Yellowknife (Mar 29/06) - Strange animals, flying snowmobiles and crazy antics on the kids stage entertained thousands of Yellowknifers and tourists who made their way to Frame Lake for the 2006 Caribou Carnival over the weekend.

Trainer Sonya Steiner LeRoy holds a five-year-old wallaby, the star of the Caribou Carnival petting zoo. The zoo was a popular destination for the thousands of carnival visitors over the weekend. - Jessica Gray/NNSL photo

“Never been to it before, but it looks pretty cool,” said Shawn Samborsky, visiting from Edmonton.

“It’s fantastic,” agreed Kris Cromwell.

Over all, the most popular places to be at the fair site were the cultural tent and the children’s petting zoo, a first for the carnival.

“This is a wallaby, he’s five years old,” said Sonya Steiner LeRoy, posing with the smaller cousin of an Australian kangaroo. She is a trainer for Horse Sense Training, the company that brought the animals.

Kids of all ages were fascinated by the many animals in the zoo, from chickens and goats to a pony, hedgehogs and rabbits.

The kids tent was another popular destination with prizes given out to lucky winners in games like bean bag tossing.

And, as always, food was a welcome delight to warm toes gone cold from standing on the ice, whether it was a sausage on a bun, a box of fries or a lollipop of maple sugar.

The carnival certainly had its dramatic moments this year, when above-zero weather earlier in the week caused a problem with water overflow as volunteers were getting the site ready.

But thanks to quick thinking and an effective use of snow plowing at mid-week, carnival goers had a party readied for them.

If there was a lack of anything, visitors noted the lack of events on this year’s main stage.

“The Carnival is much better than it was before, but I thought the events on the stage ran all day,” Angela Hamilton.

Missing in action were events people were supposed to sign up for like the women’s hairy leg competition and contests like the arm or leg wrestling.

Other events like muskox wrestling were cancelled because they would not fit on the main stage.

Co-ordinator John Dalton said the stage turned into a showcase for kids games, and that was fine with him.

“We had about 60 kids on the stage at one point having a lot of fun,” said Dalton.

“We could only run limited activities because of the stage. It’s also much harder to get adults to participate.”

And while the warmer weather made it comfortable to walk around the grounds, it also had its down side. Dalton said he hoped to bring southern sculptors in for a workshop, but that had to be scrapped due to the warmer temperatures during the week before the event.

Attendance was good all weekend, with the most popular day being Friday afternoon when many workers took advantage of the traditional “day off” said Caribou Carnival vice-president Randy Patrick.

Board members are hoping to bank on that enthusiasm. “We’re already planning next year’s carnival,” said board president Don Finnamore.