past Bocelli’s Pizzeria lately, you may have seen a small sign in the window advertising its farewell. The local makers of saucy, thincrust Italian-style deliciousness are closing their doors. On Friday, August 28, the pizza oven will fire for the last time. Bocelli’s has been at the corner of 4th Avenue and …

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You are a Winner

One of the many remarks I got when I was selling queen raffle tickets during Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous (YSR) events was, “I have never won a prize”. My usual reply was, “You are already a winner by purchasing the raffle tickets, because you have made a contribution to the community”. My dear friends, by purchasing …

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A Place to Rest Your Laptop

In some dream world, working from home is easy. Get up early in the morning, park on the sofa, sip cup of coffee after cup of coffee, pound stories into the faithful laptop, wear wool socks and an afghan. The sun pours in the window so that it’s appreciated but not a hindrance to vision. …

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RVing in the YT

Earlier this year, at the Toronto Interior Design show, the Cubitat was introduced. This lifestyle cube is 10’ x 10’ and features a bed, bathroom, kitchen and television. All you need to do is hook up water and power and you have yourself a compact living space. Smaller living spaces have become increasingly popular. Now …

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Colour and a Straight Edge

Whitehorse is a town of natural beauty and diverse niches, and quite the opposite of global hub, New York City. Not everyone is caught up in high fashion comas, there are no large bright billboards in the centre of town, and financial institutions are housed in small banks instead of blocks of skyscrapers. When it …

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If it’s Tuesday, it must be … Thailand?

From the modern glass and metal outer door, to the wooden old-timey inner door, The Wheelhouse Restaurant’s guests are instantly transported back to the Whitehorse of the 1930s. If they take the tour, those guests aren’t sure if they are smiling at Art Webster’s enthusiasm, or at the sheer cleverness of the coat rack and …

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The Friendly Photographer

When one walks into Horwoods Mall from the Front Street entrance in downtown Whilehorse it’s hard to miss him. There, in one of the building’s charming nooks and crannies, sits John Houle with greyish hair protruding endearingly from a small, black skull cap. Houle is the owner/operator of ProPass, a one-stop-shop for all your photo …

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Rock this wall

I like blank, plain walls in the kitchen. Uncluttered and simple. If the paint is the same colour as every other wall in the house, even better. Crap! I am not even kidding myself, here. We have a very nice kitchen, but those walls are just a glaring bore. I guess I won’t be binge-watching …

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Artists Disguised as Carpenters

Ogilvie General Contracting is a small company; Graydon Keenan is it. And he and his long time friend Jona Barr took his first big project together. It wasn’t just any job. This was for their friend Elijah Stick’s mom, Jan. “I knew I wanted to make it special for Jan,” he says. “She’s like family …

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Bailey’s

It may not be a bar where everybody knows your name, but they sure as heck have seen you shoveling your driveway. It’s a neighbourhood pub. Its busiest nights are between Monday and Friday as Porter Creek welcomes home its residents after a long day of work. And Bailey’s Pub and Grill may not be …

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Quilting Hotbed

To descend the stairs into Bear’s Paw Quilts is to descend into colour. Quilts and colourful fabric samples line the walls. This is more than a fabric store. It’s a school, and a conduit to a world where quilting is the art of choice. Quilter, business owner, and teacher Ruth Headley attributes Bear’s Paw’s twelve years …

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The paperless office

It’s not really a truck with a paper shredder in the back; it’s more like a shredder-onwheels.  And when you see the shredder-on-wheels parked outside a business on a Thursday with its lights flashing, paper isn’t shredded by page. No, no. These folks deal in 100-pound batches; 200-pound; and 300-pound. “It is the low-stress part …

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Here Comes the Sun

At the request of some Facebook friends I spent about a week in late December taking a series of pictures showing the retreating daylight hours. Some of them were people who used to live here — friends and former students. They wanted to remember what it was like. Other requests were from people as far …

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Breaking Bread and Serving Tea

Most nights, I go somewhere in the hills behind Riverdale, buried in all my warm clothes, and there, standing still, I look at the sky for long hours, until the cold air makes its way through my layers. Sometimes, if I’m lucky, an opening in the clouds reveals dim lights over the northern horizon. Or, …

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The Art of Design

It is a busy Monday afternoon when Margriet and Al Aasman open their office for an interview. They are sitting in the meeting room where they do their brainstorming and workshops. One can feel the creative atmosphere in the room , with a white board full of notes on the wall, red lamps in the …

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Perspectives on the Whitehorse Extra Foods (aka Yellow Store) Renovation

I usually keep a cool head in chaos. This was not the case one fine Friday when I stopped by the Whitehorse Real Canadian Superstore (Superstore) after work to pick up a few things for dinner. Superstore is a large Loblaws-brand grocery store, and since the closure of Extra Foods (the only other large grocery …

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A BYTE of Business

Amy O’Rourke’s business was financially successful from the outset — so successful, she folded it in less than a year. She will talk about her experience at Baked Café on November 20. As founder of Cozy Foods, O’Rourke prepared and delivered home-style frozen meals to time-strapped customers in Whitehorse . Cozy Foods founder Amy O’Rourke …

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Recycling Made Easy

In the beginning it was available only to the people of Riverdale. But now — two years later — the Yukon Blue Bin Recycling Society has grown large enough to offer recycling pickup to  every major residential area in Whitehorse. Their service is simple; every two weeks a Blue Bin representative comes by to pick up recycling …

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Say Aloha to Dawson’s New Taco Cart

Dawson City’s blend of old-time charm and contemporary conveniences gives it a rare appeal, so it’s fitting that a taco cart will soon grace this beautiful little Klondike town. Dawsonites Georgia Hammond, Allie Haydock, and Blake Cameron can’t wait to get Aloha Tacosrolling. The trio behind Aloha has known each other for years, and have …

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Selling ‘cool’ … one bottle at a time

Let’s talk about beer. OK, not specifically about beer. Rather about the significant contribution a brewery like the Yukon Brewing Company can make to promote the destination it was born in. Mark Beese, the brewery’s enthusiastic sales manager who could talk beer any day any time (and does), put it this way, “Beer is what …

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Fondue in the forest is a social event: Wolf’s Den Restaurant does it the European way

The fondue is one of the most social of meals. It requires the diner to wait between bites and, thus, has lots of opportunity to chat with others at the table. So it is no surprise that Wolf’s Den Restaurant is owned and operated by a Swiss couple, Harry and Yvonne Ochsner. You see, in …

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The purrrrfect portrait

Gerry Steers has the patience of a saint. The owner of Gerry’s Computer Magic spends her days doing what she loves best – photographing animals. But it’s not easy. “It’s a gift from God if they all stay still,” she says. “In fact, it’s almost impossible. You need a lot of patience. You have to …

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Up North: Up-and-coming, award-winning outfitter is just a nice guy

I’ve known Mark Stenzig, owner of Up North Adventures, for a few years. But my most memorable meeting with him was during Christmas 2003. My brother, visiting from Calgary, and I had decided to try out a new pair of snowshoes that he and my sister had given me. A cold but beautiful day, we …

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Banding together for business

For this issue, I interviewed three people who, in the business world at least, walk in very different circles. There was Craig Hougen and Mary-Jane Warshawski, the couple who have 20,000 square feet of retail space on Main Street; and Jason Seguin, former artistic director of Nakai Theatre and fine-food enthusiast. Craig and Mary-Jane spend …

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Sweet-smelling success

Becki Brauen, literally, began her business, Lilli Pie Lotions, in a garage six years ago. Literally, she pounded pavement and knocked on doors; she set up a table at Qwanlin Mall. Just like many craftspeople in the Yukon, she saw her first blush of success at Spruce Bog. Today, Brauen is the BDC’s Young Entrepreneur …

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Hot items and hot coffee go hand In hand

The most popular door leading into Board Stiff is the one that opens from Bent Spoon Café. “We encourage people to carry coffees in,” says co-owner of Board Stiff, Craig Hougen. “That reflects the idea of ‘come in, get a coffee, do the tour’,” adds his wife, the other co-owner, Mary-Jane Warshawski. With 20,000 square …

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Give Yourself License to be Creative

We are lucky in Whitehorse; there are testaments everywhere to the fact that our community values creativity. There are several galleries, coffee shops and government buildings displaying an ever-changing array of artwork. Craft fairs abound and many Yukon musicians are spreading their works throughout the country. It is easy for people who don’t create regularly …

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Should employees be allowed to use work computers for personal use?

THOSE WHO SAY YES, SAY: As computers become more and more sophisticated, they become more and more useful. And, the more useful they are, the more of a necessity they become. Some may wince at the word “necessity”, but they need to realize that computers can go to more websites than just YouTube and MySpace. …

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She’s the boss

There is a commercial on television that implores people to “fire your boss” and become self employed. Catchy line. In many ways, it sums up the feelings of many. In Ammanda Partridge’s case, however, she didn’t so much “fire her boss” when she bought KB’s Esthetics from her own boss, Kathleen Burke, as she did …

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‘Artrepreneurship’ on Training Wheels

Andrew Finton, of the Sundog Retreat Carving Program, likes to point to Calvin Morberg as one of his successful young carvers. Today he has a long way to point. Morberg’s off on a cultural delegation to Siberia. Four and a half years ago, Morberg sold his hand-caved masks out of towel-lined shoeboxes on Main Street. …

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Less Experience Could Mean More Opportunity

The labour market. It’s an issue that has been discussed to no end and we still haven’t reached a solution. Where do we find staff for our tourism businesses? Of course, we’ve been presented with numerous options from increasing wages to offering more benefits and from hiring retirees to searching the foreign labour pool for …

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Generation ‘why-not’

Those of us in the workforce who are over the age of 30 have one thing in common: we have nothing in common with those under 30. Those elements that are true in this sweeping generalization (crafted solely to offer a punchy lead) are a pity: we “old folks” should have more in common with …

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Should I hire a young person or someone with experience?

THOSE WHO CHOOSE YOUTH SAY: Let’s face it: whomever you hire will likely be gone within five years. Workers are transient these days and that is not a situation that is unique to the young. However, a young person will not try to fool you into thinking they will spend a long time with you. …

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Singles group enjoying success

Simonne Chalifoux is well on her way to becoming an expert on the single scene in Whitehorse. As the founder/organizer/host/everything else of the Whitehorse Singles Group, she has seen what works, what doesn’t work, the failures and the successes in the single world. Well, being older and single, to be more precise: “People in their …

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Burrito Business is Booming

Ray Mazurak was studying at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver when the idea of owning and operating his own portable food stand first began to percolate in his head. The 28-year-old saw a little burrito stand on Commercial Drive and knew right then he wanted, what he calls, a gold mine of his …

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Warm As Tea

Dang. I thought I was early. Practically the whole class is here already, heads bowed over their work. I look at the clock. It’s only ten to. Aha. All these ladies (and one gentlemen) have lots of beading to do. I’m taking part in a moccasin-making class. Shelby Blackjack shares her skills with easygoing encouragement. …

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Re-imagining the value system

I was watching one of the Sunday-morning news shows and heard something that crystallized, in my mind, what is wrong with the financial sector. A Republican (you need to pronounce it like I do by first drawing out the “Reee” just a bit, and then spit out the “pub!” and then tack on the “lican” …

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Beautifying Your Space

Deanna Slonski has always had a flair for interior design. “My parents owned a furniture and appliance store when I was a kid,” she says. “I worked there helping people pick out items and fitting them together – essentially I was the in-store decorator. I’ve always had a passion for it, I’ve always loved it, …

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Helping Leaders Lead

On May 22 and 24, Whitehorse is hosting the annual International Toastmasters Conference, which has delegates coming to the Yukon from as far away as Alaska and Alberta. The theme is leadership on all levels and in all walks of life. The event starts Friday evening with registration, entertainment and an opportunity to connect with …

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Kerr-razy for Taste

Pat McKenna takes a cook’s tour of famous, infamous and soon-to-be famous Yukon chefs.  Featured today is Mary-El Kerr of Whitehorse. Mary-El Kerr, owner and operator of Mary-El Fine Food & Catering, brings a wide variety of expertise and pizzazz to the table. An early start cooking at her father’s restaurant launched Kerr into course …

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Raked Over the Coals

If you like to camp in comfort and enjoy a challenge, take a Dutch oven. Breads, bannock, cinnamon buns, upside-down-cake, succulent meats and baked fish are taken to a new dimension over an open fire. The trick is to keep only a few coals underneath and more on top of the Dutch oven. This bread …

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Mac Underground

Marlene Collins wants Arts Underground to be more than a place for artists to show their art or to take or teach a course. She wants artists to spend time there. She hopes to do this by providing more services. Arts Underground proponents seek to support artists, to provide fertile soil for them to grow …

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From the Middle East, to the Maritimes, to the Yukon

My eyes were closed as my teeth rested in the juicy, flavourful shawarma. It was beautifully spiced and juicy meat, wrapped in a warm pita along with lettuce, hummus, tomatoes and a homemade Tarator sauce. I was instantly transported back in time, 30 years, to Oromocto, New Brunswick. It is where I tasted my first …

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Thailand on the Yukon River

From my seat, I could see a toboggan hill, trees, mountains and blue sky. Not such a bad view for my lunch in the middle of a busy day. All the more incredible is that this place is just two minutes from downtown and two minutes from Wal-Mart, Canadian Tire, et al. It is the …

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Artrepreneur: For the Young at ‘Art

There’s a gorgeous new gallery in town. You climb the stairs at the back of Triple J’s Music’s new location, past a potter’s wheel, past walls lovingly embellished with graffiti, past a purple bicycle with a purple-patterned velvet banana seat. Then you come to the entrance of Gallery 22. Professional-quality vinyl lettering lists the artists …

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Outside the Lines

Brushy hard edges, soft edges of colour flowing into one another; bold graphite squiggles, brushed plonks of colour that hover above the rest in their chromatic intensity. I love to write about art. I love to stand before the piece and have the experience, then try to put that into words. My intent is to …

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Lightweight Foods to Lighten The Load

Here are two lightweight and quick-to-prepare recipes sure to deliver loads of flavour and little  weight while being carried in your pack, canoe or kayak. The taste of a meal increases dramatically when eaten in our fresh Yukon outdoors. Once you are at camp, it brightens everyone’s outlook when hearty foods are offered to weary, …

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My ideal editor is …

As you are reading this, there is a different editor preparing the next issue of What’s Up Yukon, as I have stepped aside to allow some fresh blood to take this beloved paper to the next level. That editor is a friend of the paper, Elaine Corden, editor of North of Ordinary. She is filling …

My ideal editor is … Read More »

We would like to share this award with all of you

It is with your support these past years that our community entertainment magazine has grown to what it is today. We didn’t create the events, shows, concerts, and games that are featured in this magazine… Yukoners did. It is our neighbour’s talents and creativity that is featured in story after story. Quite frankly, Yukoners have …

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From Israel to Shipyards Park

He was a staple of this summer’s Fireweed Market, held every Thursday in Shipyards Park. At the far end of the market’s stalls, you’d find him cooking underneath a modest white tent. In fact, most aspects of his operation are modest. But not the line-ups. He is Gadi Katz, better known to some as “The …

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Home for the Day

The first thing that strikes you when you walk into The Neighborhood Pup is a sense of calm, bright spaciousness. But wait a minute. Isn’t this supposed to be a daycare centre? Sure, there are shelves with plastic bins for favourite toys and other accessories – each bin carefully labeled with the attendee’s name. But …

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Angry Sheep Tales and Sales

Home-based business owners always face a challenge when it comes to finding their business space. Local clothing designer Shauna Jones works from an unusual location – under her bed ! Jones made the choice when she moved into a place that had only her own bedroom for an office. She had a loft bed made, …

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Art Passes the Torch

One of Whitehorse’s oldest commercial art galleries has changed hands. Art Webster started the North End Gallery at First Avenue and Steele Street 12 years ago. “It was April of 1999 – the last century – when we opened our doors. It was about half the space you see now, and it took about six …

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Here, There & Everywhere

The next time you tune into Fox News, take a good look at the network’s iconic rotating cube in the lower left corner of your screen. Or while you’re watching a basketball or hockey game on satellite TV, consider those clocks ticking down on games being played in various cities across the U.S. The man …

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“I Miss Riding in Traffic”

So what’s Dean Eyre doing here? He’s taking the job of finding the right bikes for people really seriously – and having fun doing it. Eyre is the owner of Cadence Cycle at 508 Wood Street, in the centre of downtown Whitehorse. Yes, it used to be Phillipe’s Bicycle Repair but since January 2010 Eyre …

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At Your Service

In the quarter century since the late Rob Harvey founded Yukon Engineering Services (YES), the company has had its hand in the majority of mining venture in Yukon and northern B.C. It’s not hard to see why. With expertise in everything from designing tailings and water dams, to conducting site surveys and mapping, ore body …

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Moving With the Boom

When John Small started his expediting business, he was operating part-time from his home. His sole vehicle was an eight-year-old, two-wheel drive Yukon Government surplus half-ton he used for deliveries to the Minto mine site. That was back in 2004, when the Yukon’s mining industry was in “dire straits.” Fast forward seven years. Small’s Expediting …

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Not Your Average Fruit Stand

One sure sign of spring in the Yukon territory is the annual arrival of the swans. Another is the opening of Candy’s Fruit Stand in downtown Whitehorse in early May. Candy Kent is a character written from a Dickens novel, always aware of the situation at hand and with a fresh-yogurt sense of humour, prepared …

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She’s Got the Tools

The Yukon is often suited to those with a hands-on lifestyle. The territory is brimming with active, independent, multi-skilled residents. And women in the professional trade field are growing. One organization in Whitehorse is contributing to this growth that by educating young women in high school from across the territory and providing them with opportunity …

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Tool Talk

Every serious do-it-yourselfer knows you have to own a bunch of tools. Right? But surely, it’s cheaper to rent them. Right? Maybe yes, maybe no. Bruce Beemish, who describes himself as “chief cook and bottle-washer” at Yukon Service Rentals, isn’t shy about giving advice. If you’re thinking about renting a reciprocal saw, or a cordless …

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The Cobbler’s Tale

Retirement isn’t exactly Terry Coventry’s thing. Although it’s been almost a decade since the Whitehorse shoemaker closed his Ogilvie Street shop nearly a decade ago, he continues to operate on a scaled-down basis from his Crestview home. And he doesn’t intend to stop anytime soon. Mind you, that’s not what he thought 10 years ago. …

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Molotov and Bricks: Passion for an Ancient Art

If you’re stuck in a mindset that thinks of tattooing as a back-alley operation for drunken sailors, outlaw bikers and the low side of life, you haven’t been paying attention. And you certainly don’t know Dan Bushnell. An hour spent with the soft-spoken, 38-year-old Whitehorse artist yields a Cook’s tour of reflection on anthropology, sociology …

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Fine Art & Space-Age Steel

If you set out to discuss knives with George Roberts, be prepared to invest some time. When it comes to the properties of various metals, exotic hardwoods, modern acrylics and animal byproducts such as ivory, bone and antler – and how to work with them – the man has an encyclopedic knowledge he’s willing to …

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Self-employed & Hands-on

the plan was to escape the Yukon cold and start a small boutique hotel in Costa Rica. That’s why Karlo Krauzig and his wife, Sarah, spent four months scouring the Central American country in search of the ideal location. But when they learned that Sarah was pregnant with twins, the couple decided to head home. …

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Adventure starts here

It was novelist Lawrence Hill who told me while we sipped tea in the Downtown Hotel dining room in Dawson in March that his early career as a journalist taught him to embrace the adventure of his stories. The beauty of living in the North is the adventure that is innate to every story. Pursuing …

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Showing Commercially Outside

As the summer high season for art sales slips away, artists might find themselves thinking about showing in cities outside the Yukon, where the high season for art sales occurs in the fall and winter. It sounds like a no-brainer. It’s an accepted fact that the Yukon art market must be small because our population …

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Hot, Pressed Beards

Beards, chainsaws, ingenuity, beards, rusty trucks, dogs, beards, puns, beards and beards, and grinning balls of lichen—these are the things the Klondike Drawing Company (KDC) is made of. Aubyn O’Grady and Rian Lougheed-Smith have used skills they learned in the Yukon to begin an illustration and silk-screening business in the heart of the Dawson City …

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Core Commitment

They are sturdy but simple wooden boxes. But they’re indispensable to the mining industry – exploration programs go through them by the thousands every year. And a little known plant in a quiet industrial park in the north-west corner of Whitehorse churns them out year-round for shipping throughout the territory, as well as Alaska and …

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No Relief from Marketing Pains

Dawson man-about-town Greg Hakonson is always an enthusiastic guy, putting his energy into construction, cooking and the local arts scene – he’s been a driving force behind the Dawson City Arts Society for more than a decade. But ask him about the Trekke® Lumbar Lift, a device he invented to relieve lower back pain, and …

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The best burger in town

When foodies get restless, they debate “the $100 hamburger”. It’s an intellectual exercise that asks the question, “What would you have to do to justify charging $100 for a hamburger?” So, it was with great interest that I watched my Lovely Dinner Companion order a Bison Burger at Skky Hotel’s Volare Restaurant. It was only …

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A Visual Voice

Wendy Whitemore has lived alone on the land in Ontario for 10 years before embarking on about 10 years of solo travel. During those travels she explored Canada’s North, ranging over the Yukon and Northwest Territories. Being alone suits Whitemore: “I don’t feel alone when I’m on the Dempster. I feel totally connected to the …

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Synergize: Allow Your Business To Be The Best Version Of Itself!

Owning your own business offers great rewards, with equally great opportunities. But some entrepreneurs consider themselves working alone in business, especially if they are filling a unique niche in the marketplace. There is more to business life than flying solo. Many successful businesses have formed strategic alliances, with like-minded businesses, that gives their business the …

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Sometimes, Partners Are Necessary

Q: What do you think about organizations teaming up or Partnering in the Yukon? I posed this question to the members of TIA Yukon, with regard to the tourism industry. The responses were clear and passionate. Forming partnerships is paramount to success … but proceed with caution. We have many innovative and successful partnerships in …

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Partnering Defines the Chamber Movement

A chamber of commerce is a member-based organization geared toward supporting local businesses and organizations in various ways, including promoting economic growth and positive business conditions, marketing, research, training, business exploration and development, facilitating commercial development and providing contacts and networking opportunities. One of the most important vehicles to get all of this done is …

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iHome

Trevor Mead-Robins’ suburban home in Whitehorse appears rather average from the outside. But a small green sign on his front door and another near the side entrance lead you to something a little less than ordinary. A kitchen setting – complete with an oven, cabinetry and tile flooring – has been transformed into a computer …

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Gold Ain’t So Shiny

So, you are a gold bug. How appropriate when it comes to investing if you, the true Yukoner, see the mother lode in “them tars”. Well, before you make the faithful jump, think again. Yes, the global markets are all in a turmoil (what an understatement). Yes, your portfolio is bleeding at the time gold …

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Hang Out a Shingle the World Can See

I don’t know if there has been an industry more affected by the advancement of technology than ours. I remember the days when graphic design was just cutting and pasting. Today’s designers “computer manipulate” while software such as Photoshop,InDesign and Illustrator allow untrained designers profess to be designers. I am not going to get into …

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Running a Tech Savvy Business

The ways in which technology improves the productivity of a business continue to grow. By selecting a technological system that is right for you, you allow your business, colleagues and consumers to flourish. From modern point-of-sale systems, to web-based technology, to mobile wireless communications, there is a multitude of ways that you can implement technology …

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Machinist Creates a Silver Medal

I have always been skeptical about my brother, Karl, never going to school … but now my doubts have vanished. I am so proud of him. When Karl was only 14, he started his apprenticeship with our Dad, Martin, to be a machinist. Karl was not attracted to this trade because of the potentially high …

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A Room Full of Music

Dean Tower has just fulfilled one of his long-term dreams: He has a room full of instruments. Having just opened his first music store, Dean’s Strings and Music Supplies, Tower grins from ear to ear as he talks about his new endeavour: “My whole life I wanted a whole room full of instruments and now …

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Demand Your Officeless Office-

I see the office building being replaced by the virtual office and I see this happening over this generation. – Mark Beese, 2008

Keeping the Excellence

Despite what Charles Lamb said, youth is not wasted on the young. Young workers have the strength, potential and eagerness to excel at whatever captures their interest. They will ask questions and learn at the rate set by their employers. If an employer nourishes that interest and shows concern for the young employee, in their …

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From Hands-On Training, To Hired

BY TARA McCARTHY Tucked away in the industrial area of Whitehorse is a small office focused on huge opportunities. Dan Curtis says he could probably go on all day about the possibilities out there for young workers, as the buzz and beeping of heavy machinery filters through his window. Curtis is the executive director of …

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