Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Hay River (July 08/02) - Carolyn McMeekin has been involved in a number of volunteer activities for more than three decades.

Her most recent contribution to the community is as part of a three-person committee overseeing the operation of Fisherman's Wharf, a community open-air market.

McMeekin says one of her roles is to get people out to Fisherman's Wharf, either to sell goods or to browse and see what is available to buy.

"It's a social thing more that anything," she says. "People just come and chat."

She says there may still be some residents and visitors who are not aware of Fisherman's Wharf. "But the word is spreading."

Fisherman's Wharf, which is only in its second year, consists of a row of 10 stalls on the edge of the Hay River in Old Town. It is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each Saturday from June to September.

McMeekin says people gather to buy or sell such things as crafts, baked goods, fish, and home-made food.

She also sells her own crafts at Fisherman's Wharf.

"I always try to make a variety of things, because you get bored," McMeekin says.

Currently, she is making lady-bug stepping stones out of cement with the help of her husband, Robert.

And she also creates what she calls "ecology art" - hand-painted butterflies made out of pop bottles. They can be small enough to hang on windows or large enough to display in a yard.

"It's not a job," she says. "It's just fun."

McMeekin has been retired for a couple of years. When she was working, she helped her husband in a specialty advertising business, a car rental service and a fishing lodge.

The couple's five children and six grandchildren all live in Hay River.

"I'm the back-up babysitter, which I really enjoy," says McMeekin, who is originally from Edmonton.

She and her husband have lived in Hay River since 1971.

"It's a marvellous place to live. It really is," she says.