Long John Jamboree suffers financial hit after weather postpones events

Yellowknife's winter festival took a huge hit on Saturday, losing more than $10,000 in revenue as a result of bad weather.

The Long John Jamboree had to close down that afternoon because of strong winds that made setting up tents a safety hazard. The festival's activities didn't get started again until later that evening.

"Saturday is usually our biggest day in terms of audience attendance," said the jamboree's executive director, Nancy MacNeill.

"For any non-profit, that's a hit," said MacNeill. "We throw a free festival. [This] is a lot of money for us."

Kaven Paradis runs Big Guy Fries. The food vendor has been at the Long John Jamboree for the last few years and says this was the first year he's seen weather like this.

Paradis says he lost more than 40 per cent of the revenue he expected to make over the weekend.

However, he was impressed by the turnout when people did eventually show up.

"They still wanted to come out and support the festival," he said. "I just thought it was impressive to see how many families came out even though it was well past minus 30, minus 32 [degrees Celsius] with the wind chill."

MacNeill agrees.

"It was really great to have Yellowknife come out and support us after we did have to take a hit like that," she said. "I feel like our community really knew that we needed them, and they showed up for us."

MacNeill said the jamboree will need to hold fundraisers this year to make up for the financial loss, but the support from Yellowknifers on Saturday night and Sunday helped soften the blow.

The money raised would go toward things like supplies and paying for the ice carvings.

• Ice carving championship returns to Yellowknife's Long John Jamboree
• Despite loss in funding, full slate of activities planned for Yellowknife's Long John Jamboree
• Yellowknife's ice carving competition gets big funding boost