We all know Yellowknife is known for the midnight sun and the giant star on the horizon is put to good use each June at the Yellowknife Golf Club.
The annual Det'on Cho Midnight Classic golf tournament emanated from the club for the 76th time on June 21 and 22. A total of 245 golfers lined up to play in tournaments of all sorts over the two-day event, beginning with a scramble tournament on the afternoon of the 21st.
The main event, of course, was the midnight flight later in the evening with more than 120 golfers teeing off at 11:59 p.m. Everyone was split into either the front nine or back nine and played a shotgun start from there.
There was an actual stroke play tournament on June 22 and the winners for that were Kyle Hallett on the men's side as he carded a 73, while Colleen Pura took the women's title with a score of 83.
Kylie Frederick, the club's director of golf operations and head pro, said the tournament generated plenty of interest from outside the city.
"We had players from Cranbrook (B.C.), Calgary, couple of Americans," she said. "There was a total of 370 rounds played from those 245 golfers, so lots of interest from all around."
And with so much going on, making sure the set-up went according to plan is always important and Frederick said there were no issues at all from start to finish.
"There was a lot of set-up and to see that all executed as smooth as it did is always good," she said. "We were fortunate with a lot of volunteers stepping up to help out and we couldn't do it without them."
In addition to the fun and frolic of the Midnight Classic, the Mediocre Golf Association got in on the act the night before it all started with The MGA, its play on the PGA Championship. They teed at 9:30 p.m. on June 20 and finished well after 1 a.m. the following morning, making the tournament their version of the Midnight Classic.
Chris Lafferty ended up winning with a score of 88 to claim the 'big cheque' of $1.35. That vaults him to the top of the money list, overtaking Norm Sanderson.
"We had a bunch of new people and the conditions were beautiful," said Shaun Morris, the chapter's president.
This was technically Lafferty's first win on the MGA circuit; he did win the Evacuation Open in Leduc, Alta., last August when the city was forced to evacuate during last year's wildfires.
And those players from Florida Frederick mentioned? Jake Lewis and Hayden Lewis just happen to be MGA players themselves and came up to experience it all.
Here's some photos of the midnight flight and the weekend that was.