Folk on the Rocks music festival in Yellowknife

We got pulled over by the police on our way to the gig. In our driver's defence, the speed limit on the highway had suddenly been changed to from 60 km/h to 20 overnight, in anticipation of the festival goers that would be swarming the roads on foot that night. To the police officer's credit, he let us off with a warning and he didn't make a big deal of the fact that I was obviously scrambling to put on my seat belt.

We had been invited to perform at one of the biggest music festivals in the Canadian North: Folk on the Rocks in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. It was a fantastic opportunity and experience and I was stoked for another chance to go back up north to one of my favourite cities in Canada.

With a population of less than 20,000, Yellowknife is a small town, even by Canadian standards. But it's one of the largest cities in the Canadian North, larger than any community in Nunavut including Iqaluit, so it tends to be a thriving hub for arts and culture in the north. Every time I go back there, I'm pleasantly surprised by just how much this city has going on for it - including a delicious culinary scene featuring a variety of ethnic flavours and fine dining, and lots and lots of fish; a tight-knit queer scene; and so much awesome music.

Although I've performed in Yellowknife several times before, including at NWT Pride, this was my first time experiencing Folk on the Rocks. I thought I had an idea of what to expect, but it was way cooler than I could have dreamed of.

First of all, the festival is held in the woods on the shores by a lake, specifically Long Lake. I had known that before, but I had not clued in that this meant that it was a beach festival. I love walking through soft sand, and there was no shortage of that. And with the long hours of daylight that comes with summer in the north, it was such a magical feeling to be dancing to indie band Operators in my bare feet in the sand while the sun set - and it was almost midnight!

Operators 

beach party aftermath

Despite the fact that it's a small town music festival, it featured multiple stages and lots of programming, so yes, festival goers do have to choose between the various acts that are all performing at the same time - tough decisions for music lovers!

Shad on the main stage

The Trade-Offs on the Lakeside Stage

It was clear that the festival had put a lot of thought into organizing the event. Because Yellowknife has soooo many artists and other creative folks, everything was splashed with mural paintings, even the outhouses and the trash cans.

 

The festival has also gone to great lengths with respect to social responsibility. I was impressed by all the efforts to preserve the festival space so that it could continue to be used in future years. There was recycling and composting available everywhere. We discovered this when we (gasp) threw out our paper plates in the trash can, and a volunteer hurried up to us to remind us that the plates   In response to an incident last year, the festival also designed a safe space policy which included the Safety Squad, volunteers dressed in purple who make sure everyone is partying safely.

Also, the hospitality was pretty great. The green room, for example, had a view like nothing else.

The artists' hospitality section also featured a fried fish dinner catered by the one and only Bullock's Bistro, one of the most famous restaurants in Yellowknife, known for their delicious fish sauce - don't try asking what the secret ingredient is though....

On Sunday, we wandered around town, trying to find a place to grab a bite and a little drink. I'd forgotten that everything is closed on Sundays in Yellowknife. Everything. Even the few restaurants that are usually open on Sundays were closed, because the owners were off at Folk on the Rocks. And that was the truth: Folk on the Rocks is the place to be in Yellowknife.

meeting up with old friends at the festival

 Because our flights were sponsored by the northern airline Canadian North, we ended up flying through Iqaluit, which ended up being its own adventure - but that's a story for another day.

The last day of the smokehouse. Also, dog sledding.

When we woke up in our hotel room in Yellowknife and while we went on with our day, a disturbed man was engaging in a hostile stand-off with the police at a motel a few blocks away from our hotel, claiming he had hostages. After several hours, the situation was resolved with nobody hurt, but we had no idea about what was going on until it was over.

To be honest, I was more concerned about the unsolved sword murder from earlier this week. That’s right, sword murder. As in, one man was found unconscious in an apartment in Yellowknife and another man was found dead, having been stabbed through the eye with a sword. I had no idea people even had swords these days. And police were being tight-lipped about what happened, possibly because they didn’t know either.

Welcome to the big city, Dorothy. We’re not in Kansas (Cambridge Bay) anymore.

oh, the ominous ravens of the Northwest Territories

It had been a harrowing flight to Yellowknife, as northern travel almost always is. We got to experience what it’s like to “try to land” in Kugluktuk – but failed to land, because of the cross winds and unfavourable runway conditions. The turbulence was violent enough to make me, a seasoned flyer, quite nauseous in my stomach. The terrified woman next to me asked me to hold her hand, and her grip was tight like a vice. I swear, leaving Cambridge Bay seems to always feel like an ordeal. Like you have to pass through some kind of glass wall, which really adds to the sensation of living in a snow globe.

But we had made it to Yellowknife, and the hardest part was over, so long as we weren’t going to get entangled in any police/hostage shoot outs or stabbings by sword.

a selfie at the Black Knight. It's not blurry. That's just how we look.

Yellowknife is beautiful in the winter

It's a little snowy outside

We decided to drive over to the Ndilo Dene First Nation Reserve to have lunch at the Smokehouse, a cosy little spot on the aboriginal reserve which serves as a training ground for cooks who then go on to work at the mining camps.

I got my fill of bison stew and something that was only described as “local smoked fish” (they didn’t specify what kind), both of which were delicious. They also had a turkey dinner available…and spring rolls, which I ate because it’s me we’re talking about. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

The next day, the restaurant shut down forever. Hmmm. I hope I do not have this effect on every place I go.

We then went dog sledding at Beck’s Kennels, which as far as I know, is still operating.

It may seem like a strange thing to do when we come down south from Nunavut, but there actually isn't any dog-sledding in the part of Nunavut where I live - although there are plenty huskies - so despite having lived up here for a little while, I've never gone dog sledding before.  The Inuit certainly did use dog sleds traditionally (and still do in other parts) but at least in Cambridge Bay, most folks use skidoos to pull their kamotiks (sleds).  Funnily enough, the huskies often now ride in the skidoo-drawn sleds, instead of pulling them.

PUPPIES!

 That's a lot of frozen dog pee

It was therefore pretty exciting for me to get the chance to go on a traditional dog sled ride in Yellowknife, although I certainly was not the only person in Yellowknife to have this idea.  I also was definitely not the only Asian person in Yellowknife to have this idea either.  The waiting room was filled with Japanese people, all geared up in their rented Canada Goose parkas, eating chips and watching Korean documentaries on the flat screen TV.  Yellowknife, by the way, is where I have seen the largest concentration of Japanese people in my whole life, having never been to Japan or the parts of Canada where Japanese people actually live.  They are almost all tourists here, excited to see the northern lights and the other great Canadian adventures. This is also probably why I actually really enjoy the sushi in Yellowknife.

I had envisioned this wonderfully romantic sleigh ride through the woods with my partner, and it was mostly romantic: me, and Rob, and the sled, and the dogs...and the driver...and the two random Japanese strangers they stuck on our sled with us, tucked awkwardly between my legs.

we can always crop out the photo, although this woman's camera was everywhere

I mean, it was awkward for me, but apparently not for the Japanese girls because they totally made themselves at home and at one point fell asleep on my chest.  The sleigh ride was that hypnotic and soothing, and I guess my parka was really soft.

The driver was made no conversation, keeping a sharp eye out on the dogs to make sure they followed the route. Occasionally he would call out at certain dogs to get back into line, yelling things like "Come on, Sadie!"  I'm kind of glad none of the dogs had the same name as me, because it would be kind of distracting and maybe less romantic if I was cuddling with my partner while the driver abruptly shouted "WATCH IT GLORIA."

The ride was really nice though, and the dogs took us over the frozen lakes and by the woods, and I really came to realize just how breathtaking Yellowknife is in the winter time. And all the extra bodies in the sled meant that we kept pretty warm throughout the ride.

Selfie!

Brunch at the Explorer

(I realized that I had forgotten to publish this blog post from a little while back while I was in Yellowknife)
 
Brunch at the Trader's Grill at the Explorer Hotel is one of the fanciest brunches that exist in the North. I like brunch, and I like fancy, so we decided to check it out. 

The brunch buffet serves crabs, mussels, pork loin, pot roast, turkey. I decided to make my meal an art. Set a theme for each plate.  

The theme for my first plate is seafood and salad.

The theme for my second is Dinner For Breakfast. Turkey, stuffing, pork loins, mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables.

The theme for my third plate is Breakfast for Breakfast. Eggs Benedict, French toast, sausage, bacon. I am visibly slowing down at this point.

My final plate is Dessert for Breakfast. I have little memory at this point because I was so full. It's all a blur now. But it was delicious.

The whole time there is bizarre music being played while we eat. I'm talking dance music which feels disturbing at a brunch. Also, I am surprised at how disappointed I am that I can't order mimosas until 11. Otherwise though, this is a special kind of heaven, and definitely worth its price. You know what would make it worth its price even more? If I could find a way to linger here for hours until I get hungry again, so I can keep eating and eating and eating...

the forest fires of Yellowknife

In the airplane seats in front of me, I listened to a young Cambridge Bay couple try to teach their toddler son about our destination.

“Yellowknife,” said the dad.

“Lellalie,” repeated the child.

“Yellowknife.”

“Lellalie.”

The child’s attention shifted as he looked out the airplane window.

“Those are trees,” the father explained, pointing at the forest below.

“Cheese?”

“Trees. Yellowknife has trees.”

“Tees?”

“Trees. They get in the way. The make you feel boxed in, like they’re all over you.”

We flew into Yellowknife over the forest fires that threatened to consume it.  That day, there were over 200 fires blazing in the Northwest Territories. The closest one was only 30 kilometres out of town and the residents near the highway had been evacuated for the night as a precaution.  More firefighters were being flown in from Ontario and other provinces to bring reinforcements; some firefighters were being sent out for medical treatment for smoke inhalation. On Wednesday, the sky had turned a sickly yellow, and then an eerie black, dark as night in the middle of the day.  It felt like the apocalypse.

On the airplane, I was struggling with a cold (possibly pneumonia), and I couldn’t taste a thing or hear very well or smell, but my husband told me that it smells like smoke, even inside the plane. This would normally be a little alarming, but it smells like campfire, the lovely, almost delicious smell of wood burning, just before you dangle your marshmallow on a stick over the flames.

I love the architecture of the buildings in Old Town

I had been looking forward to spending some time in Yellowknife with my husband, who hasn’t had a chance to explore the city.  Despite the smoky haze, we walked over to Old Town where we discovered Bullocks Bistro, a Yellowknife establishment famous for its fish and chips, the shockingly expensive price of said fish and chips, and its notoriously cranky owners who had no use for fools. Think of the soup nazi on Seinfeld, or the efficient but curt workers at Schwartz’s in Montreal.  The place is so well known and the food is so good that the owners don’t have to pretend to like you.

The walls were decorated with all sorts of souvenirs and signatures that previous diners had left behind. Real estate agents’ business cards, fond poems about the fish dish, international dollar bills a surprising amount of comments in Korean, and on one wall, a bright pink bra hung up with a pin on it that said “FALVO” (Side note: I happen to know Falvo). Even the ceiling fan was covered with writing.

walls

Ceiling

Arctic Air was here!

Our fish dish arrived, but by then my stomach had shut down, between the cold-possibly-pneumonia, my asthma being triggered by the cold-possibly-pneumonia and exacerbated by the forest fire smoke, and on top of everything, my allergies caused by the trees, which really do get in the way. Instead, my husband was forced to eat the entire meal on his own, although he did say he enjoyed it.

The next morning, the smoke was even thicker, and covered the whole city in a blanket of what looked like fog.  I could barely breathe, even in my hotel room.   Out on the streets, I overhead a cook muttering to himself while smoking in an alley, “This is the worst I’ve ever seen it.” He was wearing his apron like a mask to cover his face.

I covered my own face with a handkerchief, like a protester or a sun-fearing ajuma, and wondered how quickly I could leave Yellowknife.

When we returned to Yellowknife three weeks later on our way back, there was still the smell of wood fire in the air, but at least we couldn’t see the smoke.  It was getting better. Still, my entire stay was one long asthma attack.

Determined to try to enjoy my evening anyway, we wandered to the Wildcat Café in Old Town, because it was a beautiful sunny afternoon and the Wildcat has the best restaurant patio and the best restaurant patio view in town. The café is only open during the summer. Every couple of years, the contract for the restaurant is open to bids for tenders, and this year, the chef is the guy from Thornton’s, arguably the fanciest dining place in Yellowknife. This means you can enjoy fancy Thornton dishes for not-Thornton prices, while sipping mason jars of wine and watching sailboats drift by on the lake. 

We split my favourite pogo dish and my husband ate a bison burger while I ate a fancy dish of pulled duck confit with tomato, corn, zucchini, and jalopeno in a cream-based succotash with a sweet and sour fennel jam.  I still don’t know what a succotash is, and neither did my server, but I lapped it all up.  I have stopped eating vegetables on my vacation out of principle, but now as my vacation came to an end, I ate my stewy dish of veggies and it was delicious.

After dinner, we climbed up the stairs of the cliff to the Pilot’s Monument, because I insisted that the romantic view at the top was worth it.  The whole way up, we were huffing and puffing, I like to think because of the smoke-induced asthma, but I suspect actually because I’m out of shape and I was really full from dinner.

view from the Pilots' Monument

In the evening, we stayed at the Super 8, with the intention of doing some last minute shopping at Wal-Mart, but I ended up falling asleep with the TV on by 9PM. This meant, of course, that I was  wide awake by 5:30AM. Luckily, I was happy to discover that the hotel had a fitness centre, so I squeezed in an early morning workout before enjoying my continental breakfast of a croissant, yogurt, and tea.  And then I realized everything about this paragraph made me sound like an old person. Guys, I swear I am twenty-nine and three quarters.