ARVIAT - December's annual community feast at John Arnalukjuak high school just keeps getting bigger and better in Arviat.

More than 400 people attended the sixth annual event at the school this past month.

Vice-principal Marvin MacKay-Keenan says the feast was almost entirely traditional foods, both cooked and raw, with only items such as tea and sugar breaking from tradition.

The traditional food for the feast was supplied by students and staff from the school's land-skills program.

MacKay-Keenan says two local ladies were hired to cook the caribou in open pots outside of the school.

He says the fish was either cooked by teachers, or sliced up frozen by students and laid out on the cardboard sheets placed on the gym floor for the event.

"Students and teachers from the school's home-economics class cut up the caribou that wasn't cooked into meal-sized chunks and also placed that on the floor," says MacKay-Keenan.

"So, basically, everything was done by students and staff, including serving the meal.

"We had 12 girls who stood behind the cook counters and served up the food, making sure everyone who came received a decent-sized portion.

"The school's senior male students volunteered their time to do most of the heavy lifting and set up the tables for the feast."

MacKay-Keenan says the feast is aimed at the community in general and attracts a great mix of young, middle-aged and senior residents.

He says the feast has attracted more people each year, which shows the event is being accepted as a community function.

"That's important because events tend to last when local people take ownership of them.

"I've been up here for about 30 years, and I've found that things started by southerners tend to go well until they leave, and then they die off.

"Everyone has a good time at this event and it will last long after the teachers who started it leave the community."