The schedule is taking shape for January’s Inuvik Sunrise Festival, which celebrate the sun’s return after a month-long absence.
Every year, the town gathers for a three day festival – with special events like glow-in-the-dark skating, artisan workshops, fireworks, food and music – to mark the end of a polar night that spans more than 30 consecutive days.
On January 6, the sun will rise at 1:55pm MT in Inuvik and set shortly after at 2:06pm, according to the National Research Council Canada’s sunrise calculator. Allowing for a few extra minutes of twilight around the edges, the council says Inuvik residents will feel illuminated for 19 minutes that day.
The 2024 festival starts a day earlier, on January 5, with activities in Chief Jim Koe Park like storytelling, a photobooth and a boardwalk of lights that featured in last year’s celebration.
“The community is really looking forward to having a bonfire again, so we will make that happen,” said Charlotte Verriere, Inuvik’s tourism director.
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This time, Verriere said, the town wants to host more events in the park “so people can stay a bit longer and have more things to do.” She said workshops and a Taste of Inuvik culinary celebration, for which the town is seeking food vendors, are a “big hit.”
The town is also looking for a musician or band to host a concert inside the iconic Igloo Church – built in 1960, then rebuilt 45 years later – as the festival’s closing event on January 7.
While Inuvik’s 2023 Great Northern Arts Festival had to be cancelled through a lack of staff and volunteers, Verriere said the sunrise festival, by contrast, has had a positive response.
“We started our sponsorship campaign last week and we already have a good feedback,” she said.
For more information about the 2024 Inuvik Sunrise Festival, check out the schedule on the Town of Inuvik’s website.
