TOONIK TYME!

Spring, that time of the year when the sun returns to the Arctic, the bitter cold surrenders its icy grip, and the days start getting longer. Since 1965, residents of Iqaluit have been celebrating the return of spring with Toonik Tyme, a week of games, music, competition, and feasting. It is a time to enjoy the outdoors, with events ranging from traditional igloo building to fast-paced snowmobile races. There’s something for everyone and I have been looking forward to Toonik Tyme pretty much since I learned about it when I first came to Iqaluit last June. This year it took place from April 14th to the 20th.

Markets

One of the first events of Toonik Tyme was a market, which I love! It was SO busy though. The line-up to get in was about an hour, and by the time I made it in a lot of the tables were already cleared out. It was nice to peruse the local fare nonetheless. There was a little bit of everything! For some reason, whenever three is a market though they don’t have any booths with my favourite local art work – stone carvings! The best place to get carvings is still the local pub! To be truthful, that is where you get the best price.

As the market was wrapping up, a country food market was meant to be just getting started in another part of town. I have missed every country food market – where they sell locally harvested meat and traditional foods – so far this winter and they are meant to be very interesting, so I made sure to get there a bit early. These markets are so popular that there was nothing left by the time I arrived! Sellers were not even making it into the tents they had set up, they would just pull up on their snow machines dragging a qamutiq (a big sled) full of meat and people would come running. One such qamutiq with a chopped up caribou pulled up while I was there and within two minutes everything had been claimed, negotiated and paid for, and people were trucking off with chunks of meat slung over their shoulder or shoved roughly into a bag. It was neat to witness. Caribou meat in particular is hard to come by in Iqaluit these days; you have to travel very far to hunt – the herds are cyclical and they haven’t been near the city in many years, though I have heard they used to wander the streets ten to fifteen years ago – so when up for sale it goes very quickly. At the last market I was told that there was even polar bear meat up for sale! And no dad, I will not bring home some polar bear meat for you to try!

Igloo Building Contest

On Saturday in the afternoon there was an igloo building contest. I was really excited to see this done from start to finish. There ended up being three Inuit contestants that worked on their own, plus a group of white guys that made an interesting attempt. Apparently the Inuit man that usually wins every year and who holds the record of building an igloo in 30 minutes was not there this year, which made it a little more interesting for the younger guys. They were situated on the side of a hill, and at first I wasn't convinced that there was enough snow. But they had their saws ready and when they shoved them down into the snow they went in right up to the handles. It was amazing to me how they were able to cut out such solid blocks of snow… the snow here is so dry and compacted. So they dig there blocks out of what will later be the base of the igloo, and then begin placing the pieces one at a time around the edge. I always thought that they built several layers, but it is actually more of a spiral. They use a machete type knife throughout the process to shave off edges of the blocks so that they fit together well. It was really neat to watch, but it was SO COLD! I couldn’t believe our bad luck that the weather was so cold for Toonik Tyme weekend. After an hour and a half we just couldn’t take it anymore, so we returned to my truck to warm up and see what else was going on around town. We returned an hour later to see the fastest contestant just finish his igloo. Such a simple, beautiful structure. I haven’t seen this in person, but I have seen pictures of igloos lit up on the inside. The whole structure glows a delicate, icy blue – it is so pretty.

The next couple of pictures show the subtle difference in stype for different builders.

Though this one is maybe not so subtle... can you guess from my description above who attempted this one??

Fantastic examples of local traditional clothing.

Traditional Dog Sled Races

There was a traditional dog sled race on Sunday, with contestants heading out at 10 am for a three to four hour race. As an observer, you don’t really get to see a whole lot of the race, just the take-off and then the return of the teams. My roommate was in the race, and so I headed down to at the very least see the take-off, and I almost missed it! The walk out onto the ice was a lot further than I realized. There were seven or eight teams all lined up and ready to go as I was approaching. Interestingly, most of the sled team owners in town these days are southerners… I don’t know if there was a single Inuit team in the race. Take-off is a very exciting and stressful time, with all the dogs fired up about the other teams and anxious to get moving. The next thing I knew, they were dropping the flag and off they all went. I think Siu-Ling was second off the line, a very smooth start. One team decided to try and say hello to another team as they were trying to blast past, resulting in a bit of a tangle, but luckily nothing too serious. So all together it was a pretty good start to the race. I couldn’t stick around for the finish, I had to work at the racket club, but I guess it was a pretty exciting, pretty tight race. The first place winner was a little ahead of the pack, but the second and third place teams were neck and neck. It was a bit of a photo finish, with Siu-Ling and her dogs coming in third. I was sorry that I missed it!

The long walk out... will I ever get there?!

Sui-Ling heading out with her dgos... she had a very good start and was second off the line.

When two dog sled teams collide... could have been really messy, but it only took them a minute to get them untangled.

The teams heading out onto Frobisher Bay.

An afternoon ski-doo nap!

My first ski-doo ride.

We managed to catch up with the last team.

Apparently his team was made up of two pregnant females and a little of puppies... looks like he was having a hard time motivating them and the race just started! Beautiful team though.

Not hard to see how someone could get lost out here!

Iqaluit from the bay.

They also did skijoring, which is where you have a person on cross-country skis being pulled by a dog or two. In this case it was only one dog per skier, and in many cases these were pets or retired sled dogs. The person actually skis, but then the dog adds additional pull, though by the end of the race most of the dog’s leads looked pretty slack! I think the skiers did an awful lot of the work. It was fun to watch, the dogs looked so happy.

The winner... and his prize.

Uphill Snowmobile Climb and Drag Races

Every man’s favourite event… well actually events. The uphill climb took place first, and wasn’t quite what I expected. I guess in the past they have chosen steeper inclines for their races, but I think they have tamed things down a bit for safety reasons. This event involved an afternoon of pairs of snowmobilers racing on a short uphill track. I didn’t last so long, since it was so cold!

The drag races, which took place on Sunday, were even more popular than the uphill climb. The day before Toonik Tyme started there was a bulldozer out on the bay clearing a swath of ice. The races were supposed to begin at 11am on Sunday, and I was already out for the dog sled races, so I travelled over to the track with a couple of acquaintances. A couple of the racers were warming up and practising; there are actual drag racing machines that are lower to the ice for extra pull. It was pretty crazy, they were flying past us.

Coming out in droves!

I couldn’t stick around because I had to go home to get ready for work. When I got home I was amazed how many people were out on the ice! I counted 76 vehicles, and that doesn’t include the snowmobiles! They were just pouring out onto the ice in droves… even the RCMP made an appearance.

Here is the view from our house up on the hill. Each one of those speaks is a truck out on the ice!

So that was my experience of the week of Toonik Tyme in a nutshell! What a fantastic week!

The sky isn’t falling, but the roads are melting!

I have now been back in Iqaluit for a week and a half, getting settled back into my routine. I was home for a week and a half, including a week long trip to the Dominican Republic. Here are some pictures that will contrast dramatically with those that follow from Iqaluit! We had a fantastic time, and as you can see I am definitely showing my six months of pregnancy!

The day I arrived back in Iqaluit was just beautiful; the sun was shining, the roads were melting and there was a real change to the air. I was so excited for the arrival of Arctic spring. But, alas, the cold weather returned for another week, with last weekend being VERY cold.
Last week we had a really odd snow. It was so fine and dry, that is behaved more like blowing sand than snow. It didn’t stick to anything and couldn’t be shaped at all, and just sort of drifts along, piling up on the side of the road. Then a couple of days later it snowed big huge flakes that clung to everything, including Toko. It was really pretty.

Despite the continued cold the north has seen some significant changes over the past month or so. With the time change, it seems that the day length is making leaps and bounds since we passed through the equinox (March 21st). The sun rises at about 5am and doesn’t go down now until 8:30pm with a hint of twilight still on the horizon until well after 9:00pm. I really need to get some better curtains up! Someone mentioned to me that in Iqaluit day length changes by close to ten minutes each day, though I haven’t tested this.

I also caught a wonderful display of northern lights one of my first nights back. I hadn’t seen any for quite some time, and I don’t know if I’ll be seeing too much more. It’s just too late for me!
Following that cold week when I first got home, the past few days have warmed up a bit. Temperatures have risen to around -10 and things are beginning to melt :) We’re back down to asphalt in most places, though some of the ice roads persist. And no, I do not want to hear about all of your 15 degree weather with flowers blooming and gardens sprouting, etc.
I am living with three dogs these days. Toko, whom you all heard about in a previous blog, is still at the house and at this point it sounds like Siu-Ling intends to have him live out his days with her. He is a really easy-going house dog.

Tua, Toko’s daughter, is also ready for retirement so she has been spending a great deal of time at the house. Siu-Ling is presently looking for a home for her, though I think she would like to keep her too! Tua is very sweet and getting more and more loveable every day. The two of them spend the day outside and then sleep the evening and night away indoors. Through the day it would just be too warm for them this time of year, with the sun streaming in through the windows. As it is, Toko was panting when I let him in at dinner time yesterday

The new addition to the family is a puppy named Parker. Parker is a three month old Australian sheppard, lab mix and he is Siu-Ling’s new house dog. She had a lab mix named Rupert before my time, and after a year of grieving his loss, she was ready for a new companion. Parker came from the Australian Sheppard rescue in Ottawa, and he is such a good boy! He is already so well trained, and has only had a couple of accidents in the house. Siu-Ling was away this week, so I have been looking after him. I had a few restless nights between him and Toko, but last night was much better. I was really tired at work this week – I know what you all are thinking, this coming from a woman who is going to have a baby in three months, but when baby comes I don’t intend to be working full time, in two choirs, going to three water aerobics classes a week, and working the bar at the racket club on Sundays! I think it is time to start thinking about simplifying my life up here…

Last week was the annual spring festival called Toonik Tyme. There was so much going on in town, it was fantastic. Come back in a day or two for the next update!