Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 18/02) - The hunt is on for the North's beautiful and famous willing to stick their necks out on the auction block for a good cause.

While Yellowknife is not particularly noted for its red carpet and limousines, there are a few folks in town whose name rings a bell better than others.

Every year, the Annual Celebrity Auction raises thousands of dollars for the NWT Council of Persons with Disabilities, and this year -- the 23rd -- will be no exception.

On Nov. 9, there will be celebrity auctioneers, hosts, and of course, the auctionees -- those who whether through good deeds or public notoriety, demand a steep asking price when people come to bid for their services.

Heck, Finance Minister Joe Handley's socks went for $230 at the auction last year.

The question therefore begs, what makes a Yellowknife celebrity anyway? "There are so many different ways (to be a celebrity) sports, politics, entertainment, doing good works," says the council's executive director Aggie Brockman. "Name recognition is probably one of the bigger criteria."

Brockman didn't want muse on who she'd like to see hit the auction floor this year, lest she puts someone on the spot. Although, she did confirm Premier Stephen Kakfwi and his guitar strumming talents will be up for grabs.

Range Lake MLA Sandy Lee -- no stranger to the limelight herself -- thinks her colleague Kam Lake MLA Tony Whitford is one of Yellowknife's biggest names.

He's been auctioning off Yellowknife celebrities at the event for years.

"Tony is way more than a politician," says Lee. "He's everything to everybody. He marries people, buries people, auctions people. He communicates in all languages."

On a sadder note, well-known retired CBC Radio host George Tuccaro won't be available this year. He's been a host and auction item at the event almost every year since 1979. This year, Tuccaro plans to lay low when the auction rolls around.

"It's just one of those things that after a while you say it's time for the younger crowd to take over and leave us old farts to fend for our themselves."

Tuccaro points to a joke he recently received in an e-mail.

"How do you know you've been in the North too long?" Tuccaro laughs. "When the only celebrity you've ever met was George Tuccaro."