Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Oct 13/00) - It has been said that the world would be a different place if children ruled.

Well, their powers are quite limited, but a new prince and princess were crowned in Inuvik on Saturday.

Sloan Sittichinli, 3, was selected prince at the Inuvik Lion's Club's annual Delta Daze, and Darci Frost, 4, was selected princess.

All the participants sold raffle tickets for a draw held during the pageant. Together they raised $22,400.

Darci's family raised the most, $6,150, and Sloan's family raised $5,650 -- thus these kids were elevated to the throne.

Garrett Enoch was first runner-up among the candidates for prince and Natasha Staples was princess first runner-up.

The grand prize in the raffle was a trip for two to Edmonton (courtesy of First Air). The winner was Kendra Sittichinli. Wes Youngchief won second prize, a trip for two to Whitehorse via Air North. Woody Elias won third prize, a trip for two on Aklak Air.

Delta Daze is the major fund-raiser for the Lion's Club, and its president, Deb Enoch, said things went well and that the turnout was good. Secretary Vicki Boudreau agreed.

"We all had a good time, and really appreciate everyone who came out and took part," Boudreau said.

"We haven't put it all together, but I would estimate we're probably going to end with $20,000-$25,000," she said. "That's a good year; we're happy with that."

The number and type of activities were about the same as last year, with some new ones thrown in, like Friday's Tug of War.

"We keep trying to find an event that would get people out and, you know, sort of kick off the weekend," she said.

"What was there was good, we just needed more teams, and we needed to get the road sanded and scraped off so we had a level playing field, sort of thing. We can do better next year."

Six teams entered the Tug of War, and the Davis Diggers from Davis Construction Ltd. emerged victorious.

A number of other events were held over the weekend, including Sunday's Gold Bar Raffle. Ryan Donovan won the grand prize of 20 ounces of gold. Beverly Moore snagged $500 and Amanda Bernhardt won $250. Several others won $50 each.