INUVIK - With this year's arts festival now just a memory, organizers are busy planning for next year's event.

Keenan Carpenter of the Inuvik Drummers and Dancers entertains the crowd during the opening ceremonies of the Great Northern Arts Festival. Executive director Marnie Hilash said she is happy with how the festival turned out and has chosen a theme for next year. - Dez Loreen/NNSL photo

Great Northern Arts Festival executive director Marnie Hilash said the theme for next year's event has already been decided upon.

Hilash said this year's event was well executed.

"I think the festival was successful," she said.

"Everywhere I looked, I saw artists smiling and having a good time."

Hilash said that seeing the artists share their craft with onlookers was rewarding and was worth the hard work that went into the planning of the event.

"The performances were well attended," she said.

"Our workshops were successful and it looked like the participants went home happy."

Hilash said that even though it sometimes seems like the festival is only for tourists, she saw a good mix of locals as well.

"Everyone was out to check out the festival," she said.

"We saw a lot of people, which was nice."

In past years, there have been minor changes to the schedules and some performances were delayed, but Hilash said she was happy with the execution of this year's festival.

"It went extremely well and I'm happy we had so many volunteers," said Hilash.

Hilash added that even though the fashion show started late, it has become a near-tradition.

"This year, I made sure that we stated that the show would start on Arctic time, which means a bit of a delay," she said.

Hilash said that she got many compliments about the fashion show and how the final weekend went.

"Billie Lennie and Peggy Jay were great in the show," said Hilash.

"They put a lot hard work into it and it paid off."

Hilash said the festival racked up more than $133,000 in sales and 3, 000 people attended.

Hilash said that she made a batch of single day passes, but then had to go back and make two more to quench the thirsts of the art fanatics.

She said that the theme for next year's show was announced during the closing ceremonies of the show last Sunday night.

"Next year is our 20th anniversary and it's also the town's 50th , so we combined the two," she said. The theme is "20/50: an Arctic Homecoming."

Hilash said the show went well, but the weather could have let up in the heat department.

"There were times when I felt like melting into a puddle," she said.

"I was saved by my fan and a water bottle."