Lynn Lau
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Nov 02/01) - Ingamo Hall turned 25 last week, and for old friends, it was a time to reminisce. Twenty-five years ago, when Inuvik was young, the kids of the west end hung out at Ingamo Hall.

"We had square dances, Easter luncheons, weddings, all the things that go on in town," recalls Roy Ipana, the master of ceremonies at the anniversary celebration Saturday. He first started coming to Ingamo, or the Indian and Eskimo Association as it was known then, in the late 1960s, shortly after the association was formed. Back then, activities took place in an old building on the same site.

Ingamo was the gathering place most accessible for those who lived in the west end the part of Inuvik that began where the utilidors and indoor plumbing stopped, and where most of the Inuit and native people lived.

"We used to come here every night," Ipana says. For teenagers, the big draw was arctic games, taught by volunteer Edward Lennie. "It kept a lot of us out of trouble," Ipana says. "We used to play until we couldn't play no more. We'd come here at seven, and we wouldn't leave until midnight. We had a good time."

In 1974, when the association began growing out of its old building, the work began on the present log building. The hall was finished in 1976, built out of 1,020 logs that had been rafted down the Mackenzie River, 1,370 kilometres from Fort Simpson. In 1979, the building was opened for community events.

Gerry Kisoun, 48, is another person with fond memories of the old and new Ingamo Hall. "We always went to Ingamo Hall. A bunch of us young teenagers, that was sort of our hang out in the evenings. We used to play the games and the old timers, they would just kill themselves laughing, watching us perform for them."

With the training he got at Ingamo, Kisoun went on to demonstrate the traditional sports at the first Arctic Winter Games in 1970. He later attended as an athlete and eventually, as a coach and adjudicator. This year, he goes to Iqualuit to adjudicate again.

Since the early days, Ingamo Hall has grown into a friendship centre that organizes all manner of programs and activities from literacy programs, youth nights, healthy baby classes, cooking classes and monthly elders luncheons.

Bur for people like Ipana and Kisoun, Ingamo will always be one of the places where they grew up.