DAWSON CITY – Dawson could not have asked for a nicer run of weather than it received this year for the Discovery Days celebrations.

It might be said that things got a kick-start this year on Aug. 9 with the arrival of the crew from La Ruée Vers l'Or, the French-Canadian reality TV show that has been retracing the stampede to the Klondike all this summer.

After that, however, things remained quiet for two days, with a Discovery Days Gold Rush Camp for Kids being the first major event last Wednesday.

The town's recreation department took the kids to Claim 33 and Dredge #4. On the same day, the Dänojà Zho Cultural Centre began a series of special events that ran through to Saturday.

That night, Frances Backhouse presented her new book, Children of the Klondike, at the Dawson City Museum. (See separate story, p. 15.)

Thursday was another literary day, with the afternoon given over to the Authors on 8th presentations at the Jack London Museum, the Robert Service Cabin and Berton House. That night was also the beginning of the Yukon River Art Festival.

Friday featured a two-hour kids' carnival on the flood dike, sponsored by the recreation department and an opportunity to learn some Hän singing at the cultural centre.

For the athletic types, Saturday began at10 a.m. with a 10-km run from the Front Street gazebo and up the Bonanza Creek Road.

For the rest of the town and its many visitors, the somewhat chilly start to the day was around noon, when the floats which had been getting ready to roll for the last two hours finally headed off on Fourth Avenue to King Street and west to Front Street.

This was one of the longest and best Discovery Days Parades the town has seen in years. Spirited contributions came from local businesses, Parks Canada, the local museum and the Rangers and Junior Rangers, as well as a major float from the La Ruée Vers l'Or crew, which filmed the entire event as part of their footage for the show.

In addition there were the Mounties, members of the Midnight Sun Pipe Band, the YOOPS (Yukon Order of Pioneers) and FOOPS, lots of junior soccer players, all the fire engines in the valley and all the entries that had been readied for the Mud Bog event.

Most Dawson parades take about 15 minutes to pass any given point, This one was more like half an hour.

Yukon MP Larry Bagnell was the first speaker in Victory Gardens at the end of the parade. He contrasted the featureless August "civic holiday” that takes place in the rest of Canada with what he called the much more exciting Discovery Days events in Dawson.

"This is the celebration from when they discovered the world's greatest gold rush,” he said. "At that time, they also discovered more than that; they discovered a wonderful place to have a great time, a great history and wonderful people.”

He noted the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Yukon and a British MP, Andy Percy.

He also took the occasion to announce an impending addition to the Bagnell family.

"I think my wife, Melissa, may have a little companion for (daughter) Aurora in her tummy, so that's really exciting too.”

Mayor Peter Jenkins took the microphone next.

"Boy, that was quite a parade this year – one of the nicest ones I've seen. Congratulations to all of those that participated. It was just fantastic to see so much of a turnout.”

After the mayor had handed out the parade and yard awards, the Yukon Order of Pioneers got the kids' game under way and the recreation centre handled the hot dog barbecue.

The rest of the day was pretty much given over to the Arts Fest.

On Sunday, the big event was the mud bog in the north end. This is a popular spectacle of machines against mud.

The cheers from that end of town almost drowned out those from the other end of town, where the fastball tournament, which had been underway since Friday evening, was drawing to a close.

Monday, the actual holiday, was a quiet day in Dawson, with the only major event being the swimming at the pool.