Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Feb 01/02) - Maybe it's the cold, perhaps it's the time off work, probably it's the alcohol -- but somehow, Caribou Carnival seems to bring out aggression.

If Ed Henderson is a Caribou Carnival cop in 2002 like he was in 2000, he probably won't be brandishing a beatstick. Organizers are aiming for a gentler festival this year, and they are taming down the carnival cops.

Whether it's two power-hungry queens waging royal war for top spot or cranky carnival cops shoving events-goers into jail, the March festival has had a definite rough edge.

Of course, no one is entirely embarrassed about that. After all, the ugly truck and dog show is something to brag about. And you probably won't find fish-eating and log-sawing competitions at your average starched-collar business symposium.

But this year, carnival organizers are promising a gentler -- dare we say it, more docile -- weekend.

There will still be a jail, but it will only be used for arrests that are called in -- no more getting shoved behind bars for not wearing a button.

Carnival cops used to sell those buttons -- which go for $3 a piece and function as entry into a raffle for a trip to Edmonton -- 10 days before carnival weekend. This time around, it might only be two or three days, and the caped hawkers will be staying out of bars and workplaces.

The cops are even being instructed to be friendly.

Is that right? Friendly?

Yes it is, says carnival volunteer Karla Schlosser, who was a Caribou Carnival cop last year.

"You just have to be polite and smile and take it with a grain of salt," she said. "They're going to be friendly this year, they're not going to be as pushy."

"In the last couple years, what's been happening is the individuals that we've had to be our Caribou Carnival cops have been a little aggressive," said carnival president Bernie Bauhaus. "You put a black cop hat on them, put them in a uniform and they get this Rambo mentality."

The change for the gentle is partly out of deference for Good Friday and Easter weekend, and partly in response to complaints.

"It only takes one or two individuals to really get up in someone's face, and that only has to happen once or twice over a period of a weekend and letters fly and concerns are raised about the whole focus of carnival," said Bauhaus.