Iqaluit’s 51st Toonik Tyme set to start April 15

Kids enjoy snow sliding during the 2005 version of Toonik Tyme. This year, the City of Iqaluit will host a family sliding party on the Road to Nowhere hill. (PHOTO COURTESY OF TOONIK TYME SOCIETY)

This year’s Toonik Tyme igloo building contest is scheduled for 1 p.m., April 23, beside the Nunavut Court of Justice building. (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE TOONIK TYME SOCIETY)

Are you ready to swallow something disgusting? This year’s Toonik Tyme Fear Factor event is scheduled for 6 p.m., Wednesday, April 20. (PHOTO COURTESY OF TOONIK TYME SOCIETY)

This year’s Toonik Tyme will feature a variety of different snowmobile competitions: the uphill contest, a snowmobile drag race, the Iqaluit-Kimmirut race, and races for elder and youth races using small 120 cc machines. (PHOTO COURTESY OF TOONIK TYME SOCIETY)

The 51st edition of Iqaluit’s Toonik Tyme festival gets underway April 15 with the return of some crowd favourites: the Fear Factor event and the Kimmirut snowmobile race are both back on the 10-day schedule.

And there are some newer events as well: a mini-sled race for youth and elders and Inuktitut baseball.

“In Inuktitut baseball, you throw the ball at the person instead of the base to get them out,” Toonik Tyme Society president Travis Cooper said April 11.

The grand prize for the Toonik Tyme Fear Factor event, scheduled for April 20 at the curling rink, is an airline ticket from sponsor Canadian North, Cooper said.

“It’s always a lot of fun. You get to do something gross and show athleticism at the same time.”

Cooper said a special guest will attend the Fear Factor event: football player Jorgen Hus of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who, thanks to the Rotary Club of Iqaluit, will bring a cross-Canada anti-bullying campaign to Iqaluit.

Other perennial favourites at this year’s festival include the Giant Craft Fair on April 16, Iqaluit Idol on April 22, and an igloo-building contest on April 23.

And Elisapee Isaac will hold two festival concerts April 22 and April 23.

But the festival has been scaled down somewhat this year, Cooper said, because this is a “transition year.”

“We’re hoping to transition the running of the festival back to the City of Iqaluit for next year. We still have a lot of the usual major events, but it’s scaled down a bit,” Cooper said.

If the City does take it over, Cooper said it would be up to the City to decide if the non-profit Toonik Tyme Society would continue to exist and help run the festival.

“I can’t think of a better, more dedicated group of people to take over the festival than the folks in the City’s recreation department,” said Cooper.

The seal-hunting competition is not part of this year’s schedule.

In part, that’s because of the death of well-known Iqaluit hunter Sandy Oolayou during last year’s seal-hunting competition, Cooper said, and because of dangerous ice conditions this time of year.

“We want to promote safety and fun, so we decided that wasn’t the best event to hold again this year,” he said.

For the complete schedule and updates on this year’s festival, you can go to Toonik Tyme’s Facebook page by clicking here.

This year’s festival runs from April 15 to April 24.

Toonik Tyme Schedule 2016 by NunatsiaqNews