Dawson City to Inuvik - Alaska and Points North: Tips and Tales from the Road - page 207

TheCatholic churchinthecenter oftownlookslike anigloowithashinymetal roof.Itwas
built over two summers by Brother Maurice Larocque and a dedicated team of volunteers.
Just like you must take a snap of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, you must take a photo of the
igloo church in Inuvik.
Another sign that these people do things their own way is the community garden. They
took an old ice arena and turned it into the largest shared greenhouse on the planet. In a
land with only 56 growing days a year and very expensive airlifted produce the greenhouse
stretches the season and makes all the difference to people's diets. There are 70 raised plots
for individuals plus a 40,000 sq ft commercial garden.
The third cool thing about Inuvik is the Great Northern Arts Festival in late July. Now into
its third decade, the festival is renowned for attracting the most extraordinary arts, crafts,
and music. There were nearly 2,000 works of art on display this year - we just missed it.
We'd hoped to take a sightseeing flight over the Mackenzie Delta with a stop in Tuktoyak-
tuk. Unfortunately there were no dedicated “tours” on the days we were there. There was
a shuttle flight to Tuktoyaktuk for $300 return but the pilot said he'd be taking the fast-
est route there and could not guarantee we'd see anything. Just when we were discussing
whether or not to do this he told us he only had one of his five passenger seats empty so
that was that. Another time.
We walked around town and thought about having dinner in the local hotel. We backed off
when we saw the menu because the prices were so high. This is normal for the far north.