Issue link: http://read.canadatravelguides.ca/i/809166
NT 152 QUICK FACT NORTHWEST TERRITORIES HAS NO POLITICAL PARTIES. IN ELECTIONS, PEOPLE VOTE FOR CANDIDATES BY NAME. THE MLAS THEN VOTE FOR WHO WILL BE PREMIER. SPECIAL EVENTS JANUARY • INUVIK SUNRISE FESTIVAL MARCH • LONG JOHN JAMBOREE, YELLOWKNIFE • POLAR POND HOCKEY TOURNAMENT, HAY RIVER • SNOWKING WINTER FESTIVAL, YELLOWKNIFE • THEBACHA SKI LOPPET, FORT SMITH APRIL • MUSKRAT JAMBOREE, INUVIK JUNE • NATIONAL ABORIGINAL DAY, TERRITORY-WIDE • NORTHWORDS WRITERS FESTIVAL, YELLOWKNIFE JULY • FOLK ON THE ROCKS MUSIC FESTIVAL, YELLOWKNIFE • GREAT NORTHERN ARTS FESTIVAL, INUVIK • OPEN SKY FESTIVAL, FORT SIMPSON AUGUST • FORT SMITH SUMMER SPLASH ARTS FESTIVAL • MIDWAY LAKE MUSIC FESTIVAL, FORT MCPHERSON • SLAVE RIVER PADDLEFEST, FORT SMITH • THEBACHA & WOOD BUFFALO DARK SKY FESTIVAL www.nwtarts.com/events the water on local rivers and lakes near Yellowknife (www.oldtownpaddle.com). Learn about local geology and medicinal plants during interpretive hikes around Yellowknife with Strong Interpretation ( www.visityellowknife.com). CITY LIGHTS Explore Yellowknife, the territorial capital, on foot (www.visityellowknife.com). Enjoy a 360-degree view of Yellowknife Bay and surrounding Old Town from the top of the Bush Pilots' Monument. Take a boat tour of Yellowknife Bay, home to North America's most northerly houseboat community. Sandblast a northern motif on recycled glass during a workshop at Old Town Glassworks ( www.oldtownglassworks.com). A Yellowknife Farmers' Market is held weekly downtown throughout the summer. The Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre provides a peek into northern culture ( www.pwnhc.ca). Next door, the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly off ers guided and audio tours (www. assembly.gov.nt.ca/visitors). THE GREAT OUTDOORS Choose from front-country campsites and hikes to backcountry day hikes and epic multi-week backcountry experiences in the territory's fi ve national parks and 34 territorial parks ( www.nwtparks.ca). The historic Canol Heritage Trail near Norman Wells is a very remote, extremely rugged and rigourous hike ( www.normanwells museum.com/the-sathu/canol-heritage- trail). Opportunities for guided or self-guided paddling and rafting trips are plentiful along one of the N.W.T.'s historic rivers including the challenging Coppermine River, the meandering Thomsen River and the Slave River's world-renowned white water ( www.spectacularnwt.com/what-to-do/ summer-adventure/paddling). Enjoy fi shing day trips with an outfi tter or a multi-day package experience at a wilderness lodge. The territory's wildlife has a schedule all its own, but look for nesting pelicans on rocky outcrops in the rapids near Fort Smith. Keep an eye out for free-roaming bison in Wood Buff alo National Park and the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary near Fort Providence. Dall sheep and mountain goats travel on the craggy slopes of the Mackenzie Mountains. Prehistoric-looking muskox roam around Banks Island. Black bears, moose, caribou and grizzly bears also call the N.W.T. home. See peregrine falcons, eagles and gryfalcons—the offi cial N.W.T. bird. You never know when they may appear on your journey—and theirs. HERITAGE AND CULTURE Experience local music and culture such as jigging, drumming, drum dancing and Dene hand games at community events. Make your own crafts during artist-led workshops at Inuvik's renowned Great Northern Arts Festival ( www.gnaf.org ). Learn about local history at the Norman Wells Historical Centre (www.normanwellsmuseum.com/ visitor-centre), the Northern Life Museum and Cultural Centre (www.nlmcc.ca) and the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre. Purchase Dene, Inuvialuit and Métis crafts at visitor centres, museums and shops. Feel the cashmere softness of a sweater that a local artist knitted from qiviut, wool that was harvested from shaggy muskox near Sachs Harbour. Admire carvings made of soapstone, bone or antler and created by northern artists. Buy a Dene birchbark basket at the Acho Dene Native Crafts store made by women in Fort Liard. The Inuvialuit Regional Corporation Craft Store in Inuvik has a good selection of locally made moccasins, carvings, jewellery, crafts and some traditional food. MUST SEE, MUST DO In spring, watch some 4,500 semi- domesticated reindeer being herded across the Inuvik-to-Tuktoyaktuk ice road to their summer grazing grounds. NATIVE SCULPTURE, YELLOWKNIFE • CTC NT 152