Kevin Allerston
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (June 22/05) - The lawn of Yellowknife City Hall was transformed as the city held it's annual Family Day Barbecue on the front lawn Sunday.

Braving wind and rain, hundreds of hungry Yellowknifers came out for burgers and hot-dogs as served by Yellowknife's city council with the Sir John Franklin Jazz offering their musical services.

"This is great! Too bad the weather isn't a little bit nicer," said Kevin Smith, who brought his daughter Amelie to the cookout, which happened to fall on Father's Day. He said it was nice to be able to see city council outside of chambers. "It's a great opportunity for us to come down to city hall and meet a few people, hang out and have a hotdog," Smith said.

All of Yellowknife's city councillors were out flippin' burgers serving hotdogs, including the mayor.

"If the (Midnight Sun) golf tournament is for external relations, then this is for internal relations," said Mayor Van Tighem, during a break from readying frozen burgers for grilling.

"It's a chance for community people to get together; some people haven't seen each other over the winter," Van Tighem said.

Bob Brooks was doing his best to sell people on the hotdogs at his grill.

"It's really good to show community spirit and get everybody out in one place. There's no debating going on, everybody's just here to have a good time," Brooks said.