Jennifer Pritchett
Northern News Services

NNSL (Nov 04/98) - Irv and Kay Grabke may be spending their winters in Arizona, but the North is never far from their thoughts.

The couple truck boxes filled with promotional material about Yellowknife and the NWT to the southern United States every year to bring more tourists North of 60.

While the longtime Northerners began six years ago spending part of the year in the south because of Kay's arthritis, they now spend from November to February handing out brochures about the North.

"We get them to sign a guest book," he said. "There are quite a few people from Arizona and California who come to the NWT."

The Grabke's are fixtures at the flea market held near the trailer park in Wellton where they live, some 240 km south of Phoenix.

Last year, the GNWT, for the first time, helped the Grabke's fund their mini-tourism operation.

"Yeah, the government paid for the booth last year," said Irv. "It was $20 for it..."

While it may or may not be an indication of the number of people they are reaching with their Northern wares, it seems as if they meet more people every year who have already been in the NWT.

"We meet a lot of people who've been in the North -- military personnel or people who have been in the North during the Dew Line construction," said Irv.

Kay said some Americans have misconceptions about the North, but their attitudes change quickly after they're told a bit about the area.

"They ask about food and how we get it here," she said. "And men especially want to know about the abundance of wildlife."

"Yeah, fishing is the big thing," agreed Irv.

"And it must be real cold up there -- that's the first thing you hear."

Both Irv and Kay say they don't have any plans to discontinue the service.

"They're really interested in the North and it's fun doing it," said Irv.