Whitehorse's 5th annual Adäka Cultural Festival begins Friday

Whitehorse's annual Adäka Cultural Festival — a celebration of First Nations culture, music and art — starts today at Whitehorse's Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre.

The festival, which runs until Thursday, July 2, opens with a drum dance and concert Friday at 6:00 p.m. Organizers, like Marlene Collins, have been preparing for days, marking pieces of artwork in a ledger and hanging paintings and beadwork on the centre's walls.

It's delicate work, and the sheer volume can make things difficult, said Collins.

"Artists come in, we don't know what to expect," she said. "Nobody's going to tell us if it's wall work, or stuff to go on the stand, so sometimes we have to move things around. We have to make things work together."

One of the artists being featured in the festival is Keith Wolfe-Smarch. He's a master carver who works in cedar.

Wolfe-Smarch said Thursday that he's "currently working on a totem pole with my son. So we're taking the day to bring those pieces in."

The festival, now in its fifth year, features cultural presentations, film screenings, and featured musicians in addition to the artists' gallery. Those musicians include Yellowknife singer-songwriter Leela Gilday, as well as northern Quebec's Shauit. On Tuesday, there's the Dà Ze Tsàn Fashion Show. It's going to showcase traditional and contemporary northern fashions. 

Charlene Alexander, the festival's founder, said that as the festival has grown, Yukoners have rallied around the art and First Nations culture on display.

"We probably have 65 or 70 volunteers," she said.

The artists' gallery opens tonight at 5:00 p.m., an hour before the festival's opening drum dance. Most of the festival's events are free.