SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Yellowknife's Caribou Carnival is an event that seems to have always been around, making it hard for people, even long-time residents, to pinpoint its beginning.

The early days of Caribou Carnival were spent in and out of tents on Yellowknife Bay. This photo is from the 1974 celebration. - NNSL file photo

Helen Parker, who lived in Yellowknife from 1955 to 1989, said although the media always dates the first carnival as being held in 1955, it wasn't officially named until 1960.

She said she remembers, because she came up with the name while sitting in on a council meeting where the festival was being discussed.

"I just said it off the top of my head and the guys said, 'Well that's good. We'll have that,'" she said.

Dave Lovell, who was the mayor of Yellowknife from 1994 to 2000, said the event was definitely in existence when he moved here in 1956.

He said there is confusion because the dog derby, which the carnival is held alongside, has been around since the early 1950s.

Whatever the date, the spring festival, which was cancelled this year, has changed a lot over the years, said Parker. In the beginning, she said it was a one-day event, later it was extended to two and in 1974, it was even expanded to last a week.

She said it was successful in the early days because of the people involved.

"The whole town participated," she said, noting that there was very little entertainment in the 1960s that wasn't created by the community.

Aside from the theatre, all of the events were organized by a large group of dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers.

"This was our social life, really, and if you didn't participate, it didn't work," she said.

Barb Bromley, who's lived in Yellowknife since 1948, said the event attracted "uptown people, downtown people, aboriginal people and mining people.

"It was nice to have something for everybody," she said.

There were never a lot of activities, it was just more about getting together, Bromley said.

There was snowshoe races, fire building contests, hockey games, tug-o-wars, tea boiling contests, and the crowning of a Caribou Queen.

"There were various things like that that were reflective of the time and the people," said Parker, who now lives in Sidney, B.C. "It was just a great community gathering."

She said her memories of the festival will always remain on the lake in Old Town, although the festival was moved to Frame Lake in later years.

Caribou Carnival was cancelled this year, leaving the city without a festival to welcome the coming of spring.

In 2010, a group of people gathered together with plans of rejuvenating the carnival, but it fell flat, leaving no one to pick up the reigns in 2011.

Parker said she can understand why it was cancelled this year.

"It's a totally different place now," she said of Yellowknife. "That need for everybody to participate isn't there."

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