The days remaining to the Arctic Winter Games in the South Slave seem to be counting down faster than the number of volunteers is ticking upwards.
As of Feb. 9, the number of volunteers stood at 1,211, while the games are now just a little more than a month away.
The number of volunteers is still considerably short of the combined 1,500 target in the two host communities of Hay River and Fort Smith. (Although organizers are now saying they can present the games with 1,300-plus volunteers.)
The organizers say there are about 620 volunteers in Hay River and 580 in Fort Smith.
There seems to be something wrong with those numbers.
On the surface, Hay River is leading in volunteers – 620 is indisputably a larger number than 580.
However, that lead is far from impressive when you consider the populations of the two towns. According to 2016 numbers from the NWT Bureau of Statistics, Hay River has 3,728 people, compared to 2,451 in Fort Smith.
Our trusty computer calculator reveals that is a population difference of 1,277 in favour of Hay River.
How can it be that Hay River has only about 40 more volunteers signed up for the Arctic Winter Games than Fort Smith?
Even with a bit of prompting, the organizers of the AWG declined to bite when asked if it seems that Fort Smith is winning the game of volunteers.
Perhaps, they are too polite to say that.
However, politeness is not really a concern of ours. So we'll say it. Fort Smith is winning hands down when it comes to providing volunteers to the games.
Of course, no one is under any obligation to become a volunteer for the Arctic Winter Games. As the word clearly states, it is a voluntary decision, and no one can really be criticized for not volunteering. It's simply a personal choice.
And 620 volunteers for an event in Hay River is an impressive number any way you look at it. However, the 580 volunteers in Fort Smith is a far more impressive number.
Based on population, Fort Smith is really teaching Hay River a lesson about volunteering.
We have to ask why that might be. Is Fort Smith more volunteer-minded? Are the residents of that town more excited about the Arctic Winter Games?
Honestly, we don't really have any explanation, and any attempt by us to offer one might sound slightly ridiculous.
Of course, the risk of sounding ridiculous never stopped us before from offering an opinion, but this time we simply are at a loss to come up with one. We cannot even guess why there is more volunteer enthusiasm in Fort Smith for the Arctic Winter Games than there is in Hay River.
Even though there is no obvious explanation for the difference in the number of volunteers, there is no denying the fact that it exists, even though it is surprising and puzzling.
Numbers don't lie.
However, Hay River still has time to win the completely unofficial game of volunteers with Fort Smith.
The game is on for another month.