Traditional competitions are still a big part of Caribou Carnival!

Held every March or April since 1955, Yellowknife's Caribou Carnival has become a tradition that defines life in Canada's Far North. And like life up here, the event has changed with the times.

What began as an annual gathering of trappers, has evolved over the past 49 years to become a wonderful celebration of spring that continues to attract thousands of people to the region each year.

When it first launched, the Caribou Carnival was actually a competition. Each year the event focused on crowning a champion, or more specifically, a Bush King. To win the crown, men had to be strong, rugged and possess the skills necessary to survive the harsh winters of the North.

The competition dominated the event until the late 1980s, but some say as Yellowknife grew and life in the North became more advanced, fewer and fewer skilled competitors emerged from the woods to compete.

Many of the people who live in Yellowknife and the surrounding communities would disagree, however. Survival is still a big part of life in the North, and though the Diamond Capital of North America has grown, the best of the bush still make their presence known at Snowstage, the area at Caribou Carnival where the event is held each year.

To acknowledge the great history of the men and women who lived in the bush, and recognize those who still possess the survival skills needed to live in the North, the honour of declaring a Master of the land will be reborn in 2005, and appropriately named the Arctic GrandMaster Competition.