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INUVIK
Inuvik needs to have a makeover if it hopes to remain visually appealing to tourists, said a hotel owner.

One of four brightly coloured row houses in Inuvik on the main street coming into Inuvik. The street used to be full of homes painted different colours and Inuvik residents called it "Easter Egg Alley." Owner and operator of Arctic Chalet Judi Falsnes wants to see the town revert back to brighter days to make it more appealing to tourists. - Samantha Stokell/NNSL photo

Judi Falsnes, co-owner and operator of Arctic Chalet, says the Town of Inuvik should reinvest in the main street into Inuvik from the Dempster Highway and the airport because right now, tourists aren't impressed with the appearance of the town.

"The feedback I've gotten is that it's a pretty ugly little town," Falsnes said. "They've just come from Dawson which is done up with a beautiful Gold Rush theme. I think they should go back to the original theme of the town."

When the government first created the town, the government employees' homes were painted bright colours and residents referred to the street as Easter Egg Alley. Now, the few row homes still painted are called "Smartie" homes, named after the candy.

The expense of paints, time to scrape and paint and new siding that comes in plain colours have meant colourful homes aren't that common anymore. Falsnes wants the town to help homeowners and landlords invest in the appearance of their homes, through paints subsidies.

"It's a shame. If the town could do that, it would be something the tourists would remember," she said. "Other towns in Newfoundland and Greenland do it, too. It wouldn't hurt if Inuvik could do it."

While Inuvik residents may not think of the appearance of their town as anything out of the ordinary, to tourists it can be an eyesore. Conrad Baetz of Inuvik worries that one bad review of the town could keep other people from thinking about travelling here.

"It doesn't take much now for a bad report to get around," Baetz said. "People should see it's a nice place and sure the people are great, but that should be displayed in the appearance of houses and businesses."

Three American golfers who travelled from Chicago to Inuvik received a lot of media attention for their trip, which involved a documentary crew and their best friend, dead, in an urn. They came to Inuvik to golf and kept a blog of their journey. Here's their impression of Inuvik:

"We make it to Inuvik eventually. There's an emotional letdown that hits like a punch from Muhammad Ali," wrote Vic Zast. "We drove 16 days through seven U.S. states, two Canadian provinces and two territories to get to a place that is barren and drab ... All we could see in our Dempster-fatigued state was abandoned streets, metal-slabbed buildings on stilts and the empty lobby of the Nova Inn."

While their impression of Inuvik changed when they visited and golfed, that first impression now has a place on the world wide web and will draw the eyes of tourists thinking of visiting the town.

While both Baetz and Falsnes credit the town for its work in keeping the town clean with litter pickups, street cleaners, new paving of roads, clean parks and decorative flower pots, they both say certain businesses downtown should work harder to keep their buildings clean.

"There's only one establishment downtown that needs help with appearance and it's something that would take 10 minutes with a pressure washer," Baetz said. "It's so disappointing. Businesses and residences should take a little care and have pride in being from Inuvik."

The Town of Inuvik has a unsightly premises bylaw, but no heritage bylaw requiring homeowners to paint their homes traditional colours.

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