In her book Trapline to Finish Line, Fran Hurcomb writes about spring celebrations, when "families would travel to the nearest village or trading post to bring in furs, greet friends and family and generally have a good time, before returning to the bush."

"These celebrations," continues Hurcomb, "became known as spring carnivals and came to include a variety of games and competitions ... But the central event of every carnival was the dog team race."

According to the author, 1955 was the official birth of the Yellowknife Dog Derby.

Outgoing president of the Caribou Carnival Association, Bernie Bauhaus, remembers it the same way.

"I was here, but I was just born," he says. Based on conversations with his father and others, Bauhaus thinks it started with dog races on Back Bay and Yellowknife Bay, "then someone brought coffee and someone brought other stuff, and it grew."

Esther Braden arrived in Yellowknife in 1964, attending her first of many Caribou Carnivals that March.

"It was a small affair then," she remembers. Braden recalls tea boiling and wood chopping competitions, she even rolled up her sleeves and made bannock. But what stands out most in her mind are the dog races.

"The big excitement for me was when a dog team came in from the High Arctic. There were 12 dogs, at least, harnessed in a fan. I don't think I've seen that since."

Caribou Carnival floundered many times. It eventually found its current home on Frame Lake, but a prime resurrection example occurred in 1972 when a group of Rotarians, hell-bent on reviving the carnival, returned to the dog races.

Executive missing

Flash forward 30 years to early winter 2002. The Dog Derby is known as the NMI Mobility Canadian Championship Dog Derby. The purse is sizeable and the race enjoys an international reputation. Caribou Carnival has a five-figure bank balance.

As reported in Yellowknifer last Friday, organizers have stepped forward for the Quest for the Crown, the ugly truck and dog contest, road hockey tournaments, Dene hand games and the Carnival's fireworks. A co-ordinator for the event has been found, though his or her name is not yet available to the public.

Despite all this, the Caribou Carnival Association does not have an executive.

A loose group of five to eight people communicate by e-mail, keeping the association alive.

Yet last year, some 7,000 adults bought between 50,000 and 60,000 one dollar Caribou Carnival raffle tickets. The carnival, however, lost between $5,000 and $10,000, although the Dog Derby portion is believed to have finished modestly in the black.

"There's support on one level, but not on another," says Bauhaus, who, earlier this week, walked away from a year-long presidency by handing over his paperwork. "It's very frustrating. Caribou Carnival has all kinds of potential. But it deserves more work than I can give to it."

Bauhaus's ideal vision? That a small group, with the time to give, could formulate a long-term plan that might be carried out by a paid executive director.

Money is not the problem in this case, says Bauhaus. Potential sponsors as far away as Calgary want to step up to the plate.

Ask Esther Braden if she thinks the carnival is a worthwhile effort that should continue, she exclaims, "For heaven's sake, yes! Yes!"

But Braden, who says the event has been important to her family for 30 years, points out that it's high time there was a continuous organizing principal behind the event.

"Yellowknife is big enough."

Vision is necessary

Mike Vaydik, a born and bred Yellowknifer, doesn't dispute the carnival's potential place in the city's profile. But he does point out a few problems.

"There's no continuity, no leadership, no vision. I give the mayor hell every time I see him," says Vaydik, adding that the carnival is always in start-up mode and always playing catch- up.

Another long-time Yellowknifer, Marty Brown, also poses the question, "What the hell is it about?"

Brown has volunteered her time for the event in the past, but she remembers when the carnival as a tourist attraction came to the table.

"I was not prepared to volunteer my time for tourism."

The question remains. What is Caribou Carnival?

A small community event, born of community devotion and the spirit of volunteerism, or an important winter carnival worthy of international attention?

We've seen the potential. Caribou Carnival made an appearance, a couple of years ago, on the British travel show, Lonely Planet. TV crews are constantly knocking on our door. And it wasn't so long ago that the carnival's royal scandal hit a national paper, on the front page no less.

Bur perhaps the carnival isn't about gathering crowds. Maybe it's about simply celebrating the survival of a long winter with our neighbours.

A 10-year former Yellowknife resident, Karen Poitras, offers her own two cents:

"I moved to Yellowknife in 1985 and left in 1995. I have fond memories of the town and the people. After months of darkness and cold, the Caribou Carnival brought us back to life. Since 1995, I've been living in the Carolinas, but every March I get this feeling to return to the North.

"There is something in the air this time of year in Yellowknife, it seems to positively change everyone in the town. Have a great Carnival Yellowknife!"