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Making the best of it Darrell Greer Northern News Services Published Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Rather than dwell on the disappointment, the ecotour troupe decided to have their cooking coach, chef Mike Johnson, lead them through the creation of a culinary masterpiece for a local audience. The group put on a cultural performance and dinner for 50 lucky invited local guests. The cultural performance troupe Arviat Qaggiqtiit, under the leadership of Lois SulukLocke, performed on the John Arnalukjuak High School stage before everyone partook of a delicious buffet dinner cooked and served by the ecotour's cooking team. Arviat tourism director Olivia Tagalik said, while it's always disappointing when something is cancelled, everyone in the Kivalliq knows you can't do too much about the weather. She said the silver lining to the cancellation was the special dinner and show the group was able to put on for local residents. "The Qaqqiqtiit group had been wanting to do a community performance for a while and this was another chance for them to perform," said Tagalik. "They love to perform and everyone was pretty happy about getting the chance to do this special show." Tagalik said the meal was very well-received by the guests. She said the cooking students who've been training with chef Mike Johnson are doing a great job. "The meal was pretty amazing. "Everyone really enjoyed it and were impressed by not only how good the meal was, but, also, by how professionally it was prepared and served." Despite the cancellation, November was still a busy month for the Arviat Community Ecotourism Initiative. The program's top ecoguide, Jason Curley, was a guide for a bear-viewing experience along Hudson Bay, and the Arviat group also welcomed a film team from the World Wildlife Federation and Coca-Cola to the community. The bear-viewing adventure is put on by Arctic Kingdom in co-operation with Arviat's Henik Lake Adventures. Another group of tour operators who were scheduled to visit Arviat for a day, climaxing with a gourmet meal, also had their trip weathered out. Tagalik said she's always believed in Arviat's tourism potential. She said what's impressed her the most since the ecotourism program began is the willingness of everyone in the community to help make it a success. "There's so many people in Arviat who want to take tourism one step further. "There's so much to see in Arviat, and being in such close proximity to Churchill gives us the potential to bring up day tours from there to see the cultural side of our land and community. "It's not just animals, but the whole Inuit culture people want to see and that's, pretty much, what tourism's about these days." Tagalik said many people in Arviat are proud to share their culture with visitors from around the world. She said the entertainers always eagerly anticipate the visitors and the chance to perform for them. "You can just see the pride in their faces when they get the chance to share their culture with others. "We had a group from Australia come up recently, and it was an awesome day that everyone really enjoyed. "The training is a very, very important part of the process. "You have to work hard to build your training because you have to be able to offer a world-class experience if you want to have sustainable tourism." Tagalik said members of the tourism group have been taking all the training in stride. She said they all feel they're working toward something much bigger for the community. "It's not like you're working towards something you do once or twice and then that's it. "Everyone feels they're working towards achieving something that will continue. "We've been quite busy the past few months, but we started a nice long break after the Coca-Cola group left. "Our next big event will probably be our May package to bring people up to see the caribou migration."
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