Inuvik Sunrise Festival celebrates the return of the sun
Bonfire, concert, snow carvings and of course the sun are all on tap
People in Inuvik, N.W.T., are welcoming back the sun this weekend after a month of winter darkness.
The event has been bringing people together to celebrate the light since 1988 and they're finding lots of ways to do that.
For Weronika Murray and Anick Jenks, it's stripping down to their T-shirt and pants just to take a selfie with the rising sun.
The Inuvik fire department is getting ready to host a bonfire Saturday and Fire Chief Gordon Simms says it will be big.
"The biggest one yet," Simms says.
"Mainly it's our job to put it out. But this time we are going to start one. Hope nobody learns from it."
Ice blocks are ready for carving and Kylik Kisoun, the owner of Up North Tours, decided to build another igloo for the festival this year.
“This community is an aboriginal community and the igloo is an iconic symbol,” Kisoun says.
"I think a lot of people have never seen one especially visitors coming up from the south."
Special blues concert
The snow park at Boot Lake, with the sculptures and the igloo, will be open on Saturday and Sunday.
CBC North and Saturday Night Blues will present A Blue Sunrise Concert with bluesman Jim Byrnes on Saturday at the Igloo Church at 8 p.m. Holger Petersen, host of CBC Radio's Saturday Night Blues, will MC. Abe Drennan will be there as a special guest.
Click here for the full schedule of events for the weekend long festival.