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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Before Yellowknife had ice resurfacing machines, Bud Weaver was one of the kids who would be in line at the Gerry Murphy Arena waiting to get out and push the ice scraper between periods.

Bud Weaver works in his back office at Weaver and Devore Trading Ltd. in Old Town. - Thandiwe Vela/NNSL photo

The third generation Weaver remembers a Yellowknife with no television, when water was delivered in barrels and snow was scraped off the ice by the kids.

"It was very common on a Saturday night to go to the Gerry Murphy Arena to watch the local hockey game," he said, recalling the rivalry between Con and Giant mine teams, that would see the gold mines hire good hockey players from the south as mine workers to get an edge over the competition. "The local hockey was very popular because there was no TV.

"Of course times were a lot different in the olden days of Yellowknife when I was raised. Nowadays, we have Zambonis," he said. "Everything was different."

Despite the rustic technology of the time, Weaver had plenty of things to occupy his time thanks to his many siblings. His parents, Bruce and Irma Weaver, brought up eight children, including his twin brother Bill, eldest brother Ken, and Bobbie, Robbie, David, Dallas and Terra-Lee.

"Depending on the time of year, with that many kids the question was always 'what game are we playing next?'"

When they weren't playing road hockey or ice hockey on Back Bay, as soon as they were old enough to start, the Weaver kids were helping in Old Town's Weaver and Devore Trading Ltd.

Yellowknife's first general store, Weaver and Devore was opened in 1936 by Bud's grandfather Harry Weaver and his business partner Bud Devore, who Bud Weaver is named after.

The business partners were best friends from New York, who would eventually move to Edmonton, then Peace River, Alta., where they built barges. When the Depression hit, Weaver and Devore started taking chickens, eggs, and other produce on a barge from Peace River to Yellowknife Bay, right where the store stands today, as Weaver tells it.

"The trading was so good that they'd come with a barge of stuff, and within one or two days it was all sold. So then they built the store."

Devore was eventually bought out of the thriving business and in 1975, tragedy struck the Weaver family when Bruce Weaver was killed in a hunting accident.

Bud Weaver, 21 at the time, knew his future role at the helm of the family business alongside his siblings was sealed.

"Our whole family, every brother and sister worked in this store to make it work," he said.

"It was a family effort."

From birth through high school at Sir John Franklin and the eventual rearing of his own three daughters Katie, 17, Sarah, 14, and Lisa, 12, with wife Diane, Weaver has never lived outside Yellowknife, and he has seen the city change for better and for worse.

"I really enjoyed the old way of life in Yellowknife because you had way more freedom. In those days, we would drive out to Prelude Lake, pick a spot, make a camp and that was fine. Nowadays if you want to do that you're going to be fined.

"Yellowknife used to be a more friendly town than it is now," he said.

While the population has grown, Weaver isglad thatsome things have not changed about the NWT capital, likethe fact that you can pretty much get anywhere in 15 minutes, and get away from crowds ofpeople and be out in nature in a short period of time, whether driving or on a boat.

And, of course, the flagship Weaver and Devore, which still catersto mining camps and supplies bush orders today.

"That's been our bread and butter," he said. "That's what we've thrived on."

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