Yellowknife Festivals

Spring and the long days and nights of summer are festival time in Yellowknife. In March, when there’s still plenty of snow and the big lake is frozen, Yellowknifers come out to play. The Snowking builds a castle on the lake and hosts art shows, a film festival and dances under the northern lights. At the end of March, the Yellowknife Caribou Carnival and its companion, the dog derby, take place on the ice on Frame Lake and Yellowknife Bay. The Canadian Championship Dog Derby is one of the longest running and toughest medium distance dog races in the world – run over three days on Great Slave Lake.

New and challenging, the Rock and Ice Ultra is a tough endurance race held in the snowy vastness surrounding the City. Competitors on foot, on snowshoes or on skis tackle distance and weather on 75 to 225 km routes over the lakes and through the northern bush, for big prizes.

Summer festivals include a week-long series of events tied to the summer solstice and Aboriginal Day, an NWT holiday on the 21st of June. The festival includes music, theatre and a famous golf tournament, with tee off times under the midnight sun. In early July, there’s a fly fishing derby at a lodge on Great Slave Lake, followed by Le Frolic’s Bastille Day Celebration with cook off and petanque tournament. In mid-July, Yellowknife’s own music festival, Folk on the Rocks takes the stage at Long Lake for a weekend of fine northern and international music, specialty food and arts and crafts.