Yellowknife (July 07/04) - There was a time when George Orwell made 1984 seem so far in the future that it's hard to imagine it is now two decades in the past.

But thanks to Sir John Franklin high school, it was again 1984 over the weekend as former graduates celebrated their 20-year reunion.

Twenty-nine Sir John 1984 grads converged on Long Lake on Sunday for a picnic as part of the festivities.

"We're all very skinny and attractive, still," said Leslie Goit, jokingly.

While their size hadn't increased -- their numbers certainly had. "We more than doubled ourselves," said Tracy Makarenko, referring to the many children at the picnic.

The 29 grads who showed up brought some 35 kids with them -- so it was probably a good thing not all 122 grads from the class made it to take part.

Of course, with some of them living in Germany, it can be hard to travel back to Yellowknife for the weekend.

Obviously those overseas are in the minority.

"There's still a lot of people who live in town who we haven't seen until now," said '84 graduate Shirley Coumont.

Makarenko herself spent time in California and Brazil before returning to Yellowknife to raise a family. "I did not think I'd be back here in a hundred years," she said. She knows one thing for sure: "we're all going to (stay in) contact with each other," Makarenko said.