GRISE FIORD, NUNAVUT–Ghosts and goblins can conjure their way across the polar ice pack to Canada's most northern community. Getting pumpkins, costumes and candy to the High Arctic for Halloween is Henny Richer's job.
She does it with the deftness of a quartermaster on the march, moving costumes, decorations, food and toys thousands of kilometres to make sure this isolated hamlet can have the same celebrations most other Canadians take for granted.
About 145 people live in Grise Fiord, on the southern tip of Ellesmere Island. It's 3,655 kilometres north of Toronto, further north of the GTA than Vancouver is west of it.
The only Canadians living higher in the Arctic are researchers who rotate through Eureka base, 378 kilometres northwest of here, and troops gathering signals intelligence at Canadian Forces Station Alert, which lies at the northern tip of Ellesmere Island.
The sun will soon disappear from Grise Fiord's sky and will only come creeping up again in February. So folks here know how to make the best of the dark.
And with kids making up roughly a third of the population, Halloween is one of the biggest nights of the year.
Trouble is, the seaside community is ice-bound for months at a time, which leaves little room for spontaneity. So the pressure is on Henny when it's time to make a party happen.
Along with her husband Ray, Henny runs the Grise Fiord Inuit Co-op. It's the only place to shop – literally. Most items on the shelves come in by sealift, and only one ship makes a single trip this far north each year.
It arrived in the second week of September, with close to $300,000 in cargo to stock the co-op's shelves, including face paint, wigs, rubber masks and costumes for kids to dress up as dinosaurs, princesses, skeletons and pirates on Saturday night.
The Herculean effort to bring Halloween to Grise Fiord began in April, when the Richers made their annual shopping trip to the south, visiting trade shows and wholesalers in cities such as Toronto, Montreal and Winnipeg, searching for good bargains and reminding suppliers not to miss the boat.
"We have to be able to provide our customers with anything they could possibly need – for the year," Henny said. "Once it's up here, you can't send it back because the freight costs are astronomical."
Any sea freight for Grise Fiord, including dry food from soup to nuts, along with snowmobiles, furniture and clothes, must be at the docks by late June, when the Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping Inc. vessel begins its voyage from the port of Valleyfield, Que., to Ellesmere Island.
When the ship reached here last month, with 10 shipping containers and numerous crates, the Richers were up 28 hours straight, getting the goods stored away so the empty sea containers could go back south. They hired most of the hamlet's residents to offload.
"It's early Christmas," Henny said. "Even for me, when I'm going through everything that I know we've bought – which is never an easy job opening up all the boxes to see what's in them – it's like I'm opening Christmas."
Since pumpkins are perishable, the Richers had to fly in the 35 they needed from Amos, Que. The medium-sized pumpkins, priced at about $15 each, made the final leg of the journey on a DHC-6 Twin Otter, operated by Kenn Borek Air Ltd., out of Resolute Bay.
When big days like Halloween approach, everyone here keeps their fingers crossed for calm air and clear skies. The plane is only scheduled to come once a week, carrying freight stacked up to the ceiling and any passengers that can fit in behind the cargo.
On final approach, the pilots steer straight for one of the cliffs towering over the hamlet and then suddenly bank left to land on an icy airstrip. Even a little wind or fog can force the flight to be cancelled, and they often do.
The Richers started running the co-op store in 1997, after the Bancroft, Ont., hardware store that Ray managed was closed. Henny gave up her antique shop and followed him north.
They were only going to stay for a year, but a dozen years later, they're still here and happy for it.
When Ray fell ill, and flew south last week, Henny was on her own. Yet even with all the things that can go wrong in a day in the High Arctic, like blowing out her telephone line with a spark from her finger, Henny is still smiling under the pressure.
People haven't even put on their costumes for this year's Halloween and she is already at her desk planning the logistics for trick-or-treating in 2010.
It's the only way to keep the business, which was in serious financial trouble when the Richers arrived, running a steady profit. It all goes back into the pockets of the shoppers who own it.
"We're one of the few co-ops that are very much financially viable," Henny said. "We have no debt. Even the stock that came in on sealift is the community's – it's already paid for."
Vanessa Ipeelie, the co-op's 20-year-old cashier, hasn't settled on a costume yet, but a friend is going as Dora the Explorer. Whatever costume a trick-or-treater wears here, it's certain to include a heavy parka. The forecast for Halloween is a low of -21C, and a high of -17C. But you're not likely to find a warmer community anywhere.
Like an unofficial elf, Henny keeps a pretty close count of Grise Fiord's kids, who numbered 52 at her last tally. She also makes it her busi-ness to know their ages.
Instead of sending a list to the North Pole, Henny takes it to her toy supplier in the south, along with a budget, and asks him to send something appropriate for each kid's age. This year, she's pleased with the results, which are very hush-hush.
Christmas secrets have a short shelf life in the only store in town. So Henny hides all potential Christmas presents away, including things like tools for men and bath baskets for women, and brings them out close to Dec. 25.
Special shopping nights are designated for kids, women and men, to improve the odds of everyone in Grise Fiord finding a surprise under the tree on Christmas Day.
"My grandson thinks Papa works for Santa Claus," Henny said.
Source thestar.com
She does it with the deftness of a quartermaster on the march, moving costumes, decorations, food and toys thousands of kilometres to make sure this isolated hamlet can have the same celebrations most other Canadians take for granted.
About 145 people live in Grise Fiord, on the southern tip of Ellesmere Island. It's 3,655 kilometres north of Toronto, further north of the GTA than Vancouver is west of it.
The only Canadians living higher in the Arctic are researchers who rotate through Eureka base, 378 kilometres northwest of here, and troops gathering signals intelligence at Canadian Forces Station Alert, which lies at the northern tip of Ellesmere Island.
The sun will soon disappear from Grise Fiord's sky and will only come creeping up again in February. So folks here know how to make the best of the dark.
And with kids making up roughly a third of the population, Halloween is one of the biggest nights of the year.
Trouble is, the seaside community is ice-bound for months at a time, which leaves little room for spontaneity. So the pressure is on Henny when it's time to make a party happen.
Along with her husband Ray, Henny runs the Grise Fiord Inuit Co-op. It's the only place to shop – literally. Most items on the shelves come in by sealift, and only one ship makes a single trip this far north each year.
It arrived in the second week of September, with close to $300,000 in cargo to stock the co-op's shelves, including face paint, wigs, rubber masks and costumes for kids to dress up as dinosaurs, princesses, skeletons and pirates on Saturday night.
The Herculean effort to bring Halloween to Grise Fiord began in April, when the Richers made their annual shopping trip to the south, visiting trade shows and wholesalers in cities such as Toronto, Montreal and Winnipeg, searching for good bargains and reminding suppliers not to miss the boat.
"We have to be able to provide our customers with anything they could possibly need – for the year," Henny said. "Once it's up here, you can't send it back because the freight costs are astronomical."
Any sea freight for Grise Fiord, including dry food from soup to nuts, along with snowmobiles, furniture and clothes, must be at the docks by late June, when the Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping Inc. vessel begins its voyage from the port of Valleyfield, Que., to Ellesmere Island.
When the ship reached here last month, with 10 shipping containers and numerous crates, the Richers were up 28 hours straight, getting the goods stored away so the empty sea containers could go back south. They hired most of the hamlet's residents to offload.
"It's early Christmas," Henny said. "Even for me, when I'm going through everything that I know we've bought – which is never an easy job opening up all the boxes to see what's in them – it's like I'm opening Christmas."
Since pumpkins are perishable, the Richers had to fly in the 35 they needed from Amos, Que. The medium-sized pumpkins, priced at about $15 each, made the final leg of the journey on a DHC-6 Twin Otter, operated by Kenn Borek Air Ltd., out of Resolute Bay.
When big days like Halloween approach, everyone here keeps their fingers crossed for calm air and clear skies. The plane is only scheduled to come once a week, carrying freight stacked up to the ceiling and any passengers that can fit in behind the cargo.
On final approach, the pilots steer straight for one of the cliffs towering over the hamlet and then suddenly bank left to land on an icy airstrip. Even a little wind or fog can force the flight to be cancelled, and they often do.
The Richers started running the co-op store in 1997, after the Bancroft, Ont., hardware store that Ray managed was closed. Henny gave up her antique shop and followed him north.
They were only going to stay for a year, but a dozen years later, they're still here and happy for it.
When Ray fell ill, and flew south last week, Henny was on her own. Yet even with all the things that can go wrong in a day in the High Arctic, like blowing out her telephone line with a spark from her finger, Henny is still smiling under the pressure.
People haven't even put on their costumes for this year's Halloween and she is already at her desk planning the logistics for trick-or-treating in 2010.
It's the only way to keep the business, which was in serious financial trouble when the Richers arrived, running a steady profit. It all goes back into the pockets of the shoppers who own it.
"We're one of the few co-ops that are very much financially viable," Henny said. "We have no debt. Even the stock that came in on sealift is the community's – it's already paid for."
Vanessa Ipeelie, the co-op's 20-year-old cashier, hasn't settled on a costume yet, but a friend is going as Dora the Explorer. Whatever costume a trick-or-treater wears here, it's certain to include a heavy parka. The forecast for Halloween is a low of -21C, and a high of -17C. But you're not likely to find a warmer community anywhere.
Like an unofficial elf, Henny keeps a pretty close count of Grise Fiord's kids, who numbered 52 at her last tally. She also makes it her busi-ness to know their ages.
Instead of sending a list to the North Pole, Henny takes it to her toy supplier in the south, along with a budget, and asks him to send something appropriate for each kid's age. This year, she's pleased with the results, which are very hush-hush.
Christmas secrets have a short shelf life in the only store in town. So Henny hides all potential Christmas presents away, including things like tools for men and bath baskets for women, and brings them out close to Dec. 25.
Special shopping nights are designated for kids, women and men, to improve the odds of everyone in Grise Fiord finding a surprise under the tree on Christmas Day.
"My grandson thinks Papa works for Santa Claus," Henny said.
Source thestar.com
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