Yukon's zany frozen Mardi Gras

Titles:

• Chatham Daily News,
• Sarnia Observer,
• St Catharines Standard,
• Niagara Falls Review,
• Peterborough Examiner,
• Belleville Intellingencer,
• Owen Sound Sun Times

Publication Type: Daily Newspaper

Pierre Berton, who was born here in Whitehorse in 1920, wrote of winter, "Although we greet the first feathery fall of snow with pleasure, we are fed up with it by February. "Will it never end?" we ask, knowing that the bitter winds of March still lie ahead." To get through this interminable season, Canadians have invented winter festivals. There are the biggies like Ottawa's Winterlude and Carnaval de Quebec. Bonjour Bonhomme. But this weekend I am immersed in the Yukon's Sourdough Rendezvous. What began as Yukon Carnival Week in 1945 has become one of the Top 100 Events in North America and one of the Top 10 Winter Carnivals in Canada. This year Rendezvous will also recognize the 70th Anniversary of the Alaska Highway.

Sourdough, you say? Well, with yeast scarce in the gold-mining camps of the Klondike Gold Rush sourdough, made with a small amount of old dough from a prior batch, was popular with prospectors. In time, knowing how to bake sourdough bread was proof that you were an experienced veteran who had met the challenge of surviving a northern winter from freeze up to thaw. "Sourdough" continues to be the soubriquet of respect for folks up here.

Sourdough Rendezvous celebrates the brawny strength it took to survive here in the early 1900s and the extra hair required to keep warm at -40 degrees. People set aside their razors to prepare for the beard-growing contest and the women's hairy-leg competition. In addition to the conventional snow carving and karaoke competition, Rendezvous has a Hair Freezing Contest at the Takhini Hot Springs, Dog Sled Workshop, the Yukolympic Jello Dive, axe throwing and, new this year, the Dog Howling Contest. Sourdough Sam will be knighted. The Sourdough Queen will be crowned. Mr. and Mrs. Yukon will be chosen. I have my eye on the Can Can Dancers who will swirl their ruffles like their Gold Rush predecessors.

The point of such frozen frivolity is that while none of us can shorten winter save fleeing south, the only thing else to do is to mine it for its beauty and humour.

Every season has its iconic scene. The tulip nodding in the spring breeze. Puppies romping in the summer sun. Leaves cascading in autumn. Webs of snow drifting around the windowpane in winter. But if it's so ccccold your hair freezes when you get out of a hot springs, why not freeze it in a funky style and take a picture. Maybe you'll win a prize.

Snow can blind us. But so can familiarity. Jesus suggested we consider the lilly. Nice little flower but an even better lesson on what comes our way without having to work or worry. So when the winter doldrums set in, nothing can jump-start your adrenaline like a log toss or chainsaw chuck.

If you can't make it to Rendezvous or Winterlude, visit a local sugar bush or just don your woolies and go for a walk. When life hands Canadians cold, it's up to us to make a carnival.

Rev. Bob Ripley is a retired minister who served at Dunlop United Church. from 1987 to 1994. He can be reached by email at Bob@bobripley.ca