WHALE COVE
There were smiling faces and full tummies all around as Calm Air brought its 12th annual Kivalliq regional Christmas dinner to Whale Cove this past week.

Susie Amitnaaq, left, helps a friend with their gravy requirements as Cecile Panika enjoys the flashing antlers during the annual Calm Air Christmas dinner at Inuglak School in Whale Cove on Dec. 3. - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo

Mayor Stanley Adjuk said such events mean a lot to a community like Whale Cove.

He said major events are hardly ever held in Whale, so the arrival of Calm Air's dinner is a big deal to almost the entire community.

"We had a great turnout the first year the dinner was here, and we had another great community turnout this time," said Adjuk.

"I'd estimate we had about 75 or 80 per cent of the community at the gym for this.

"The excitement started to build for about a week, or maybe a little less, before the day of the dinner.

"The last couple of days before the dinner, the buzz really grew in the community."

Adjuk said the Christmas presents Calm Air brings to draw for is a very nice touch by the airline.

He said everyone gets pumped when they hear their name called for a present, especially the younger students.

"You can see the hope in their eyes as the names are drawn, and the happiness when their name is called.

"The students are great when something like this happens in our community.

"When you ask students at Inuglak School, of any age, they're always willing to help.

"They don't hesitate when asked, and said yes right away to helping with the feast."

Adjuk said the Calm Air dinner was a truly great way to start December.

He said it's a nice way to build towards the holidays and start to get people in the Christmas spirit.

"It's very important to smaller communities when a company gives something back.

"It's important to the bigger communities, too, but they often have other things going on that smaller communities don't.

"When you look at the four smaller communities in the Kivalliq (Chesterfield Inlet, Repulse Bay, Coral Harbour and Whale Cove), it's always a pleasure when we get to host anything like this.

"We do our best to come up with other things, like our own community feast, but there's only so much we can do on our own."

Adjuk said contrary to what some might think, Whale is anything but a sleepy community during the holidays.

He said the hamlet does everything it can for everyone, especially the kids, to have a great time, and their appreciation is shown by how much they enjoy the events.

"You can't say Whale is quiet during the holidays.

"We hold a lot of Christmas games, both outside and inside, where some of the bigger communities may not.

"Bigger communities are often the quiet ones.

"In Whale, where we hold so many games and our feast, it's never quiet around Christmas."

Calm Air's Karen Yip of Baker Lake is always one of the staff members to volunteer for the dinner.

Yip said had the dinner followed the right order, the 2012 event would have been in Whale instead of Repulse Bay.

But, she said, they made it this year and she was happy with how it turned out.

"We had lots of elders and kids at the feast, which is what we always like to see," said Yip.

"We also had people come for lunch and then go back to work."

Calm Air brought 20 turkeys and all the trimmings to Whale.

Yip said there were a lot of leftovers this year, but not a crumb went unused.

She said many people who attended the dinner got to take a nice quantity home with them when they left.

"We gave a lot of food to the elders, and the mayor took lots to families who are a little less fortunate.

"The teachers and leadership students who volunteered to help got to take some home, too.

"Absolutely nothing went to waste."

Yip said Calm Air enjoys supplying a number of gifts each year, including one pair of tickets to be drawn from among the students and another for the community.

She said they always try to provide a little something for the elders and turkey cookers in a community, who the airline couldn't do without in hosting the annual dinner.

"They cook most of the turkeys in the community before we arrive and we cook the balance of them.

"If memory serves, Arviat will be our stop in 2014.

"The feast is different each time, with new kids, and older ones who remember our first visit to their community.

"There's smiling faces and old friends every year."

Yip said Calm Air does the dinner as a way to give back a little something to the communities for their support.

She said it's something the airline looks forward to doing every year.

"It's a celebratory time of year, and we want everyone to enjoy themselves.

"We have no shortage of people within the airline who want to come and help with the dinner every year.

"We enjoy being part of something special."

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