Yellowknife Online

I don’t know if you noticed or not, but while Grant Lawrence was here in Yellowknife, emceeing Folk on the Rocks, he had a Flip Camcorder on him. He went out and around capturing different aspects of the festival and of Yellowknife in general. For those who don’t know who he is, he is a CBC Radio 3 host and you can find his website here.

Take a look at Folk on the Rocks from his perspective.

Back in March, I first learned that a young artist by the name of Michael Bernard Fitzgerald would be coming to the 30th annual Folk on the Rocks festival in July. At the time I didn’t think much of it, I didn’t think much of him. I had never heard of him before, that was until I listen to some of his stuff on Youtube. Then on iTunes where I bought a couple songs, at which point I was pretty much hooked.

Originally I had planned to write about how I had heard rumors that people were disappointed about the line-up for this years festival and how I didn’t agree, considering I’ve heard Michael Bernard Fitzgerald music everywhere. I was going to write all that but as time grew near to Folk on the Rocks I kept putting it off. That was until I got the ambition to make the video below. The overall question I ask is, what is your feeling about the up coming festival?

If you are at work and can’t watch the video, email yourself the link. It is definitely worth watching me make a fool of myself. Also make sure you watch MBF’s music video to understand what the heck I’m doing on the grass. Once you watch it leave a comment about what you this this years Folk on the Rocks will be like!

This is just a quick update while I sift through hundreds of photos and video. Expect full video and photos up by tomorrow. Did you have a good Canada Day.

The NWT SPCA got artistic today, with the help from Artistic Hound, and made some masterpawies. With some help, Sax, Jake and Old Man were able to make some pawrific painting. These painting will be auctioned off at the annual Dog Ball, June 12th.

See them at work:

Okay, this is meant to be a lite hearted post about this video I just found. It is titled “Discovering Great Towns – Yellowknife, NT”. I thought it would be neat to see a fun promotional video about Yellowknife. What I got wrong was the Yellowknife part, this video should more accurately be title “Discovering Great Restaurants – Wildcat Cafe” because there isn’t much about Yellowknife in it.

The video was obviously produced over three years ago, as it was before Chef Pierre had the contract for the historic restaurant. I also didn’t realize Sarah Palin came to Yellowknife before trying to run for Vice President, no I’m kidding, but doesn’t the host remind you of Ms. Palin. Oh, and is that Jon Gosselin at the end of the video?

In all seriousness, the video is something for Yellowknife to be proud of. It actually makes me hungry and eager for summer to finally come. I would be interested to know if Chef Pierre has ever had live music and what his plans are for the cafe this year.

Over the weekend Yellowknife experienced some of the best displays of aurora many photographers have seen in a while. Apparently this year hasn’t been a very good one but nonetheless they were out and many photogs took advantage of that fact. Even those of us who are not photographers appreciate the beauty of the Aurora. For some reason it is something special about that aurora. It is one of those attractions that so many in the south talk about but hardly ever see, so whenever we have the opportunity we’re going to tell you about them.

Anyways back to why I started writing about the aurora in the first place. After last weekend’s light show many photos popped up online. For example both Lee Sacrey and Dave Brosha were out on Vee Lake and managed to capture some unbelievable photos. Jason Simpson was also out on the Ingraham Trail, except was out at Prelude Lake. He managed to capture an awesome video of the aurora dancing in the night sky.

Do you get any good shots of the aurora? Share the link in the comments, we’d love to see them.

Caribou Capers took place Thursday night and was a sneak peek into what will be going on during Caribou Carnival this year. The variety was wonderful to see and really showed the spirit of the Carnival. Although past years haven’t been mainly around music, it seems this year will be, with several acts taking place both during the day and in the evening.

Capers started off with the NWT Pipe Band dressed in their, proper, “Bush Gear” which was followed by Jim Taylor, the evening host, welcoming everyone and thanking those who needed to be thanked. Rick Poltaruk and his good friend Will Engel then took the stage to start the evening. Rick also thanked some of the lovely women who helped put this years carnival together. From there on there were several acts like Neale Bacon, a ventriloquist expert, the Phillipine Community Dancers, Marshall Lawrence, The Seven Guitar Orchestra, The Beard Growing Contest winner, the Carnival Queen and many more, like The Checkerboard Guy.

In all the event went well, and I think those who did stick around until the end were pleased by how well The Checkerboard Guy brought us back to life. I’m not going to say it seemed like the event dragged on but because it had so much packed in it seemed like to much. I was tempted to leave throughout but glad I stayed. Thanks to everyone who put on this event and the rest of the carnival. Below are some photos and a video of some of the performances.

We hope everyone has a blast a Caribou Carnival 2010. Let us know how it goes below.

We weren’t sure if we were going broadcast live from Caribou Carnival; we didn’t know if it would really be worth it. If the days are nice we’d like to assume many viewers would be down at the carnival site enjoying it for themselves. Then again there is always those who can’t physically make it to the event, whether they’re out-of-town or not. So because of that we have decided to broadcast some of the Caribou Carnival event, happening during the day, live here on YkOnline.

If you don’t know what will be happening at the Carnival, you can check out the schedule, which might give you a better idea of what we’re live streaming. We can tell you for sure that we’ll be live streaming the Firework, which will be starting at 9:30pm.

To watch what we are live streaming is simple. See the big player below, click play.

You can also head to http://ykonline.ca/live, which is easier to remember.

Jacqueline Brasseur explains, in this video made by CBC, exactly why Yellowknife should be Kraft Hockeyville 2010. She shares her passion for the game as well as the communities passion for it. Although you can tell that Jacqueline is faithfully a St. Pats supporter, the point made in the video is that throughout the high schools and the rest of the community there is a large support for hockey.

I’m sure the majority of us who grew up in Yellowknife played at least one season of the game, I was one of them. Although I haven’t played the game officially for MANY years I still enjoy watching a local game or a, close call, Olympic Gold Medal game. I even enjoy a good game of scrimmage on the Frame Lake ice rink once and a while.

This video is a good motivator for us to once again join together and make something special happen for Yellowknife. You could also send it around to family and friend to encourage them to vote for Yellowknife as well.

You can also share your stories about Yellowknife Hockey below.

There is just something about Rick Mercer that will make you laugh, and no it isn’t his towering height of 3 feet. His openness to say what is on his mind is what we often need to cheer us up.

I stumbled upon this video today from when Mercer visited Yellowknife 5 years ago. Watching it made me think “My, Yellowknife has changed”. There are several things throughout the video I’m sure you’ll notice that are different in 2010. We no longer have an abundance of Caribou or Japanese, the Snowcastle has grown and the weather is a wee bit warmer. Whether it is less or more the one thing that hasn’t changed it Yellowknife as a community, we continue to have an upbeat spirit. We have continues festivals and events happening. This is part of the reason I love Yellowknife.

I think everyone show take a look at Mr. Mercer’s video and have a laugh as we begin the weekend.