Amanda Vaughan
Northern News Services
Published Friday, January 25, 2008

YELLOWKNIFE - Caribou Carnival 2008 is right around the corner and it's shaping up to be a banner year, according to the organizing committee.

President Don Finnamore said interest in the carnival just keeps growing every year. He said the committee is hoping to have a bigger event this year, bringing back some attractions that had fallen by the wayside in previous years.

A youngster strains to hold on to the stick in one of the many contests on the main stage at the 2006 Caribou Carnival. - NNSL file photo

"We are going to be running the Teddy Bear Hospital both days on the weekend this year, and the nurses are already on board," he said, adding the event will be run by Aurora College nursing students.

He said the committee hopes to come up with a larger variety of events for children this year, and that they are always looking for more help on the committee and on the ground at the carnival.

"The more people we have, the more we can do," Finnamore said.

He said they always need Caribou Cops, who go around hassling and "arresting" people at the carnival without admission buttons.

If they can get enough people to run it, he said they would also like to open a food kiosk run by the carnival, to help them financially support the event.

The food options will also be more broad at the 2008 Carnival. In the past all the food kiosks have been run by non-profit organizations. However, this year the committee has decided to invite local businesses to sell food as well.

Caribou Carnival 2008 is scheduled for March 28, 29 and 30 to accommodate Easter weekend. However, Caribou Capers will take place the week prior on Thursday, March 20.

Finnamore said this was because the Capers date was set with NACC immediately following the 2007 carnival, but the committee later realized the usual third weekend in March was Easter, a statutory holiday they didn't want to compete with.

"With the Arctic Winter Games happening before that, we had to move it one week back," he said.

The carnival's annual beard growing contest is set to start soon, according to Jim Taylor. The well-known local musician and employee of Surly Bob's Sports Bar was in control of the contest last year, but has passed the torch on to Surly Bob himself for 2008.

"He was kind of my student last year," Taylor said with a chuckle.

Those looking to grow a bumper crop of face fur need to be at the pub next Tuesday, Jan. 29 for the "registration." Taylor said the process is fairly simple and fun.

"Basically, you just come down and have a beer, get your picture taken and get a free T-shirt," he said.

Surly Bob's is also hosting a gig for the ladies, the new "hairy legs" contest which will run alongside the beard fun. They will be judging in two categories, "longest" and "thickest," and are hoping to drum up interest with some ladies who don't mind relaxing their razor hand for a month.