Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jun 22/01) - It began as a simple idea, but continues today as a masterstroke of community organization and support.
The Midnight Sun Float Plane Fly-in was born among friends talking after dinner one weekend at Watta Lake Lodge during the summer of 1994.
"We were talking about events that could bring people to Yellowknife as an attraction," says Yvonne Quick, who co-ordinated the first fly-in the following year.
"I said float planes are our history, so lets have a fly-in."
Also party to the conversation were Yellowknifers Mike Piro, Mike Stevens, Jeff Rocher, Roger Zarudzki, and former economic development officer for the city, Archie Gillies. Telephone calls were soon being made far and wide in the hope of drawing a wide selection of aircraft from all over North America.
Quick never dreamed of the response her volunteer committee would receive.
In 1995, 26 planes took part in the fly-in, many of them local and some from as far away as Oregon and New York.
"They thought it would work and it did," says Quick. "There's never been a problem getting volunteers."
Kevin Brezinski, who took part in the fly-in during later years, says the bi-annual event has been a big help registering Yellowknife on the radar among a large body of international flying enthusiasts.
"It raises a keen awareness in the float base community in Canada as well as the U.S. as to what Yellowknife has to offer," says Brezinski.
"There's a very strong dedication to the event, a lot of corporate sponsorship. Without their assistance it would not work."
Mayor Gordon Van Tighem calls the event an opportunity to look both towards the past and the future.
"It's a celebration of our history, heritage and the present," says Van Tighem.
"It gives us an opportunity every two years to recognize the contribution our early bush pilots made to the development of the North."
