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IQALUIT - With the sun slowly dipping low against a pale sky and the tide returning to the bay, hundreds of souls shuffled their feet in the pebbles of Iqaluit Square.

Together they kept the beat, like an immense tambourine, to the head-bobbing music of Pangnirtung's Tim and the Band, featuring Simeonie Keenainak on the accordion.

A giant circle of more than 300 participants surrounded the band at the Iqaluit Square. When the time came, groups of smiling dancers moved into the circle to jig, square dance or simply clap their hands.

The event was held to officially open Iqaluit Square.

Kids were everywhere: throwing stones in the air, holding adult hands, and dancing in the circle.

Emily Kootoo and Noolie Peter watched the giant square dance with smiles.

"It's very nice to see," said Peter.

Visitors and Iqalummiut were busy not only dancing, but shaking hands, with the most commonly heard question throughout the evening being "where are you from?"

The music abruptly stopped at one point and people looked around confused. Deborah Shnay from Calgary saved the day, reconnecting the two giant extension cords running out to the band, which a merrymaker unintentionally tripped over.

"I've been having a great time," she said. "The people here are amazing."

Shnay had even been invited to try maktaaq at a resident's home.

"It was good," she said, "very fresh."

Later on in the evening, the crowd spiralled around the circle in a giant dancing line, and after spanning the circumference of Iqaluit Square, hundreds of revellers moved toward its centre and the band, throwing their hands in the air screaming.

"That's the biggest square dance I've ever seen," said Keenainak.