With Folk on the Rocks, Yellowknife's biggest summer event just three days away, it's a good time to wonder about the economic impact of the weekend festival on the local economy.

We say wonder because there are no clear answers as to just how big a deal Yellowknife's favourite July bash is.

At 22, Folk on the Rocks has come of age and is no longer the ad hoc effort of 1981, although it is still largely driven by volunteers and has a wonderfully nostalgic aura of the Hippie-Dippy-Trippy surrounding it.

Tracey Bryant, executive director of Folk on the Rocks, says the festival has a $250,000 budget, made up of government grants, private corporate sponsors and pass sales. About 3,500 people paid to attend last year.

Yellowknife taxpayers are contributing about $23,000 this year through $15,000 in core funding and an additional $8,000 special grant, she says.

But no one's tracking how much bang we are getting for our tax buck. Is there a significant economic impact through so-called spin-off and multiplier effect dollars for local businesses? No one knows -- not the festival, not the city and not the territorial tourism section of RWED -- because no one has carefully tracked or analyzed the festival's demographics.

Bryant says a gate survey of some patrons last year suggests about two-thirds of them were Yellowknifers, another 25 per cent were Southern tourists and a small percentage were from the communities. This year she's promising a survey of all patrons.

Peter Neugebauer, the city's director of economic development, says that would be useful information to know when the not-for-profit organization seeks funding.

In simple terms, tourists spend money not only for Folk on the Rocks, but accommodation and myriad other items. Local residents tend to re-circulate money already in the community. There's some net economic gain, but much of that money would be spent anyway.

It's time we had a clearer economic picture of Folk on the Rocks.

City council was right to side with Super 8 in the fencing debate.

The motel owners wanted to landscape the perimeter of property instead of erecting a six-foot high fence.

Motel owners and the majority of nearby homeowners agreed to the change.

Things should have ended there. But one Butler Road homeowner and one city councillor were still pushing for the fence.

The homeowner has a right to express dissatisfaction before council, but his argument didn't carry much weight.

He fears that without a fence, garbage from the motel will blow onto his lawn. Super 8 sits amid Tim Hortons, Petro Canada, Mark's Work Wearhouse, Extra Foods, Wal-Mart, and a fruit stand in the summer months. How does one monitor where trash travels? Perhaps the entire area should be fenced off.

Councillor Dave Ramsay's also opposed the change saying, "If there's one person who was a party to the situation in '98, then I can't go against it." That was the year council gave the green light for Super 8 owners to build, and when both parties agreed to put up a fence within two years. While it's good to know a councillor will go to the mat for the underdog, this situation didn't warrant such resolve on Ramsay's part.

When you consider the time and money it takes to build a fence, compared to the annual costs of landscaping, Super 8 owners aren't taking the easy way out.

In fact, considering the abundance of pavement and cement in the area, perhaps neighbouring business should follow the lead of Super 8 and start planting.

Editorial Comment
Nathan VanderKlippe
Kivalliq News

If Sakku Arctic intends to keep wiring up the Kivalliq with Internet access, it should take a couple of tips from the pages of NorthwesTel.

This week, the Rankin-based company is blasting NorthwesTel for bringing the Internet to Coral Harbour. Sakku Arctic's General Manager Ryan Butler, has gone so far as to insinuate that NorthwesTel is breaking the rules by fixing up Coral Harbour's phone line to facilitate Internet access in the community through Sympatico. (Sympatico is the brand name for NorthwesTel's Internet access, provided through its parent company, Bell Canada.)

Now, far be it from us to blindly support the bigger guy. The little guy often has plenty to offer, including better service and a better product -- even if it might be a little more expensive. But in this case, Sakku doesn't have a right to sympathy points on either score. The company was going to charge the Coral Harbour Internet Society $2,400 a month for Internet. With Sympatico, the Internet Society had to fork over $25,000 up front -- money they got from the hamlet. Then each resident puts up $24.95 a month.

Crunch the numbers, and you'll find that if Coral can get more than 100 members, they could be in for a deal. So in a larger community, that might not be a scam. But in Coral, where there are still only 30 people signed up after almost half a year of access, that's a pretty hefty sum. The NorthwesTel option is far cheaper. Sympatico is also significantly easier to use. Since February, the Internet Society has basically been able to relax, since NorthwesTel will take care of everything -- billing, maintenance, and the rest. With Sakku, the Internet Society would have had to figure out a way to track their users and then create their own billing system. That's hardly convenient.

But all of this doesn't address one of the more important questions: why are so many communities in the Kivalliq still so far behind in Internet access? In the South, many people are signing up for cable Internet, which is super-fast and not all that expensive. Here, some communities are still dialling long-distance over crackly phone lines to watch Web pages load at a snail's pace. It's no wonder Coral residents are smiling now that Sympatico has arrived. Now, Sakku's promise of high-speed wireless networks shows some hope here. The logic is to skip dial-up modems altogether and head straight for high-speed technology. But timeline for completion is still being measured in years. Sakku says it is committed to wiring up the Kivalliq. If they can do it, more power to them. But if the company drags its feet on getting into the rest of the communities, it shouldn't whine. After all, the customer should come first. This isn't a question of Inuit versus non-Inuit ownership. And it's barely even a question of company size. After all, both NorthwesTel and Sakku have access to deep pockets: NorthwesTel because it's part of a big national phone company; Sakku because it's owned by Sakku Investments, which is owned by the Kivalliq Inuit Association, which ultimately gets its money from Nunavut Tunngavik, Inc. -- hardly a small player.

It's a question of customer service. And in this battle, cost and convenience should be the primary selling points -- not ownership.

Editorial Comment
Terry Halifax
Inuvik Drum

When I interviewed Mike Beauregard last weekend, I found him alone on Curtis Field, laying out pylons and clearing the pitch of debris for a soccer practice that never took place.

While indoor soccer is very popular here in the North, the game just can't seem to make the transition to the grass and that baffles me.

Soccer is a game that requires no equipment other than the most rudimentary gear, like a cup and a pair of sneakers and parents should be loving this sport.

They don't need to shell out hundreds of dollars for gear like they do with hockey and the game is enjoying a wider audience than ever.

The World Cup just aired on CBC and the sport has the widest following everywhere but here, it seems.

It's a sport that requires huge skill and athletic ability but can be played at any level or ability. Soccer offers everything a sport should: team building, rigorous activity and competition.

Perhaps the biggest roadblock to summer sport here is, it's hard to find volunteers. As minor ball has also found out, getting parents to volunteer as coaches and umpires has proven a major hurdle in minor sports.

Most parents want their kids to grow up healthy, but it seems few want to get out and volunteer.

A healthy community begins in the home, but take it further -- take it to Curtis Field this weekend to learn some coaching skills.

Delta rock returns

It was good to see the guys from Mother Devine again.

I first came across the Kikoak brothers in Fort Smith at the Friendship Festival three years ago and they sure rocked the park down there.

Nice to see that level of talent coming out of a small town, but it was even nicer to see the boys return home.

As Brandon and I talked we discussed the need for an organized tour of summer festivals.

It seems a natural for the North to have these acts start at one end or the other and weave their way from each festival to the next.

I think with some prodding, the NWT Arts Council could go a long way to promote some homegrown talent by giving them a venue and an achievable goal to shoot for.

Good luck out there on the road, boys, and when you get rich and famous, don't forget where you came from.

The Shipping News

We started something new for the summer Drum this week, with the Report on the Port.

I wanted to call it The Shipping News but there was some legal concern from editors over copyright involving some book and movie by the same name. Imagine.

Each week, I'll be poking around the dock area looking for a vessel with a unique story behind it, so if you've got one, or know of one, give a call and let me know.

The water is a big part of summer life here in the Delta and the vessels that float us all that freight and fun all have a story to tell. And by the way, I conceded the name but no way was I going to trade the cowboy hat for Gilligan's sailor beanie, as one editor suggested.

Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum

Seismic company WesternGeco had the foresight to anticipate regulatory delays for their two-dimensional seismic program on the Mackenzie and Liard Rivers. Therefore executives are not enraged or threatening to pull the plug on the project, contrary to the reaction of some companies in the past.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the National Energy Board certainly don't deserve criticism for referring WesternGeco's proposal to environmental assessment. So long as the project is reviewed in a timely fashion, it's always better to be safe than sorry. As environmental assessment officer Joe Acorn said, there are different species of aquatic life in the Mackenzie and Liard Rivers than there are in other bodies of water. There's a good chance the proposed seismic method will prove harmless to fish and other mammals, but at this point it's just a chance. Once it is a proven fact, then the project will merit regulatory approval.

The real difficulty will apparently be soliciting political approval, at least in the Deh Cho. Herb Norwegian, assistant negotiator for the Deh Cho First Nations (DCFN), was unequivocal in expressing opposition to development on the rivers. There's too much at risk, he argued.

The DCFN already has an Interim Measures Agreement in place with the federal government, which offers some level of environmental protection. A buffer zone to safeguard the Deh Cho portion of the rivers is also in the works.

If WesternGeco is, as Steve Whidden suggested, a company that plans to come back year after year, it will have to reach an understanding with the Deh Cho First Nations. Otherwise, the company's plans may take on water.

Welcome to town

With hundreds of people arriving in Fort Simpson Monday and Tuesday for the Dene National Assembly, the sight of people greeting each other warmly has caused more than one observer to remark, "It's like a big family reunion."

That it is. But in addition to the handshakes and hugs, as in any family there are bound to be spats. Some of those disputes be aired by political leaders around the table this week. Two days have been set aside to revise the assembly's constitution and bylaws, hopefully that will go a long way towards keeping the family together.

Digital contributors

In this increasingly high-tech world we live in, the Drum has become the beneficiary of digital photos from various Deh Cho communities. Ruby Jumbo of Trout Lake, Cathy MacAskill and Michael Pealow of Fort Liard, have submitted images from their communities for this week's edition. These contributions are much appreciated and others are always welcome.