Cape Dorset (May 12/03) - Celebrities like Rick Mercer were ready to head out to the hamlet of Cape Dorset to play golf on Wednesday but had no such luck.

High winds in Cape Dorset grounded their aircraft until the following morning.

Unfortunately bad luck struck again. The group of celebrities and politicians heading for the Peter Gzowski Invitational golf tournament to raise money for literacy, had to wait again. Heavy fog the following morning delayed the trip further.

Finally, as the first two days of the golf tournament had passed, they arrived at their destination at 5:30 p.m. Thursday evening.

Keith Wilson, a teacher at Sam Pudlat school, said originally the event was supposed to last three days. Over that time awards presentations, banquets and the actual golf tournament were supposed to take place.

With the exception of an evening gala on Thursday, the rest of the activities were squeezed into Friday morning so everyone could make their way home in the afternoon.

"We're just glad people showed up. After a year of planning it would have been a waste otherwise," said Wilson.

The tournament has been held in the North for over 10 years and its goal is to raise money to improve literacy programs in the North.

Last year the event landed approximately $24,000.

Some of the invitees included: Nunavut Liberal MP, Nancy Karetak-Lindell, Rick Mercer (This Hour Has 22 Minutes), Premier Paul Okalik, Jonathan Torrens (Trailer Park Boys), Allison Gzowski, and a number of ministers and MLAs from the Nunavut Government.

Committee member Bob Moquin said despite the glitches the event was a success.