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Lively Indigenous Peoples Day celebrations at Somba K'e

People filled Somba K'e plaza to celebrate Aboriginal Day, also known as National Indigenous Peoples Day, to recognize the contributions and cultural diversity of First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples.

Avery Zingel/NNSL photo
The Yellowknives Dene First Nation Drummers bring together attendees for an afternoon drum dance.

The festivities featured live country music, young fiddlers, Metis dancers, Inuit throat singing, the Yellowknives Dene First Nation Drummers and singer songwriter Storm Lynn.

The event garnered large numbers, as people lined up around the block for free whitefish and bannock.

An afternoon drum dance in the hot sun went on for almost an hour, as children and adults danced to the rise and fall of the drummers' voices, punctuated by energetic shouts as the drum beat quickened.

Avery Zingel/NNSL photo Tlicho translator Marie-Rose Blackduck enjoys the afternoon drum dance.
Avery Zingel/NNSL photo
Eugene Boulanger and his mother Margaret join in on the drum dance put on by Yellowknives Dene First Nation Drummers.

The festivities carried on into the afternoon, spilling over onto the Yellowknife River, where people could participate in fish fries, hide tanning, and watch demos of muskrat skinning and dry fish making.

Participants could also enter the duck-plucking competition for five dollars.

 

Avery Zingel/NNSL photo
Yellowknives Dene First Nation Drummers kick off the Indigenous Peoples Day drum dance.
Avery Zingel/NNSL photo
North Slave Metis Alliance president Bill Enge (bottom left) and Gail Cyr (second from left) join a high-spirited drum dance at the Somba K'e Civic Plaza Thursday.
Avery Zingel/NNSL photo
The Yellowknives Dene First Nation Drummers bring a crowd together for an afternoon of lively drum dancing in Somba K'e.
Avery Zingel/NNSL photo
The Weledeh School children's fiddle group performs at Somba K'e plaza Thursday.
Avery Zingel/NNSL photo
Metis House Band the Tone Rangers play to a packed Somba K'e plaza during Thursday's Indigenous Peoples Day celebrations.
Avery Zingel/NNSL photo
Yellowknives Dene First Nation Drummers Leroy Betsina and Braden Goulet play during a drum dance in Somba K'e plaza Thursday.
Avery Zingel/NNSL photo
The Weledeh School children's fiddle group performs at Somba K'e plaza Thursday.
Avery Zingel/NNSL photo
Children fish around Frame Lake during the day's celebrations.