RADILIH KOE'/FORT GOOD HOPE - It is often painful for residents of Fort Good Hope to remember the last Wood Block Festival.

During the 2006 event, three people died when a boat capsized in rough waters. Just weeks later, six others died when a plane crashed into a mountain.

The lively sounds of the music festival, which since the mid-1990s has drawn crowds from around the Sahtu every two years, were not heard in 2008.

"After that it fell apart," said festival co-ordinator Edna Tobac. "We said 'no more. We're dissolving Wood Block Music Society.'"

But people from all corners of the region are asking for more, and organizers are submitting to their request.

Tobac, along with organizers Sareta Shae, Mavis Forbes, Shauna Gully and half a dozen others, met on Wednesday night to talk about a 2009 festival.

"Over the last couple of years a lot of people from the community and surrounding communities and people in the North wanted to have a chance to have a last Wood Block Festival," said Tobac.

The group has a little more than a month to pull together the next festival, which will take place on July 31.

In the past, Wood Block Festival has been a venue for musicians of all kinds, from Dene drummers to folk musicians to fiddlers and jiggers.

"We normally have performers, musicians from across the North or even sometimes out of the North that come to Fort Good Hope," said Tobac, who named Johnny Landry from Fort Providence and Alan Benjamin from Old Crow as guests from previous years.

Tobac said she's thinking about changing things up a little this year.

"Maybe we should try something different," she said. "We're thinking we'll have a Dene shimmy contest, and you have to be dressed very traditional, too."

Along with the Dene shimmy contest, there will be a jigging contest and a barbecue - for which people often bring traditional foods.

The Fort Good Hope Dene Drummers will likely make an appearance, and the usual jam sessions, dances and performances are in store.

But who will perform? Tobac said she is putting out a call for performers, and judging by the interest shown already, it won't be hard to fill the field with music once more.

Shae formed a Facebook group - called Wood Block Festival - which already had 164 members as of last week.

Group members discuss their favourite festival memories and ideas for the upcoming festival.

"Each festival is unique. Each one is different and has its own memories," said Shae.

These memories are what keep people from Tsiigehtchic, Norman Wells, Tulita and other nearby communities coming back, and Tobac said Fort Good Hope does everything it can to welcome visitors for the festival.

"The community basically opens our door," she said.

"When we go to other communities, they treat us just as well. We're kind of out of the way, so when people come here we make sure they're taken care of."

She said the organizers hope this year's festival may help resolve some of the grief caused by the accidents around the 2006 festival.

There's a lot to organize in little time, but Shae is confident they can pull it together.

"It all depends on everyone working together as a team," she said, and she believes her team is strong.

Performers and spectators interested in finding out more about the event can contact the organizers through the Facebook group.