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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The Gumboots are a well-known Yellowknife folk trio, but the gumboot itself is almost just as iconic to the North.

The band shared a few words on the subject after a show on Saturday for the annual Gumboot Rally.

From left, Steve Lacey, Ray Bethke and Bill Gilday are the Gumboots, and are wearing gumboots, at the annual Gumboot Rally in Yellowknife on Saturday. - Tim Edwards/NNSL photo

"I know it's not always called the gumboot. I know in some parts of Canada, it's called a gum-tuckie - because you tuck your pants into it," said Steve Lacey, a member of the group.

"It's also called a Wellie - a Wellington boot," said fellow Gumboot Ray Bethke.

The Wellington boot is the original name for the gumboot, and that name comes from the first Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, an 18th Century Anglo-Irish statesman, who also lent his name to "Beef Wellington." The "gum" in the modern name for the gumboot refers to the boot's rubber exterior.

Gumboots have always been a practical choice for Northerners, helping them make the transition from winter to summer.

"I think on both sides of the winter there's some pretty soggy seasons, so you gotta get through them somehow, especially if you're out in the bush," said Bethke.

"It's what you wear between mukluk season and flip-flop season," added Lacey.

All three members were wearing the boots, though they said it's not just to promote their band.

"We'll be teased periodically because I think Bill (Gilday) and I each have the same pair of gumboots that we wear around town from March on to April. It's got nothing to do with the (musical) group, it's just the footwear of choice," said Bethke.

Bill Gilday, the founding member of the Gumboots, explained why he picked the name.

"When I started the group back in the early '80s, I had just finished a course in the history of Canadian folk music," said Gilday.

"What I noticed was that a lot of the songs that we were singing - at that time we weren't writing our own songs, we were just singing a whole repertoire of Canadian folk songs - and they were sung by people who would have worn gumboots on their job, like fishermen, and whalers, and sealers, and farmers; people who, you know, at some point would have been wearing gumboots."

So to step into the shoes of the people whose stories they were telling, they had to step into a pair of gumboots.

The trio plays at the Gumboot Rally every year to help raise money for the Yellowknife Association for Community Living, a not-for-profit organization that supports individuals with intellectual disabilities and their families. This year the event included 13 teams, and 65 participants. It raised almost $20,000.