Rummaging around for deals
Yard sales, garage sales, flea markets, and rummage sales.

Elders Fitness still going strong
At 76 years old, Gulshan Esmail doesn't look a day older than 60.

Living the good life
Hank Rogers has been living the good life for close to 30 years now. At the age of 28, he made the decision to quit drinking for the sake of his family. He has never looked back.

Stores push for voluntary bag ban
Business owners said they would like to see a voluntary ban on plastic bags rather than an outright ban during a council meeting last Wednesday night.

Are you putting cash in the trash?
Lionel Harder has a message for the people of Inuvik: stop throwing money away.

Fire at construction site

An air compressor caught fire on Saturday afternoon at the site of the new school.

Crew on site quickly moved the compressor away from other equipment. Firefighter Rick Lindsay said the compressor was more than 20 feet long and 10 feet high.

"A fuel line broke and fuel sprayed out on the hot engine," he said.

Workers used a water truck to keep the flames down until the fire department arrived on site and extinguished the fire with foam.

"We had it out in a couple minutes," said Lindsay.

He said the water helped contain the fire, but it is almost impossible to extinguish a fuel fire with water.

Out with the old ban, in with the new

Inuvik town council is considering lifting the ban on Wednesday night bingo to accommodate the high demand by community groups for the fundraising events.

Council heard from concerned stakeholders on Wednesday night. They initially brought in the ban to encourage more family time in the community.

On Thursday night, town council wants to hear from citizens on the topic of a possible plastic shopping bag ban. Are you all for it or do you always reuse your bags around the house?

Make your voice heard Thursday night at 7 p.m.

Food bank fundraisers

Inuvik Food Bank chair Bob Mumford said there are two fundraisers coming up before the end of November.

Newfoundland night will be held at the Legion on Saturday, Nov. 22. Homesick Newfoundlanders and Newfoundlander-wannabes can come out for traditional music and food.

The following weekend there will be a craft fair held in the community room at the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex. Donations of food will be accepted at the door.

Lost art of conversation to be revived

Inuvik will be hosting the Beaufort Delta Stories to Tell Festival next weekend.

The event brings together some of the best storytellers around to tell their tales and also help others work on their story skills. The event kicks off Nov. 21 at 7:30 p.m. at the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex.

On Nov. 22, there will be an workshop, open mic, and more featured speakers. Among those who will be spinning yarns are Jim Green, William Greenland, Rosie Albert, and Neil Colin. Admission is by donation at the door.

Plenty of animals

Tuktoyaktuk

Storyteller Jim Raddi described the bounty of animals he has been seeing around Tuktoyaktuk this year.

"I've never seen so much foxes going back and forth on evenings," he said, adding family members are trapping one or two an evening by the ocean.

He said the multitude of animals was not limited to just foxes.

"(There are) lots of foxes, lots of caribou, lots of everything right now."

Although Raddi is suffering through some knee troubles, he had a good hunt earlier this fall with his grandchildren and their dad, at the sand pits about six miles out of town.

"I've never seen so much geese this fall," he said. "They were really healthy-looking geese. Really good shape. Nice and fat.

"It's unbelievable the animals these days. How healthy they are, so easy they are to get. You don't even have to put your call out."

Raddi is cautious about all this though, relating it to a tale his grandfather used to tell about the end of the world.

In the story, his grandfather said there would be a plenty of animals - foxes, caribou, fish and geese.

"Then it will all be gone and we'll starve," he said.

Whale of a feast

Ikaahuk/Sachs Harbour

On Tuesday, Sachs Harbour residents were busy preparing for a community feast to be held later that evening in the school gymnasium.

When contacted Tuesday morning, Donna Keogak definitely had her hands full.

"I'm right in the middle of stuffing a turkey," she laughed.

The feast planned for Tuesday evening was being held to celebrate and show appreciation for the hunters that caught two beluga whales earlier this year.

"It's a long time coming," said Keogak. "We were going to try to have it right after the hunters got the belugas, but one of them was out of town for quite some time."

Hunters Lawrence, Amos and John Keogak and Wayne Gully and Lucky Pokiak - of Tuktoyaktuk - got two belugas back on Aug. 30. Keogak said there would most likely be some beluga served at the feast.

"It's not fresh, but it's cooked and there is some aged."

Campus buzzing with activity

Tetlit'Zheh/Fort McPherson

The Aurora College campus in Fort McPherson recently held a career week with an emphasis on trades opportunities for both men and women.

Taig Connell, adult educator at the college, said the biggest trades opportunities in Fort McPherson are construction-related.

"There are some houses being built," he said, adding the main interests were in carpentry, electrical and plumbing.

Connell said many women enrolled in adult education classes were interested in getting involved in the trades.

"They are looking at an alternative to the norm," he said. "They want to get into something different. A challenge."

Also, the college will be offering two back-to-back firearm acquisition certificate courses, to get residents the qualifications to purchase shells at the store to hunt wildlife.

Connell said the course has not been offered in Fort McPherson for quite some time and the demand is high.

"There are a lot of participants," he said, adding the classes were limited to 12 students in each.

"And there are more on the waiting list."

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