Yellowknife’s 2026 Colour Run is almost here, marking the event’s return after a spectacular debut in 2025. Here’s what we know about the event.
The run takes place on Saturday, August 15, starting and finishing at the city’s multiplex. (The route has changed this year – read on to find out more.)
Registration is open. Tickets to take part cost just over $10 for kids and just over $20 for each adult. Family and group tickets are available at discounted rates.
Proceeds from last year’s run went to Inclusion NWT. This year, organizers say funds will be directed to youth charity Home Base Yellowknife. Even if you’re not running, you can make a donation through the event’s website.
Speaking of running – you don’t have to run.
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The purpose of a colour run, in case you missed last year’s inaugural Yellowknife event, is to pass through “colour stations” that cover you in coloured powder as you complete the route.
You can jog, you can walk, you can bring a stroller, you can bring a dog. But be prepared for the powder and wear something that can take a colourful beating, organizer Tham Ncube said.
“White t-shirts work very well,” he noted. “Not your most expensive $200 t-shirt, because it will get splattered with the powder. Last year, there were people running around in tutus, there were people with huge, colourful wigs, it was amazing.”
Organizers will provide glasses so the powder doesn’t get in your eyes. The powder is safe and biodegradable, Ncube said, though he noted a small number of people can react to it. It washes off skin and “most clothing,” he said.
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The multiplex is the heart of this year’s race. It was the finish line for 2025’s event, which started at City Hall, but Ncube said that created difficulty.
“When people finished the colour run at the multiplex, they would have left their vehicles at City Hall, right?” he said. That meant a trudge back along Yellowknife’s streets.
“Our route now starts and finishes at the multiplex,” said Ncube. “It’s now more uptown than downtown. It will go out from the multiplex via Kam Lake toward Deh Cho Boulevard, into Spence Road and down Finlayson Drive back to Kam Lake.”
At the finish line, Ncube plans food trucks alongside a DJ playing music to celebrate the finishers.
Every participant gets a medal. The event begins at 9am, but Ncube says it’s worth being there by 8:30am as organizers have “a couple of surprises” for the start line, including a raffle. The race distance is about four kilometres.
Sponsorship opportunities are listed on the event’s website.
“At its heart, it’s a community celebration, not a race,” said Ncube.
“Yellowknife is a community full of people from different cultures, backgrounds and abilities, and we wanted to create an event where everybody could participate.
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“A lot of events, you must be in training, you must be physically fit, you must all of that. We didn’t want to have an event like that.”
From 2025: Inaugural Yellowknife Colour Run in pictures
The Yellowknife Community Festivals Organization, the non-profit behind the colour run, hopes to expand in future.
If funding can be secured, Ncube hopes to turn it into a two-day event with the colour run on Saturday and “what we would call a colour festival” on the Sunday.
“The music festival would be a continuation of the celebration. That’s one of the things we are working on,” he said.
