It was a tale of two days at the 12th annual Old Town Ramble and Ride, as the weather changed over the long weekend.
In what many regular ramblers described as a trend at the festival, the weather played a large role in the turn out of the event. Saturday saw a high of 16 C and a sunny afternoon helping to bring about what organizers stated was the busiest day in the festival's history. Meanwhile, Sunday saw a low of 9.9 C with close to three millimeters of rain throughout the afternoon, causing for a much slower day at the bottom of the hill.
“It's been great, yesterday was super busy, probably one of our busiest yet, and today's a little slower because of the rain but there's people out there and music is playing and we're trying our best to keep things going,” said Rosalind Mercredi, one of the event's organizers.
After years of getting rained on the festival organizers had made a conscious effort to be better prepared than they had been in previous years, she said.
“Twelve years, you know, you always have to expect rain this weekend, I think over the years we've (included) more tents, we always try and plan for the rain,” said Mercredi. “You just do the best you can and if people want to come, they will and we try to keep it interesting and keep things going even though it is raining, we want to get people to want to come and show up.”
Marino Casebeer, a Yellowknife resident who has attended the festival for the past nine years, said organizers' additional efforts were seen and had a positive influence on the rainy Sunday.
“There's always been at least one day of rain. I think as this festival grows, it’s getting more and more prepared for the rain,” said Casebeer. “I was just down at the dock and a couple of other places, there's lots of cover whereas last year, the Sunday it rained also and everything moved either to a loft or to here to the down to earth stage.”
However, Casebeer also noted that while the organizers extra work helped keep people at the festival he still hopes that more guests will attend the final day at future ramble and rides.
“For it to go on, hopefully there’s more people, it’s tough for these musicians to play for an audience of a couple people but I think it's a very worthwhile event and I hope as it continues and grows that more people will be supportive regardless of the weather,” said Casebeer.
“Wear a rain jacket, it's not cold.”
Casebeer also offered up another theory to explain the low numbers, arguing the Old Town community will always support the festival, but Yellowknifers as a whole has moved away from the community event.
“I think people like myself are out supporting, I would like to see more numbers, I would think 25 to 30 years ago there would have been more people out because there was a different demographic and more long-term people, whereas now we have a larger demographic of short-term people, (and they) are less tenacious for weather,” said Casebeer.
Whether it was a case of a generational change within the city or it was just a case of the Sunday blues, Mercredi still believes that future festivals can continue to develop and grow.
“Every year we do our planning, we start planning right after, we're already thinking about next year, we plan all year,” said Mercredi.
“We just kind of address things as we go and identify new things and try to get good suggestions, we try to read those suggestions and see what people like.”
New to this year’s festival was a “trashformation” competitions where community members turned old trash into pieces of work. There was also an expanded cultural stage that featured everything from Japanese drumming to Inuit throat singing.
There were over 30 different attractions at this year’s ramble and ride, with the Inuit throat singing group, Piqsiq and traditional Pow Wow dancer Supaman headlining the musical acts.