Weekend of fun in Baker Lake
Inaugural Festival by the Lake warmly received by community
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
BAKER LAKE
The sounds of good times and laughter rang out across Baker Lake this past month,as the community held its first annual Festival by the Bay.
Alvin Pudnak, 11, and Rolanda Kingilik, 11, are all smiles having their picture taken with Olaf from the movie Frozen during the Festival by the Lake in Baker Lake this past month. - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo |
The three-day event ran from Aug. 28 to 30 and offered something for children of all ages, including the first hot air balloon rides to be offered in the Kivalliq region.
Agnico Eagle senior co-ordinator for community affairs Charlie Tautuajuk said the festival came about due to a new community affairs team being in place consisting of superintendent Graeme Dargo, himself in Baker Lake and Pujjuut Kusugak in Rankin Inlet.
He said discussions began earlier this year to take over what had previously been a one-day family barbecue held during the summer by Meadowbank's human resources department.
"We got into the idea of the communities of Arviat, Rankin and Baker running their own special events," said Tautuajuk.
"As I understand it, the hamlets took over the event in Arviat and Rankin but here in Baker, we formed a working committee this past March of Karen Yip, Kenny Hachey and Trevor Tungilik.
"All three committee members are connected to the hamlet and they came up with ways of making all this happen."
Tautuajuk said he and Yip worked together to involve the community in the festival, including business groups and organizations.
He said once things started moving, they focused on having entertainers come in and being able to offer something completely different with the hot air balloon.
"Agnico Eagle helped out a lot with transportation to get the balloon up here.
"Overall, for our first kick at the can at what's now going to be an annual festival, it went really well.
"It was a busy schedule during the three days and we received a lot of good feedback from the community.
"The festival gave the community a fantastic weekend, even if the weather prevented the balloon from flying after Friday."
Kivalliq festivals almost always tend to focus mainly on the youth of a community and Baker was no exception.
Tautuajuk said putting smiles on the faces of children in the community is what the festival is all about.
He said to be able to make so many children happy for three full days was a memorable experience.
"We can make a lot of good things happen when we come together as a community.
"And entertaining our kids and keeping them busy with positive activities is important in this community."
In addition to the hot air balloon, the festival featured children's entertainer Mr. Mark (Cameron), Elvis impersonator and comedy-show performer Gerry (The Big Bear) Barrett and a world class juggling performance by Robin Chestnut.
It also featured a bouncy castle and slide, Inuit film and photo screening, arts and crafts sale, face painting, circuit training for youth, an open mic talent show and a number of dances featuring the Tim Evic Band with Simeonie Keenainak.
Tautuajuk said Agnico Eagle takes its commitment to the community very seriously.
He said having Baker Lake's business community and a number of its employees heavily involved with the festival was another important aspect of the proceedings.
"We got great support from the employees at the Meadowbank mine site.
"Having management staff and employees participate within the community by dressing as various animated characters, or just flipping hotdogs and hamburgers, is easy enough to set up, especially with Agnico Eagle so willing to participate.
"Doing whatever needs to be done in order to help out and make the festival a success is what the company's mindset is all about."
Tautuajuk said a number of things, both pro and con, were learned from organizing the initial Festival by the Lake.
He said if things can be done – not just for the festival, but for the whole community – like the local building of outdoor stages, then the project becomes a win-win situation for everyone.
"Getting more business groups actively involved is something that's really exciting to me," he said.
"Overall things went really well and we're now talking about getting business groups and organizations to do some fundraising throughout the year to help us grow the festival even bigger and better. But really, everything was pretty positive during the three days.
"We're already looking forward to seeing how much we can improve upon the festival for next year."
