Inuvik (May 05/03) - With the absence of snow and sturdy ice, residents of two Mackenzie Delta communities had to use their imaginations to pull off carnival events.

The Aklavik Kiddies' Carnival went ahead as scheduled last week, but organizer Dean McLeod had to change things up a bit.

With temperatures soaring to a high of 8 April 28, it was impossible to go ahead with some outdoor activities.

"There's no snow for toboggan pulls and we don't want to go on the water, and we didn't want to have the dizzy stick because they could fall on the rocks.

"So instead we made a few adjustments and we are going to have a piggy-back race and bubble gum blowing," said McLeod.

Even the youngest residents got in on the fun.

"We had a crawling contest for the little ones," he said.

It was quite warm in Fort McPherson last weekend during the Peel River Jamboree, but all activities were a go.

"We did have to move up from the river (on Sunday) to the ball diamond because with all the vehicles going down it was getting too muddy," said recreation coordinator Victor Stewart.

Despite slushy, washed-out ice road conditions, out of town visitors from Tsiigehtchic and Tuktoyaktuk came out to celebrate anyways.

"But the people from Tuk had to skedaddle pretty quick Friday night," he added, since the Tuktoyaktuk ice road was slated to close the following day, April 26.