The city will dole out close to $30,000 for everything from a cycling program and an aboriginal arts festival to a heritage fair.

That became clear after council voted in favour of going ahead with the proposed environmental, special events and heritage grants at its meeting last Monday night.

The grant proposals were brought forward in three separate reports to council a week earlier.

The largest sum will be spent on the special events grants at a total of $18,750, with a further $7,800 in the form of in-kind services proposed as well for events that will happen between July and December.

Among them:

• $10,000 cash and $3,000 in-kind will go to the Council of Yukon First Nations for its Yukon Aboriginal Festival of the Arts scheduled for July 1- 9. It's set to feature more than 100 performing and visual artists in Whitehorse;

• $5,500 cash and $3,000 in-kind for the Royal Canadian Legion's local branch to host Canada Day events, including the annual parade, flag-raising ceremony, Canadian citizenship court, Yukon Commissioner's Award presentation, entertainment, cake-cutting, kids' events, petting zoo, carousel and beer gardens;

• $2,000 cash and $1,500 in-kind for Yukon Educational Theatre's Winterval Christmas parade, which will see the annual event move from happening in the morning to the evening followed by a marshmallow roast and storytelling around the fire, photos with Santa, music and socializing; and

• $1,250 cash and $300 in-kind for Yukon Educational Theatre's Celebration of Harvest set for Shipyards Park in the fall, in conjunction with the Fireweed Market. It will feature events like ice-cream making, storytelling and puppetry.

While the All-City Band Society had also applied fro $1,500 in funding for its Music for a Winter's Eve event, officials referred it to the recreation grant process.

The committee reviewing the proposals also opted not to recommend the $5,000 application the Yukon African Caribbean Association brought forward for its Fusion Festival, as it didn't provide details to demonstrate viability.

In environmental grants, the city will dole out $10,505, with:

• $5,505 going to travel expenses and course fees for the Recreation and Parks Association Yukon to bring a certified Can-Bike instructor to Whitehorse to deliver the cycling safety programs in May.

Locals involved in promoting cycling will be trained under the program. That proposal is in line with the city's strategic sustainability plan through greenhouse gas reduction, sustainability education and active transportation;

• $2,000 for facilitation wages for Bringing Youth Towards Equality's Youth and Climate Change project aimed at 12- to 18-year-olds who would discuss climate change through surveys and video production;

• $1,500 for youth curriculum development at the Deep Roots and Foodscapers' Youth Grow Food program, an eight-week course for Grades 9 and 10 students to learn how to grow food;

• $1,500 for materials and supplies for Innovators in the School Girls Science Club, where up to 20 girls would learn about composting and edible landscaping through field trips and other hands-on activities;

• $500 for researcher wages for Yukon College's Renewable Resource Program that would offset greenhouse gas emissions by reforesting a slope along Mountainview Drive. The carbon offsets would be measured by a researcher; and

• $500 for materials and supplies for the Teegatha'Oh Zheh's Greenhouse Project that will see a greenhouse built to expand the group's gardening project that began last year.

The greenhouse would allow an earlier start to food production and more diverse produce to be grown.

Finally, in a separate vote, council also approved spending $1,000 out of the heritage fund for a grant to the Yukon Historical and Museums Association to help host the 2011 Heritage Fair on May 5.