This weekend’s YK Spring Tradeshow was “big” and “beautiful,” drawing in over 4,000 folks through its doors to check out over 180 different booths dedicated to homegrown art, culture, science, technology and everything in between.
Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Matt Halliday told True North FM that the YK spring tradeshow has long been a popular event in Yellowknife. One of the many reasons includes almost endless opportunities to learn about local businesses and organizations.
Folks come because it’s a great “mix” of so many different kinds of opportunities. “Whatever it is that they’re interested in. There’s probably something at the trade show for them,” said Halliday.
The spring trade show featured 184 local vendor booths hosted by diverse businesses and organizations from across N.W.T. and northern Alta.
No less than 4,072 visitors stopped by and Dawn Gillam and Luc Normandin were among them.
They told True North FM that they really enjoyed the spring tradeshow, especially the booths featuring mining companies, the YK Women’s Society and Aurora College.
Gillam said she just moved to Yellowknife this year and the tradeshow was a “big eye-opener” into how extensive and “beautiful” the community is here and how much they have to offer.
Estelle Couture and her sons Samuel and Jacob told True North FM that they had fun learning about the different programs at the Aurora College. Couture has been working as a nurse for many years and received her degree from the college.
Don, an instructor at Aurora College, was at the environmental natural resources technology program booth. He explained the program involves studying environmental sciences and biological sciences right from the land.
“The program focuses on Indigenous cultural preservation and conservation,” said Don.
Aurora College had several booths open, and one of their most popular was the “Teddy Bear Hospital.”
Lea Barbosa-Leclerc, who is a registered nurse and educator at Aurora College told True North FM that the ‘Teddy Bear Hospital’ is a health promotion initiative.
“The idea is it’s a hospital and a venue where a student, I mean, where children can actually come and bring their teddy bear and it kind of simulates that the hospital simulates what they see in a clinic or doctors clinic,” Barbosa told True North FM.
“The purpose is to decrease children’s fear of the healthcare Providers and it also gives them allows them to understand what we do for living,” she explained.
The “Teddy Bear Hospital” had six “clinics” or stations where kids can bring their teddy bear or stuffy. Kids actually “register” their teddy bears or stuffie.
“Then they get weighed and then they can get bandaged and get their ‘heart’ checked,” said Barbosa. And it’s Nursing students from Aurora College who are running each “clinic.”
“They just learnt some of the theoretical content last semester and now, they’re applying it here about growth and development and how to creatively talk to children,” said Leclerc.
Christine, who lives in Yellowknife, told True North FM that her favourite highlight of the tradeshow this year was checking out the food vendors. She said the spring tradeshow offers a unique opportunity for chefs, bakers and food lovers to celebrate the joy of creating and sampling culinary treats.
With Christine’s advice in mind, True North FM headed to the local food vendor area.
Walking into the main doors of the Multiplex the aroma of spices and sweets filled the air.
Local artisan chefs and bakers dished out some loving spoonfuls of cuisine from around the globe, everything from pancit (noodle dish) and lumpia (spring rolls) to butter chicken with rice, samosas and chutney. divine cheesecakes and pastries, gourmet red wine and garlic sausages and melt-in-your-mouth heavenly hot and fresh mini donuts.
Don’t let the humble mini donut exterior fool you, these unassuming rings of homemade deep fried dough may be light, small and fluffy but they are big on taste.
John Dalton is the genius who started it all and now his daughter Nicole, son Sean and grandaughter Courtney are learning from him and carrying on the tradition.
Yellowknife-based Artisan sausage maker Alaister McTurk told True North FM that he’s been cooking for about 15 years in Yellowknife.
“My passion was always making meat and butchering, and charcuterie. And so I do sausages now and these trade shows are just a good way to promote my products
McTurk explained that he specializes in sausages,which are sold at several local grocery stores.
“Every type of sausage, I have hundreds to name,” said McTurk. He explained that it was probably the red wine and garlic sausage that started it all, which was adapted from another recipe into his own very unique recipe.
Don Laceste of Republyk told True North that his Filipino catering company specializes in noodles, spring rolls, dumplings and quinoa.
Laceste said he’s been in the restaurant and catering profession for a long time and started this company about three years ago.
Harman and Priya from Bluebell Eatery explained they serve mostly Indian and Chinese cuisine and have also gotten a lot of support from Yellowknifers. They have a restaurant located downtown, which has seen a lot of traffic over the last year and a half since it opened.
Shelleen Branch is the founder of YK Sweets, which opened in 2019 and has been going strong since. The company specialized in custom cakes, cupcakes cheesecakes and other baked goods.
Branch told True North FM she’s been baking for many years and began specializing in cakes about 12 years ago.
“I’ve always baked and then when I came to Yellowknife, I saw that there was a need for it a very Niche market and people wanting, you know, cakes that they see on Instagram and Facebook and that kind of thing.”
Branch said she is super grateful for the positive response and support she’s seen in Yellowknife, including at the tradeshow.
The YK Spring Tradeshow took place at the Multiplex on Kam Lake Road and was hosted by the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce.
