Hello Members,
At our AGM & Conference this week, NWT Tourism was pleased to present its annual Industry Awards. Three awards were presented on Wednesday evening during our Dinner and Celebration event at the Explorer Hotel in Yellowknife:
- Service Excellence Award - Cabin Radio
- Operator of the Year Award - Frontier Lodge
- Lifetime Achievement Award - Jackie Challis
Congratulations to the very deserving recipients of these awards!
The awards themselves are hand crafted by the team at Artech Engrave in Yellowknife. Last year, when crafting the awards for NWT Tourism, Artech used wood from Hay River’s Patterson Sawmill to make the award extra special and meaningful as our event was held in Hay River. This year the NWT Tourism team was able to provide Artech with wood from the original Wildcat building to use in making these industry awards. The Wildcat is credited as Yellowknife’s first restaurant, opening in the 1930’s. The wood used for these awards was salvaged by Rick Muyers, during his restoration of the building in 2012. Rick, a legendary log builder in the NWT, uncovered the original foundation of the Wildcat and discovered it was in part made from old telephone poles. The wood for this year’s awards came from one of those poles.
Later in the evening, we also held our annual auction, which was very successful. Thanks to the support of all those who participated in the auction, NWT Tourism raised $12,140 towards our scholarship fund.
Auction items were donated by:
- Len Thompson Lures
- Quality Furniture
- Explorer Hotel
- Tlicho Adventures
- Air North
- Bullock’s Bistro
- Overlander Sports
- Hooké
- Canadian North
- North-Wright Air
- Grey Goose Lodge
Thank you to everyone who attended NWT Tourism's 2023 AGM & Conference and to all those who participated in the auction on Wednesday night!
All the best,
Donna Lee Demarcke
Chief Executive Officer
NWT Tourism