Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 08/02) - Plans are well under way for this year's Inuvik Petroleum Show.

Co-ordinator Brian Desjardins said the finishing touches are being made on the agenda, and that the theme is "Building capacity in Northern communities."

Topics to be covered include the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline, oil and gas exploration complete with slide show, business development, and keeping communities healthy.

This year's show takes place June 20-21 at the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex.

At last year's inaugural conference, there were about 300 delegates and 85 booths set up for the trade show, so that about 400 people were involved altogether.

Desjardins explained this year the trade show will expand into the Inuvik Curling Club area, so there could be around 40 more booths, and so perhaps up to 500 people will take part in the conference and trade show.

He said half of the booths for the trade show are already booked.

Desjardins said the 2001 show was very beneficial to the community, in that, for example, restaurants were busy, hotels were booked solid and airlines were busy.

The town used profits from the show to purchase a lot of equipment and items for the rec complex.

"We're confident that this show is going to be just as big or bigger," Desjardins said.

He said it's hoped there will be more local involvement this year, in terms of residents and firms, as well as young people.

"We're looking at finding sponsorship dollars to help fund some youth to attend the show as well," Desjardins said.

He noted that visitors attending the conference will be in for a special treat, as Midnight Madness takes place June 21, as does national Aboriginal Day.