The 10th annual Fall Harvest Fair is happening this Saturday, at the Yellowknives Dene First Nation (YKDFN) Wiiliideh Site on the Yellowknife River.
This is the first time the fair will be held at the YKDFN Wiiliideh Site, which is located just across the highway from the Yellowknife River Territorial Park Day Use Area.
“Dene peoples have gathered to celebrate the bounty of the fall harvest since time immemorial, and Yellowknifers have been celebrating the season with a fall fair since the city was little more than a pioneer shanty town”, a news release from Ecology North states.
The Fall Harvest Fair was started by the Yellowknife Community Garden Collective in 2008. This is the fifth year that it will be co-hosted by the Yellowknives Dene First Nation and Ecology North.
“The celebration of all kinds of harvest is what makes this fair particularly special,” says Molly Stollmeyer, local food specialist at Ecology North.
“With strong roots with the gardening community of Yellowknife, I love how we continue to enjoy classics like the veggie show-off while incorporating more traditional and wild harvesting year after year.”
This year’s harvest fair will include local artist Diane Boudreau facilitating the creation of a collaborative garden mural for Dettah’s new greenhouse. The greenhouse was built by students of the YKDFN Dechita Naowo Program and will produce its first crop this fall.
The fair will also include a community BBQ and potluck, a dry fish making workshop, NWT Literacy Council children’s story walk, a backyard composting workshop, and a veggie and harvest show off competition.
A free shuttle service will be offered to the festival site from Yellowknife City Hall, Dettah and Ndilo and will leave City Hall at 12:45 p.m., Dettah at 12:45 p.m and N’dilo at 12:15 p.m. Shuttle pick-up will be one round-trip at the beginning and end of the fair.
The fair runs from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. this Saturday, August 25.
