Inuvik (July 02/01) - The high-pitched buzz of electric razors could be heard as they mowed over the scalps of Inuvik RCMP, the mayor and the mayor's wife just to name just a few.
 Heather Taylor |
Of the more than $30,000 raised in Inuvik, almost a third came from corporate donors.
Perhaps the quickest $2,500 of that was lured in when Anderson Resources Northern affairs and regulatory co-ordinator lost her locks.
Inuvik mayor Peter Clarkson said Heather Taylor told him if he could raise over $2,000 in a matter of minutes she would go under the razor. That and more was raised in less than a half hour after Clarkson took to the microphone in the exhibition area during lunch.
"Do I at least have a nicely shaped head?," Taylor asked as a hair dresser swathed his way through her recent $200 hair cut.
Inuvik RCMP organize the fund-raiser every two years. The officers and other community members went bald before town residents on the platform in front of Sir Alexander Mackenzie school on June 22 during Midnight Madness.
Const. Dan Martin said the donations averaged out to about $10 per person in Inuvik. The Inuvik detachment raised about $10,000 more than the cops in Yellowknife where the population is six to seven times larger.
Fund-raising began in May and two weeks before a couple officers decided to dye their hair platinum blonde.
"The kids thought we were pretty cool," Martin said.
The hip look spread to other communities in the count down to baldness after Yellowknife officers mimicked the trend as well as a few from Aklavik.
"We sat in front of the Northern store with blonde hair and ... people asked if it was because of the water," Martin said.
The spontaneous effort of the oil and gas company executive from Calgary as well as all the other volunteers for Cops for Cancer and Ride for Sight the previous week raised close to $60,000 in two weeks.
"That is all out of this community," Martin said. "That is something to be proud of."
