LUTSEL K'E/SNOWDRIFT - With great power comes great responsibility.

Nobody in Lutsel K'e knows that better than Prairie Desjarlais and James Marlowe, owners and operators of the mobile snack stand River's Canteen, which entered its third summer this year and proved a big hit recently when the Dene National Assembly was held in their community.

From left, Prairie Desjarlais, River Marlowe and James Marlowe stand proudly in front of their portable snack stand in Lutsel K'e, named River's Canteen. This is the business' third summer catering to special events, most recently the Dene National Assembly. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

Before the assembly, neither Desjarlais or Marlowe anticipated selling pixie sticks - half-metre-long straws packed to the gills of powdery, sugary, oh-so-sweet candy - would be met with such hysteria among the children of Lutsel K'e.

When they weren't raising the sticks high into the air to maximize the volume of sugar ingested per second, the kids used the straws as swords, lightsabers and, in one case, the source of pixie stick juice.

"We were worried because we were watching them from our canteen and they were hitting each other and we're like, 'Oh, no,'" said Desjarlais, who, when not running the canteen, works as an elders' cook for the Department of Public Works and Services.

"Those kids were buying them at 2 o'clock in the morning."

It was just another night at the canteen for Desjarlais and Marlowe.

With the help of a small business grant from the GNWT, the couple purchased a flatbed trailer, lumber and other supplies for the canteen, which Marlow built himself and is supplied with wheels that allow it to be transported all over town.

"You can take it anywhere," said Desjarlais. "We just move it to where it's convenient."

On the Wednesday of the assembly, the stand began its life outside the Lutsel K'e Dene School, where delegates held their meetings and talks, and later, when the action moved to the Zah Lochkart Hall, where square dancing and music sent the walls trembling, the stand moved across the road from the hall.

In addition to kids' favourites like pixie sticks and pop, the stand also offers home-cooked specials like caribou stew, fresh fish chowder and cinnamon buns.

"When we first opened the canteen, we sold hotdogs and burgers, but it takes up too much time," said Desjarlais. "We wanted to try something different."

Providing healthy alternatives to the microwave dinners in abundant supply at the community co-op was important to Desjarlais, as well as making sure the food was handled with care.

"You have to be really clean when dealing with food and the public," she said. "We were sanitizing constantly. I think we went through 20 of those things (during the assembly.)"

Among the most frequently-requested items is bottled water.

"I usually tell the kids, 'What do you need bottled water for?'" said Marlowe. "Just walk down the road and you've got the best water in the whole territory."

The canteen is named after Desjarlais and Marelowe's four-year-old son River, who in years past was not old enough to remember the canteen but this year attacked his role as helper with gusto, said Desjarlais.

One night at 12 a.m., "He was up ... so we brought him down and he was actually helping out," she said.

"He was standing on the chair when the kids were asking for gum and he was handing them out. He was really into it."