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Yukon icons to end it all

After 32 years, seven albums and one song, Yukon supergroup Dandelion Wreath is going to pasture.“Some would say their retirement is long…
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After 32 years, seven albums and one song, Yukon supergroup Dandelion Wreath is going to pasture.

“Some would say their retirement is long overdue; I would be one of the people,” manager Morty Mungden said in a release issued Friday.

With that, one of the territory’s most beloved musical quartets will call it quits on Wednesday.

Dubbed The Last Potluck, the final concert is a tribute to Solstice Potluck Dinner, the group’s “best and only song.”

For weeks, cryptic posters have announced the upcoming event by featuring the numbers “6/11” surrounded by a wreath of dandelions.

The group is composed of guitarist Feral, conga drummer Harmony, singer Ocarina, and Skippy, a former hitchhiker.

“I’m not yet clear on what exactly Skippy contributes,” said Mungden.

The group has cultivated a unique hippie image.

Clad in long hair and tie-die clothing, the mostly female group sings mainly about whimsical subjects such as flowers, potlucks and dandelions.

Blessed with impeccable skills of premonition, Skippy offered a tantalizing prediction of the upcoming concert:

“Imagine we’re six years old, and we’ve been at a birthday party for about two hours. We’ve pinned the tail on the donkey, we’ve had the hot dogs. Now we’re waiting to hit the piñata.”

“That’s the concert,” he said.

The Last Potluck will also feature a gaggle of local Whitehorse comedians, most of them selected because of their uncanny resemblance to Dandelion Wreath band members.

“We’ve got a whole lineup of quality Yukon talent,” said Mungden.

The audience will also be treated to a debut screening of The Last Potluck, a film documenting the extensive 32-year career of Dandelion Wreath.

It features a diverse collection of A-list Dandelion Wreath fans, including MP Larry Bagnell, Kim Barlow and Fiona Salon.

A gravel man by trade, Mungden was first introduced to the group in 1976 as it helped him recuperate from a lengthy alcoholic “bender.”

Years of accolades, however, have never separated Mungden from his first love — gravel.

“I think about gravel a lot more that I think about music,” he said.

At an official announcement for The Last Potluck, Dandelion Wreath played a surprise concert for a small group of pedestrians on the corner of Main and Third.

In their characteristically piercing singing voices, the members sang arbitrary melodies on the subject of their immediate visual surroundings.

“Shouldn’t the cops be doing something about this?” noted one bystander.

Mungden was surprised at the enthusiasm of the impromptu gathering.

“Are you people actually enjoying this?” he asked.

Lifelong fans have been almost unanimous in asking, ‘why?’ Why end it now, after 32 years of inspiring music?

“It’s about the money … this is all a marketing thing, to be honest. Final concert, schminal concert. You just say that the band’s leaving for good, and then you do another one later once the profits roll in,” said Mungden.

“I probably shouldn’t be telling the press that.”

The Last Potluck will begin at 8pm at the Yukon Arts Centre on Wednesday, June 11th. Tickets are $15.