Toonik Tyme organizers hope to bolster festival’s success

Joe Netser puts the finishing touches on his igloo April 13 during the igloo-building contest, part of Toonik Tyme’s annual events. (FILE PHOTO)

Nunavut’s biggest spring festival was every bit a success this year, but as the 50th anniversary of Iqaluit’s Toonik Tyme approaches, organizers hope to bring the city of Iqaluit and Nunavut Tourism onboard to keep the event running successfully.

“Toonik Tyme is such a huge draw for tourists, and not just tourists from the South – people come in from all over the North to enjoy the activities,” said Janet Brewster, president of the Toonik Tyme Society, which runs the event in its entirety with the help of sponsors.

The society and its board are staffed by volunteers. They in turn seek volunteers to run more than 50 events throughout the city. This year’s 48th edition called for more than 100 volunteers, Brewster said.

“It would be great if we could have somebody in place to do a lot of the administrative work that we’re having to take on as volunteers,” said Brewster. “As volunteers, everyone has a certain skill set that we bring and that’s how we parse out all the responsibilities,” she said, which means putting the right people in charge of events.

More than 100 are recruited every year, right up to opening day, to make the festival a success, she said, and some coordination from authorities who run the facilities used would also simplify the task. This includes little details on set-ups, running the lights and fans in certain buildings — “all sorts of details we have to make ourselves aware of, sort of by accident, really,” she laughed. “That knowledge comes from the people who are working those buildings on a regular basis.”

Keeping volunteers focused on the job of running the huge slate of events has to come first, she said.

“The society should really be the group of people that are making the events happen, and the city and Nunavut Tourism should be looking at the big picture and how Toonik Tyme can be used as a draw to tourism.”

With the volunteers, Brewster credits sponsors for making the festival happen, particularly Canadian North, which provides about $65,000-worth in total, much of it for transportation.

Enthusiasm for this year’s 48th event was as high as ever, said Brewster. The skijoring race — a combination of skiing and mushing — was the big surprise of the year, drawing a huge turnout. The festival’s non-smoking policy was a first, also a success.

Proceedings on day eight of the spring festival were altered, following the death of a community member in snowmobile mishap on April 17.

Although the incident was not connected to the festival, organizers postponed the highlight event of April 18, the Toonik Feast, which was to take place in the evening. That event, featuring a performance by the Jerry Cans and a fashion show, was put off to April 21 — the festival’s final day.

“We did it out of respect for the family,” said Brewster. “People understood. We had some volunteers who wanted to take the time to spend with the family.”

The Toonik feast then became the festival’s major closing event on Sunday afternoon, overshadowing Saturday’s Big Band Night as the final act.

If there is anything the society looks to change in future festivals, it is to focus more on traditional games and activities. Such events are a big draw for community members as well as tourists, said Brewster, and could keep the festival from becoming overly commercial.

“We’re trying to lower our costs by having less contests, and just more fun,” she said.

“A lot of activities have become a little bit commercialized, and it’s about the prizes and really not about coming out and having fun. We’d like to have it more about coming out, enjoying the weather and acts.”