An Odd Taste in Lawn Decorations
The Klondike is known for permafrost-distorted buildings. The twisted shapes of older structures inspired the artistic career of Jim Robb — as a young artist he […]
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Busy Weekend in Dawson City
“This weekend is an iconic celebration of what’s great in Dawson,” says Paul Robitaille. Discovery Days, the Riverside Arts Festival & more
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Reflections on Rural Yukon Education
Robert Service School (RSS) celebrated its 25th year in its present building last May. There were no special celebrations, and I suspect that not too
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The Soul is Back in Dawson City
For those who like to boogey down, Miles from Motown, formerly the Soul Sunday Band, is back in Dawson to make it happen. Every Sunday
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Dawson’s Public Gardens Are A Treat
Dawson has a long history of dressing up with flowers and plants. When Martha Louise Black was the chatelaine at the Commissioner’s Residence on Front
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Along the Boardwalks in Dawson City
Ask tourists what they like about Dawson City and you get a variety of responses. They like the old buildings and the sense of history
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Tracking down grandmother by land and water
Nadia White, great-granddaughter of Elmer (Stroller) and Alice Josephine (Josie) Keys White is on a quest to find out all she can about the life
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Why does Dawson Need a Dike?
The Yukon Gold Panning Championships were held on the well-used greensward between Front Street and the dike. The greensward wouldn’t be here if the dike
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Grand Times at the Palace
The second full revival season has been launched at the Palace Grand theatre. Marveling at the theatre is past due; It’s time to celebrate that
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How to Dump
It was a Monday evening in June, before solstice. At nine o’clock, the sun was shining hot. Dallas-rae Gaven was reading in her bathhouse-cum-cabin on
Front Street’s Elegant Showcase
The Commissioner’s Residence sits on Front Street, just past St. Paul’s Anglican Church, in Dawson City. It is one of six buildings in town designed
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Winnowing Word in the Windy City
In windy Skagway, the boat people make their way from the cruise ships into town several times a day, clogging the streets and shops. I
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The George Black Ferry Links the Two Dawsons
The George Black Ferry splashed into the Yukon River shortly after 2:00 p.m. on May 15, bringing to life the summer time link between the
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The tripod met an unusual fate this year
I was in Calgary in the middle of a snowstorm when the ice went out in the Yukon River this year. Two days earlier, it
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Say Aloha to Dawson’s New Taco Cart
Dawson City’s blend of old-time charm and contemporary conveniences gives it a rare appeal, so it’s fitting that a taco cart will soon grace this
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Talking Points about “Klondike” for our summer visitors
There’s all sorts of misinformation about the Klondike Gold Rush out there. One of the most obvious is that a lot of Americans, other than
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Tuneful Fun
Beginning next week, Dawson City residents will have something to sing about – literally. The Good Times Community Choir will start up on May 6
Dawson’s reverse speed bumps slow people down
There are lots of places where people tend to drive a little too fast. Some of these places have had various ingenious traffic control systems
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Now Comes the Season of the Tripod
Sometime between now and May 29 (the absolute latest date in the records that have been kept since 1896), the ice in the Yukon River
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Dawson City Runs on Volunteers
I’ve been attending a number of annual general meetings lately, and the experience has simply served to reinforce something that I already knew: without the
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Around the world in a weekend
Dawson City International Short Film Festival (DCISFF) started in 2000, Dan Sokolowski has been organizing the festival for eight years.
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Cross-Cultural Advances in Klondike Education
On March 31, the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in (TH) held a feast to remember the mixed-heritage children who came to Dawson City to live at St. Paul’s
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Dawson’s Streets Get Ready for Spring
Dawson‘s streets will be wider and lower by the time you read this column. There will be the odd large puddle around town, especially at
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Canadian Indie Filmmaker Heads Our Way
The Animal Project, a new feature film by prolific Canadian indie filmmaker Ingrid Veninger, began as a leap of faith. To begin creating the film,
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The Hollywood Treatment
In Dawson we are of two minds regarding the Discovery Channel’s Klondike mini-series — that six hour reimagining of history, geography and culture that aired
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What Does Klondike Mean to the World?
From the very beginning there’s been some confusion connected with the word “Klondike.” It started with new arrivals — the gold rush stampeders — who
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Dawson Gets Ready for Spring with Thaw di Gras
The mostly family oriented weekend event is a lot of fun for locals – and draws in visitors, too. It includes a lip sync event
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The Trek Will Be Coming Soon
The 21st running of the Trek Over the Top snowmobile run from Tok, Alaska, to Dawson City and back will take place from March 6
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Getting into the Skins of Things
Rebekah Miller is fascinated with zippers, with how they both conceal and reveal, how they open and close. She’s also fascinated with coverings – whether
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The Yukon Quest takes care of the Winter Blues
The Yukon Quest is an annual event in the North that can banish your winter doldrums, lift your spirits, and get you cheering. The Quest,
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Barnacle Bob Headlines at the Odd Fellows Hall
Barnacle Bob Hilliard is ubiquitous on the Dawson City music scene. Since arriving in the early 1990s he’s been a fixture in the bars around
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The Dawson City Music Festival Focuses on Quality over Quantity
2014: Frostbite and the Kluane Bluegrass, are taking the year off, Dawson City Music Festival (DCMF) soldiers on.
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The Little Film Festival that could
It’s a film festival in a town that doesn’t have a theatre. It’s an international film festival in a town that doesn’t have an international
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A Season in the Mist
Freeze-up on the Yukon River is not proceeding according to custom this year. Despite the lack of ice at the regular crossing down by the
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Staging the Nativity in the Museum
Christmas Eve is a busy night in Dawson City, with all four of the churches holding their own late evening services in honour of the
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Looking back to see the future
For a young man, Chris Foster is an old soul. The interdisciplinary artist, who obtained his Bachelor degree in Fine Arts from the Nova Scotia
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It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like… You Know
The Dawson pre-Christmas season launched on Nov. 10 as the gym in the Robert Service School filled up for the Dawson Daycare’s Bazaar. This was
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Painting pets
Having your portrait painted is a way of immortalizing yourself – popes, kings and queens have all done it. But what about pets? Ange Bonnici,
What is the Tr’ondëk-Klondike Project?
In two previous columns I have given some background behind Dawson City’s interest in UNESCO’s World Heritage Status designation. The Klondike region was placed on
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Evidence Inconclusive, But the Place is Still Freaky
Uncover the mysteries of the Haunted Macaulay House. Discover Jude Griebel’s fascination with Dawson City’s ghost stories.
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Dawson City Yukon: A Living Ghost Town
Dawson City Yukon, on the shores of the Klondike River, has often been described as a living ghost town. Which means, of course, along with
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Things That Go Bump in the Night
I’ve got the creeps, the willies, and the jim-jams. I’ve just heard ghost stories from Heidi Bliedungand Aaron Burnie from the love-worn, historic Westminster Hotel
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A Subversive Singer-Songwriter Comes to the Yukon
While Martha Wainwright began her current tour a year ago to promote her latest CD, Come Home to Mama, she says the North American portion
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Naked neighbours
After fifteen years of modelling, I finally decided to ask a couple of artist friends how they handle drawing the naked body of someone they know.
Exploring multiple selves: Montreal artist explores her psyche
Marigold Santos likes the idea of a multiple self. The Montreal-based artist has a new exhibition at the ODD Gallery in Dawson City, which runs
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The Legacy of Dick North will Endure
The late Dick North used to quip that with a surname like his it was no mystery that he worked as a journalist in the
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Proposing World Heritage Status for the Klondike
The headline on the front page of the July 24, 1997 edition of the Klondike Sun proclaimed, “Berton Proposes Dawson for World Heritage Site Status.”
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The Sourtoe Cocktail: A Popular Gag
Thousands of people have touched their lips to the Sourtoe and have swallowed the notion that it is part of Dawson’s quaint charm.
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Created from Shattered Glass
From May to September you can find Riley Brennan all around Dawson, digging in the dirt as she skillfully helps to make the town a
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Delving into the History of Bear Creek
Bear Creek Compound is owned by Parks Canada now, but it was once the thriving centre of operations for the Yukon Consolidated Gold Corporation (YCGC),
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A Terd of Hurtles
There was a time when the Great Klondike International Outhouse race featured 12 to 17 teams and was quite a bit more of an extreme
Exploring his American side: Canadian artist Pat LePoidevin
Pat LePoidevin is coming to the Yukon to debut his latest album, American Fiction, which will kick off his Canada-wide tour. On August 23, LePoidevin
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Dredges Kept the Klondike Alive
Despite iconic images of a solitary miner with a pan or a group of men drifting into a hillside, the dredges of the corporate-mining-era are the main reason that Dawson outlasted the usual boom-and-bust cycle common to gold rush towns.
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The Natural & the Manufactured
Running from August 15 to September 20, The Natural & The Manufactured explores the relationship between nature and culture, society and the natural world. Started
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Authors on Eighth
Taking a stroll along the Writers’ Block — from the corner of 8th Avenue and Hanson Street to the corner of 8th and Firth —
Eye on Dawson
A live news program with a twist has hit the cable airwaves in Dawson City. Since June 25, Curtis Collins and Alyssa Friesen have gone
There’s a Market for Art in Dawson City
There is a buzz of excitement among the arts community in Dawson City. Starting last weekend, and continuing every Saturday throughout the summer, Dawson will
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Coping with the Summer’s Heat
The most common question from visitors is the one I was asked by a lady from Alabama this afternoon. I was on my way home
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Thaw Di Gras is winter’s ‘going-away party’
The closer you get to the Arctic Circle, the more you deserve a good blow out as the end of winter approaches. Instead of shaking
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Corsets and a Hunger for Colour
It’s spring. For Cori Giacomazzi, that means busy. I had the chance to visit this Canadian garment artist in March at her home in Skagway.
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Sweethearts ’til the End
A chance encounter during wartime turned into a love that lasted more than 65 years. In 1944, John Gould was a young Royal Canadian Air
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Celebrating the Yukon’s Birthday
The event that led to the formation of the Yukon occurred on August 16, 1896: it was the discovery of gold on what was then
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Social Riding; Klondike Style
Motorcycle riders are often solitary sorts. We like the time we spend with ourselves on the road. It is a sort of meditation: no radio,
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You have to be Badd to be good
What started off in 2010 as a one-off event showcasing Dawson City musical talent has now become a yearly ritual that rings in the summer
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The thinking-man’s folksinger
There’s a new folksinger passing through the Yukon … and he’s prepared. He may never have been North before, but Cort Delano’s “got my tin
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Come to the Klondike
On hillsides around us the trees are all blooming; While yards are responding to home owner’s grooming; And out on the highway the RV’s are
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Discovery Days and the Underwear Cannon
It always amazes me what northerners will do to prove they are unique and unlike people from Outside. See the Discovery Day long weekend.
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This is What They’ve Been Up To: Part 2
It must be a wild ride to work at the Yukon School of Visual Art (SOVA) in Dawson City. This year they had a student
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George McConkey Breathes Life Into the Harmonica
Discover the magic of George McConkey’s album, inspired by Robert W. Service, featuring powerful songs and lyrics.
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Making Culinary Art from Local Trees
You know that thing that happens when you taste something and it is so delicious that the experience goes beyond just eating something to this
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Supporting the Economy Through the Arts
Supporting the Economy Through the Arts You could expect a 10-years lifespan from mining projects, and Hakonson is well aware that placer miners have been
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LuLu Keating
Originally from Nova Scotia, Lulu Keating often gets asked the question: “Why the hell did you move to the North?” Her short film, Dawson Town
Bi-‘Sicles Built for Two
BY DAN DAVIDSON Two months trapped in the cold, ironically chained to this post, snow-ploughed up to the axles, rimed with forty-below hoar frost, two
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You are what you eat …
Options for locally-produced and higher quality food are about to get a whole lot better in Dawson City, if the Dawson Food Secure Advocacy Group
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Make some noise for Brandi Disterheft
Jazz Yukon had already told Brandi Disterheft what “On The Wing” means, and she is looking forward to it. “It is definitely one of my
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Where sex meets the ice
There are four corners of a net that hockey players shoot for to score a goal. The ‘Five Hole’ is that other spot that could
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Reflections on the Changing Season
BY DAN DAVIDSON We’ve been dodging round these puddles now for just about a week, and it’s hard to find the streets these days for
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Enjoying Frankenweenie, Together
Movie season has ended at the Dawson City Museum for another year. The last show was Lincoln, which played to reasonably sized audiences in late
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Local filmmakers rub shoulders with the world
Upwards of 1,500 film lovers will be flowing into Dawson City during the Easter long weekend to soak up a non-stop extravaganza of short films.
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The science and fun of Mining and Geology Week
Joanne Rice wants everyone to know that May 11 to 17 is Mining … and Geology … Week. “It’s because when people think of mining
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Real entertainment from Fred Eaglesmith and Gordie Tentrees
You have to be thrilled for Gordie Tentrees. The first time his ears perked up to enjoy a folk tune, it was at a Fred
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Friendships Forged by (but Not Limited by) Time
Between 1968 and 1978, the Cassiar Asbestos Corporation ran a small mining community called Clinton Creek, about 60 miles northwest of Dawson City. The far-flung
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Digits comes to Dawson
When Alt Altman, a.k.a. Digits, had the chance to participate in the Dawson City’s Songwriter in Residence program in February, he jumped at the opportunity.
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2013 Thaw Di Gras Explodes with Festivities
What is Dawson City‘s answer to the winter blues? The Thaw Di Gras spring carnival, a three-day event from March 15-17. The Klondike Visitors Association
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Dawson Looks After Those in Need
Food banks often start with the churches, which are acting out their faith’s instructions to look after the poor. In Dawson, the Transients’ Dinners that
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Saxophones B to Z
Take a string quartet: two violins, a viola and a cello. Imagine it whipping up a challenging entrée of Bach. As side dishes, how about
Artrepreneur: A Retreat Opens Its Doors Wider Still
The Ted Harrison Artist Retreat hopes more artists and arts organizations can benefit from the gorgeous space it has to offer. To that end, it
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The audience-friendly DCMF
“Last year there were lineups,” says Amy-Lynn Karchut, Dawson City Music Festival’s producer. “And that is against our mandate; we are not about lineups.” And
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The Double Bob is a Dawson Tradition
John Tyrrell, a former Dawsonite now living in Cyprus, where he is Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Nicosia, writes to say that the anglophiles
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World of Words: Modern-Day Mythology on 8th
Celebrate Northern literature on August 13 during Authors on 8th, a literary walking tour through the lives of Klondike authors Jack London, Robert Service and
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Down by the riverside
Throughout history, rivers have been associated with life. It seems appropriate, then, that those who create would celebrate alongside the Yukon River. The Yukon Riverside
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The Dempster adventure
In 2002, I embarked, with the love of my life, on a Yukon adventure I never experienced in the 29 years I lived here. Here,
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Lights, Camera, Action!
On January 18, Yukoners have the opportunity to make a film in 48 hours. Sound impossible? Not according to Dan Sokolowski, co-organizer of the Yukon
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Driving North in July
In this haze the Yukon skyline, normally full of distince edges, has become a Tony Onley canvas, vistas folding into each other, fading with the
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Artrepreneur: What’s Made and What’s Not, in Art
“What’s that thing on the dike?” “It’s art!” “I thought it was an accident …” … comments from the public overheard about Brandon Vickerd’s Northern
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World of Words: The rugged history of Yukon libraries
Dawson’s first public library opened in a tent on Front Street in 1897, with 1,500 volumes donated by the Forty Mile Prospectors to “the mushing
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The Icing on the Season
BY DAN DAVIDSON There are signs of seasons changing that we all can recognize: falling leaves and boarded windows, filled with plywood cut to size.??Hotels
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The stories behind Nutcracker
As audience members at the Yukon Arts Centre allow the Christmas tradition of Nutcracker to wash over them – joined, for the first time, by
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Where Will the Ravens All Gather?
Where will the ravens all gather now that the tree tops are gone? Where will they hatch their nefarious schemes and plot from midnight to
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The Snowplough Went By at Noon Today
??BY DAN DAVIDSON The snowplough went by at noon today; I think it’ll go by again. The reason I think this is plain to the
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