Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jul 01/98) - The premiers are coming! The premiers are coming!

The annual photo-opportunity known as the western premiers' conference gets under way Thursday, when the preems and their entourages, about 100 strong all told, descend on our fair city.

To assist them in making the most of their trip to the North, which will conclude with a couple of days at Plummer's Lodge, Yellowknifer conducted a quick street survey.

"I suppose the big tourist attraction is the Gold Range, the Strange Range," said Bob Gamble.

But Bob, isn't the Range a little too close to the people for the preems?

"I'd be more worried about the patrons than the premiers," replied Gamble.

Others agreed.

"There's no place like it," said a local artist who did not want his name used.

"I'd have to say they'd have to go to the Gold Range, have a seat with Sam and hear what he has to say," said Jay Fair, referring to Range owner Sam Yurkiw.

"Go to the Leisure Cafe and talk with the teens," offered teen Jessie Noseworthy.

David Chalifoux said a tour of the RWED office in Old Town was in order, saying the NWT-Alberta partnership on forest firefighting would be a good discussion to get into.

"Instead of getting people from out east to fight fires in Northern Alberta, they should be giving the jobs to the people up here," said Chalifoux.

"Go to Pilots' Monument," said Crystal Dickau. "You can get good photos and see pretty much the whole town."

Taking in a performance of the play Bush Pilot would be a great way of tuning into some of the history of the town, said Merlyn Williams.

Doing its part, Yellowknifer offers the following snippets, designed to ensure they make the most effective use of their time:

• Lake trout dwell near the bottom.

• In the North, pike are called jackfish.

• NWT fishing licenses can be obtained at most sporting goods and hardware stores in town.

To ensure you remain dry while out on the water, do no not mention the phrase "conflict of interest" within ear shot of your host.