Toonik Tyme is a celebration which takes place during the return of spring time in Iqaluit, Nunavut. Each community in Nunavut have their own celebrations and activities however, the capital city has a well established activities which last a week and includes two weekends.
Iqaluit is not a large city (approx. 8500 people) however, having a car makes it much easier to get around and visit all activities and locations. I decided to rent a car to give us the freedom to roam the city and complete the scavenger hunt I have prepared for them. Thanks to my travels, I not only enjoy being a tour guide but if I get the chance, I like to make it as memorable as possible. Introducing a small place through a scavenger hunt, I thought would make the most memorable impression. I managed to create an "Arctic Passport" mostly to help me plan out the visit schedule in parallel with Toonik activities and at the same time, make it more interactive by having each activity needing to be signed off by the involved parties. Bellow is a summary of the activities as they occurred over the next 5 days.
The day of arrival was a sunny and fine day, which made me extra cautious to try and take advantage of this day. As soon as my parents arrived, hopped into the car and did a grand tour of the city. No time for washroom breaks - sorry mom. I made her hold it for a few hours while we checked out the views from corner to corner.
As expected, the next few days greeted us with blizzard conditions. Mom was grateful for forcing her to sit in the car the day before :)
Nevermind the weather. As long as we dress well, and the roads are open, we must keep touring. Our first outing began with a little struggle on getting dressed. I was noticing the snow squalls on the ground moving in a snake pattern. I was taught that snow when making a snake pattern on the ground means there is about a 30km/h wind or more. I was explaining this to my parents and asking them to layer up. With some refusal and negotiations, we finally got 3 layers on and ready to check our the dog-sledding race which was about to begin on the sea-ice.
Though I had my doubts about having this race started, I got a notice from a friend that everything was going ahead as planned, regardless the the winds which seemed to be picking up. As soon as we arrived to the sea-ice, as I have predicted, the winds have gotten to 40km/h and once we finally reached the first dog team, we were told the race is cancelled. It took mom and dad a good 30 min to walk out onto the sea-ice with my instructions to drop one shoulder and walk into the wind. Only mom and I had fur to protect our face, but dad was feeling the teeth of the arctic wind this entire time. Goggles were worn but with little effect as they were fogging up and freezing at the same time. Overall, I think it was a worthy outing for them because they not only got to experience the laying of clothes but the reason we do it, during our sea-ice venture.
As winter and the sun were sorting out their differences through hourly weather clearance and blizzards, we were continuing our adventures in the city. There were many more stops to visit and signature to collect. next stop was the Toonik Tyme farmer's market. I have been a regular volunteer and my parents have their own veggie garden at home, so it was only natural to introduce them to Iqaluit's fresh produce fairies.
There they had the opportunity to meeting some dear friends and help out with the preparations before opening the opening. 
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