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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The call for all to help fill the gap left by the demise of Caribou Carnival drew about 20 people to the Yellowknife Public Library boardroom last Thursday, a bit shy of organizer Adrian Bell's estimate but with enough enthusiasm to breathe some life into the moribund event.

The next step is to hire a full-time, paid organizer for the event, said Bell, to line up money and sponsors for a festive weekend event aimed at tourists and active families, and timed to compliment the annual dogsled races or the Snowking Festival.

"There will be bonfires," Bell promised in a Facebook entry after the meeting.

Whatever the winter celebration is called, it will have a vaguely familiar look about it, with ideas salvaged from Caribou Carnival, or borrowed from Raven Mad Daze, the Snowking Festival and even Folk on the Rocks.

It will probably include cultural components like the popular cabane a sucre, tea-boiling contests and dogsled rides to a camp where traditional Yellowknives Dene bush crafts will be demonstrated for visitors.

The Caribou Carnival name could also be revived, but organizers would have to find ways to pay off $23,000 in debt.

Half of it is owed to the city, which will likely be a source of money for the new winter celebration.

"The important thing is not reviving Caribou Carnival," Bell said. "I'm interested in developing a tourism product. A winter city like Yellowknife needs a festival."

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