Get ready Iqaluit, Toonik Tyme starts April 12

Toonik Tyme 2012 will include igloo-making, weather permitting, and other traditional activities during its four packed days of festivities. (FILE PHOTO)

Get ready to celebrate.

Iqaluit’s Toonik Tyme spring festival kicks off April 12.

And during the afternoon, there’s something planned to keep everyone busy — a family pool party at the Iqaluit pool, elders bingo at the qammaq and outdoor soccer starting at Nakasuk School.

That’s the aim of Toonik Tyme, to provide as many activities as possible for everyone in Iqaluit to enjoy, said its board president, Janet Brewster.

For her, the festival is about getting together, having fun and “celebrating.”

And she’s hoping that many in Iqaluit will decide to volunteer to make the celebration a success.

Willing volunteers should come to an April 4 volunteer rally at 7 p.m. in the Nunavut Research Institute, Brewster said.

The celebrating officially starts April 12 at 7:00 p.m. at the curling rink — $2 admission for all except for elders and youth under 12).

At what Brewster calls the opening “celebration” — instead of a ceremony— you’ll find local entertainment featuring, among others, the homegrown band, the Jerry Cans.

That evening, you’ll also learn the identity of the 2011 Honorary Toonik, who serves as an honorary chairperson of the festival.

“Our first Toonik was an Inuk from Cape Dorset, his name was Atchealak… he used to be my clerk at the Hudson Bay Company, a real handyman he was, always around to help out… he dressed up in caribou furs and came over the hill by dog team… It was really quite dramatic and exciting with all the Inuit dancing and music,” said Gordon Rennie, who was himself chosen as the honorary Toonik for 1970.

In the early years of Toonik Tyme, which started in 1965, this honour was often given to a distinguished guest invited to preside over the week’s festivities.

Past honorary Tooniks include former prime minister John Diefenbaker, Prince Charles, former governor generals and former commissioners of the Northwest Territories, a former premier of Greenland, and a former mayor of Nuuk.

In more recent years, the honorary Toonik award has gone to an individual considered to be “an outstanding volunteer and demonstrates exceptional community spirit,” such as local businessman Bob Hanson, the 2011 Toonik.

This year’s Toonik Tyme starts in earnest on April 13, a civic holiday, with golf in the morning at Toonik Lake, a hot traditional meal at the Anglican Parish Hall to raise money for the St. Jude’s Cathedral re-building project, an elders craft sale, family sliding party, kids games, an adult scavanger hunt, a teen sliding party and a giant bingo — for more details on the schedule on the Toonik Tyme website or pick up a copy of the April 13 Nunatsiaq News.

Highlights of Toonik Tyme, which continues into April 16, include an April 14 show with the Stanfields at the Iqaluit curling rink.

Described as “a maelstrom of rock ‘n’ roll, Celtic and bluegrass, hailing from the gritty post-industrial towns of Nova Scotia,” the Stanfields received a 2011 East Coast Music award for “Rising Star of the Year” along with three other nominations.

When Toonik Tyme started, the festival was more modest in scale, consisting of traditional Inuit games, throat singing and dancing, a community feast and an evening of dancing and music at Toonik Lake

You can still find seal skinning, bannock-making, Inuit games and dog team races.

But now Toonik Tyme will also represent Iqaluit’s diversity with, among other things, a potluck feast where Brewster hopes to see newcomers to Iqaluit share some of their foods from home.

“We’re celebrating traditional [Inuit] values but we’re also going to celebrate with other people who live here,” Brewster said.

The Nova Scotia group, the Stanfields, described as “a maelstrom of rock ‘n’ roll, Celtic and bluegrass, hailing from the gritty post-industrial towns of Nova Scotia,” performs April 14 at Iqaluit’s curling rink. Tickets cost $40 and are available at Arctic Ventures in Iqaluit.(PHOTO COURTESY OF THE STANDFIELDS)