FOOD
Maized and confused
Another summer of “adventure” is coming to an end for legions of francophone backpackers.
Within days, Greyhounds will be packed with the exodus – bound once again for east-of-Winnipeg liberal arts campuses.
But before you take off, be sure to eat some corn, says L’ Association franco-yukonnaise.
AFY’s annual corn roast is Saturday, 5 p.m. at the Robert Service Campground.
E-mail mgauthier@afy.yk.ca for more info.
Succulent cow
Much like free T-shirts or cheap beer, steak is a surefire way to draw a crowd.
Provided it’s appetizing, of course. If I end up paying $15 for a chuck steak, you can kiss future events listings goodbye.
Steak Night is Friday, 6 p.m. at Marsh Lake’s Jackalope.
UNPROCESSED FOOD
Wascawwy moose beware
The Yukon has 50,000 moose; each one of them extremely delicious.
But do you know how to call one?
How about tracking one?
Yukon Environment is here to help.
The Moose Hunting Workshop is Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Mount McIntyre Arena.
Call 667-8005 to reserve a seat.
You too, bison
Roadside firearm discharges are frowned upon by most jurisdictions, but in the Yukon they are actively encouraged.
Provided you’re aiming at a bison.
Meat care, proper equipment and hunting tips will all be well-covered at Environment Yukon’s upcoming Bison Hunting Workshop.
Thursday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Mount McIntyre Arena.
Call 667-8005 to reserve a seat.
MUSIC
That ain’t no Hank Williams song
A native of funk-saturated (well, relatively) Iowa, Antoine “Baby Harry” Calaway realized early a funk career could best be pursued in Northwestern Canada.
Why?
It has lots of entertainment-hungry small towns.
The audiences are unaccustomed to black music.
And nobody would question Calaway’s “King of Funk and Soul” moniker.
Showcased at Lizard’s last October, Harry’s Whitehorse acclaim has inched up in the last 11 months.
This time he’ll be at Coasters, playing on a bigger stage to fewer people dancing alone.
“Last time didn’t compare to what I’m going to do this year,” assures Harry.
Baby Harry plays Friday at 10 p.m. at Coasters.
Toot your horn
As your tan disappears, so should the dust on your clarinet.
The Whitehorse All-City Concert Band needs reinforcements.
And if your instrument is heavier than an alto sax – chances are that you’re in high demand.
Flutists, for some reason, never seem to be in short supply (I blame Jethro Tull).
First rehearsal is Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Porter Creek Secondary Band Room.
Just bring your instrument, a smile and three years of prior musical experience.
Contact Rebekah Bell at 668-6787 or Bruce Johnson at 456-2843 for more info.
Violas are bigger
For years, the Whitehorse String Ensemble has proved you can get Yukon stage time without being a mediocre acoustic singer-songwriter.
Pull that viola out from under the radiator.
Dig that cello out from the toolshed.
Start flexing that bow hand.
Another season is on the horizon, and your string-sawing skills are needed.
The ensemble’s first meeting is from 6 to 8 p.m. at Hellaby Hall (4th Avenue at Elliott).
Call Fumi Torigai at 393-2588 for more information.
SUPERFLUITY
Burning stacks of money would have been more fun
If you can say anything about the Yukon, it’s that we like to waste obscene amounts of government money.
What other city with only two months of summer would feel compelled to build a public water park?
Or transplant a bunch of period buildings into the unvisited oblivion of northeast Shipyards Park.
Not wanting to be left behind, the Yukon Transportation Museum has spent upwards of $100,000 to take Whitehorse’s famed DC-3 weathervane and move it less than 100 metres down the highway.
On Saturday, join the museum as it celebrates the plane’s near-indistinguishable new home.
Games, prizes, gift-shop discounts, etc.
All proceeds will go towards interpretive signage for the new DC-3 because, guess what, the old brass plaque isn’t good enough.
Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Yukon Transportation Museum.
TINY PLANTS
Just don’t lichen them to mould
Slime and fuzz to the layman, lichens are useful tools for detecting air pollution, and for making perfumes and dyes.
That might be why botanist Irwin Brodo has spent his entire life studying them.
You’d be excused for thinking that lichens are merely an unwelcome adornment for gravestones.
But did you know that lichens can live in some of the most extreme conditions on Earth?
Or that all species of lichen except two are edible?
Probably not, but I’m sure Brodo is chalk full of other fun facts.
The researcher has often been lauded for bringing lichenology to the interest of the general public.
Thanks to Brodo’s impressive slate of new lichen discoveries, more than 90 species of the stuff now owe their names to Brodo.
Brodo’s lichenology colleagues have also thrown in a couple of species-naming shout-outs.
Take a walk near Flagstaff, Arizona, and you might trip over a specimen of Brodoa oroarctica.
If you happen to be the proud owner of Brodo’s 795-page Lichens of North America, be sure to bring it down for an autograph.
Catch Brodo’s lichen talk on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. at the Beringia Centre.
HISTORY
Understandably reticent
Much like a genital rash, if you’ve found gold or are looking for gold, don’t feel you need to immediately tell everyone about it.
That was the philosophy adopted by 36 Seattle miners who set out for the Yukon gold fields in 1898.
Known as the Mysterious 36, the group was tight-knit, military-style and evasive about the destination and details of their expedition.
However, they didn’t find any gold. And unfortunately, secrecy isn’t worth $1,000 an ounce.
Photographer Henry Dow Banks documented most of the increasingly pointless trip.
Eighty years later, his daughter Elizabeth donated the photos to the MacBride Museum.
As with most things at the museum, the photos “provide a glimpse of the grandeur of the Yukon and the punishing efforts of the gold seekers of 1898.”
Mysterious 36 opens on Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. at Arts Underground.
Because Europe didn’t have enough tiny countries
Transnistria may sound like a made-up country designed to forward the narrative of a dirty joke – but it’s actually a real place.
Located on the eastern fringes of Moldova – a tiny country sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania – the former Soviet territory Transnistira is home to more than half a million people.
In 1990, Transnistria was one of many Central European countries to jump on the post-USSR “declaring independence” bandwagon – but while Armenia and Estonia may have gotten their day, Transnistria got the bum’s rush.
The newly formed Moldova objected to an independent Transnistria, and sent troops swarming over the border – prompting the two-year long War of Transnistria.
A ceasefire was declared two years later, but the 4,000-square-kilometre territory remains in sovereignty limbo.
September 2 is Transnistrian Independence Day.
Contact Tristin Hopper at
tristinh@yukon-news.com
