YELLOWKNIFE - A transportation and moving company that got its start in Norman Wells is celebrating 20 years of operations in Yellowknife this month.

Matco Transportation Systems will hold its annual spring barbecue tomorrow at its Kam Lake warehouse to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the company's January 1988 entry into the already-bustling Yellowknife transportation field.

President Ray Anderson, pictured here at Matco's 2006 barbecue in Yellowknife, will be on hand to congratulate staff members in Yellowknife Thursday on the company's 20 years in Yellowknife. - photo courtesy of Jenine Cerny

"We looked at it as a bigger community," said president Ray Anderson, who is from Prince Albert, Sask., of the move to Yellowknife. "It was little bit overwhelming at the time. When we got here, there were quite a few competitors.

"For one thing, it was very difficult to get property and so we rented for a couple of years and then we built our own warehouse in 1990."

Matco is contracted by many Yellowknife businesses and the territorial government to move employees' belongings North or send them back south.

"If (organizations) are attracting new staff, it's kind of a challenge to get people to move there themselves," said Anderson. "Normally businesses want their new staff on site right away. So we make arrangements to round up their goods and take them up here."

The company, which has a total of 20 Yellowknife employees, also has a 10,000 square-foot storage facility in Kam Lake, where Yellowknifers who have to vacate the city for a month or a couple of years can store their goods.

Seventy per cent of Matco's business comes from moving people in and out of the city, said Anderson.

Six months ago, Matco instituted scheduled, next-day resupply of merchandise to restaurants such as Le Frolic as well as bars and hardware stores.

"If we pick it up in Edmonton on Monday, it will be in Yellowknife the next day," said Anderson.

Anderson said it was always the company's plan to expand to Yellowknife. He made a trip to the city in December 1987, and one month later, Matco was up and running.

Ken Smith, business development co-ordinator with De Beers Canada, which contracts Matco to move furniture at its Yellowknife headquarters and at the office at Snap Lake, said Matco is a staple of the community.

"They're everywhere in town," said Smith. "The North is transient, so they've probably moved everybody at some point or another."

Including Smith himself, who moved to Yellowknife from Inuvik four years ago.

"I'm one of the few people who can say they moved south to Yellowknife, and Matco did it for me," he said.

"It was about -40 C. I can't remember the actual number of pounds, but it was quite a bit, because I have a family of five. They even hauled my Ford Super Duty Truck down for me."