Adam Johnson
Northern News Services
Published Friday, September 7, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Musicians often talk about "blowing the roof off the sucker." Well, you have to put the roof on, first.

All last weekend, Rotary Club volunteers were hard at work putting wooden roofs on the two pavilions at Rotary Park on School Draw Avenue - a place that could be the home of future concerts and theatre productions.

Rotary Club volunteer Clarissa Veloso takes a break from her work on the roof of the pavilions. - photo courtesy of Chuck Tolley

The roof is the last of a series of final touches on the long-unfinished structure.

"It's great," said volunteer Katherine Robinson. "It's very satisfying to get the boards up. And it's a beautiful design."

A partnership with the City of Yellowknife, the park was initially meant to honour the Rotary Club's centennial in 2005. However, labour delays have kept the project to a snail's pace, Robinson said.

"When you're working on a partnership project, you have to deal with everyone's schedules," she said. "Rotarians are a busy bunch."

In 2005, those same Rotarians were fuming about the way the city had put the park together - using cheap, non-galvanized steel for the girders.

"There are some people very unhappy and dissatisfied with the way the tender was done," said then-president John Carter.

The tender had called for galvanized steel, which is more suited to standing up to the elements. At the time, the cost for the structure was estimated at $38,000.

While Robinson clearly takes pride in the work she and her fellow volunteers have done, it's the opportunity to give back to Yellowknife that she emphasizes.

"It's really for the community," she said of the structure, which she hopes may see concerts and theatre in the park events, on top of the weddings and other happenings it has already hosted.

"It's getting a lot of use."

While the end is in sight, Robinson said the park still might not be ready until spring.

"There's still a little bit more work to do," she said. "What you can see now is the structure. That's the exciting part, I think."