Every year in early spring, the communities in the Beaufort Delta region celebrate the richness of their land through a series of jamborees, or festivals. Tuktoyaktuk has a beluga jamboree, Aklavik has the mad trapper jamboree, Sachs Harbour has its white fox jamboree, and Inuvik has a muskrat jamboree.
Inuvik's muskrat jamboree is held in early April. Unfortunately, the weather is frequently bad (cold, overcast and snowy) that weekend, and this year continued the pattern!
Nonetheless, the long weekend was full of interesting activities like drum dancing, jigging, dog-sledding, ice-fishing, and muskrat-skinning!
I went down on the last day to watch the trapper skills contest, which included digging a hole in the ice for ice-fishing, making a fire on the ice, and cooking bannock and tea. The top prize was $600 and the competition was fierce. People of all ages participated, from teenagers to elders.