Yellowknife (May 09/03) - A new events agency, launched this week, will give a boost to existing Yellowknife festivals and look into starting some new ones.

Dave Anderson is set to bring new life to the local festival scene. - Darren Stewart/NNSL photo

The Yellowknife Events Support Agency, co-funded by the city and the territorial government, will collaborate with organizers of volunteer run events and help put Yellowknife on the tourist destination map.

Dave Anderson, head of the new organization, admitted that collapse of this year's Caribou Carnival was part of the reason the organization was finally formed.

"I think it was probably the straw that broke the camel's back," he said. "It ended this 10-year bantering around."

Various political backers, including MLA Bill Braden, have been trying to put together the agency for the past decade. The agency will receive $35,000 in start-up funding and is looking for more support from the private and public sectors.

The money will fund the organization over the next eight months and one of Anderson's first priorities will be to look for more support.

"We're taking this one step at a time and this is the first step," said Anderson.

Anderson's job will be to encourage volunteer involvement in festivals and events, promote Yellowknife as a conference destination and help out as needed in other tourism boosting events.

"This is something everybody has been looking at for years," said Mayor Gord Van Tighem.

"We're looking at tourism as a way of economic diversification, knowing that the mines will disappear some day."

Braden said the agency would foster a "blending of resources" between individual event organizers, the public and various levels of government.

"We recognize we already have a lot going for us and this will allow us to do more coordinating, presenting and packaging," he said.

Anderson is originally from Montreal and has been living in Yellowknife for six years.

He will be assisted part-time by long-time Yellowknifer Lori Piro.

Anderson recently was successful in restructuring the Canadian Championship Dog Derby.