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Thirty years of Beavertail

Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Friday, January 26, 2007

FORT SIMPSON - The 30th anniversary of the Beavertail Jamboree spring carnival in Fort Simpson is going to be celebrated this year with new and bigger events.

Planning for the jamboree officially kicked off on Jan. 17 with the first public organizational meeting, which 15 people attended.
NNSL Photo/graphic

Co-chairs of the Beavertail Jamboree committee Cindy Browning, left, and Connie Villeneuve, say the 30th anniversary celebration will be bigger than ever. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

Emerging from the meeting are plans for a hand games tournament, dog races and possibly even a life-sized mascot. All these events and more will take place from March 4-11.

"We wanted to make it big this year," said Cindy Browning,who is the co-chair of the jamboree committee with Connie Villeneuve.

In honour of 30 years of jamborees, there are plans to recognize past and present volunteers, said Browning. The committee is also looking for anyone with old pictures of past celebrations to turn into a slide show.

Jonas Antoine suggested the dog races and hand games tournament during the organizational meeting.

Many years ago the jamboree included dog races and people enjoy coming out to them, Antoine said. He also has plans for the hand games tournament.

"We're going to have some really good stuff there," said Antoine.

Despite many new ideas, some traditions will prevail with the event schedule following much of the same format as last year. The jamboree will kick off with fireworks, a bonfire and a family snowmobile scavenger hunt on Sunday.

While the fireworks display usually costs approximately $5,400, this year the plan is for a show closer to $8,000, said Browning.

On Thursday night the opening ceremonies will include a community feast and the crowning of the king and queen and the prince and princess. Ticket sales for the contest will begin on Feb. 1.

There will also be two performances during the jamboree by the Yellow Ribbon Dancers, a pow wow dance group that will be doing a workshop at the school. The dancers are being brought to the village by Liidlii Kue First Nation. Other returning events will include the crib tournament, a barbecue, adult and youth talent shows and dances, a four-on-four hockey tournament and the corporate challenge.

For the youth dance, the committee hopes to bring in a Much music dance, while Johnny Landry is the first choice for the adult dance.

Most of these events will be funded by the jamboree's budget of more than $35,000, which is approximately the same as last year, said Browning.

Snowcross will also be back. The plan is for both snowcross and the snowmobile drag races to be held at the Papal site, said organizer Troy Bradbury.

With all the plans, the co-chairs said this will be the best jamboree yet.

"It's getting better and better every year," said Connie Villeneuve.