The Yukon Territory celebrated its 109th birthday Wednesday with a reception at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre.

'It's a real pleasure that I'm able to be here today and celebrate the Yukon's 109th birthday,' Tourism and Culture Minister Elaine Taylor said at the event.

The Yukon became its own recognizable local government in 1895 when it became a district of the Northwest Territories, but it wasn't until June 13, 1898, that the Yukon Territory Act was signed in Ottawa.

The Yukon Territory Act made the Yukon its own unique and separate entity from the Northwest Territories, and provided an appointed commissioner and council.

It wasn't until 1998, during a special sitting of the Yukon legislature in Dawson City, which included all 18 elected members, that the Yukon Day Act was passed.

The 10th anniversary of the Beringia centre's opening was also celebrated on Wednesday.

'These are both very historic events which help celebrate the heritage and history of the Yukon, and we'll take the opportunity to celebrate all the women and men in our past and present who have made this territory what it is today,' Taylor said.

A reception with cakes and refreshments took place on Wednesday morning after Taylor spoke before a large group of visitors in town touring the Beringia centre.

'Today is actually the Yukon's birthday,' Taylor said at the start of her address. 'Do you know how old we are?'

Someone in the crowd shouted '22!' to which Taylor responded with a laugh, 'I hope we're older than that.

'We've come a long way over the years.'

The Beringia centre opened in 1997 when it unveiled the three mammoth statues which can be seen from the Alaska Highway and have helped draw the attention of many tourists and locals.

'Each year we welcome about 300,000 visitors to the Yukon,' Taylor said. 'With a population of about 33,000, that's pretty good for the Yukon.'

Stacie Zaychuk, the manager of the Beringia centre, said the day's activities consisted of free entry to the museum, demos which ran all day, and a mini-beast safari outdoors in the area near the Beringia centre, where visitors would be able to see small animals such as voles, ground squirrels and a beetle collection.

A number of elementary school students also toured the centre in the afternoon.

'Last year was the first time we celebrated Yukon Day up here and tied the two events together,' Zaychuk said. 'By having the two events side-by-side, it's great, because they are really special and it's a great thing to celebrate.'

The Beringia centre is also featuring a 35-minute film called Wild New World, which is on loan from Discovery Channel.

Over the years, the centre has run a number of different programs, including a climate change exhibition, the Miracle Planet film series, a summer archaeology project for kids, and a program which brought Beringia-related subjects to local classrooms.

The Ice Age Mammals Travelling Exhibit, which is being run through a partnership with the Canadian Museum of Nature, the Montreal Science Centre, the Royal Tyrrell Museum and Beringia centre, is an extremely popular exhibit which was launched two years ago.

It's so popular that it has been booked well into 2010, and won't be featured in the Yukon until after that.

'We have a ways to go before we can benefit from that particular exhibit,' Taylor said.

Brian Groves, the acting manager of the museums unit, said the centre sees about 22,000 visitors a year, a number that has stayed consistent since it opened in 1997.

In September, Groves said, the Beringia centre will be launching a new project on the Virtual Museum of Canada website called Mt. Logan: Canadian Titan. It's the first time the Beringia centre has been involved in an online project of its kind, with the focus of the project on climate change research.

The online content will consist of interactive games for youth as well as detailed scientific information on climate change.

Groves added that while they are still finalizing the main gallery exhibit for next year, they're hoping it will include the Yukon Horse exhibit, a 26,000-year-old horse hide found in the gold fields near Dawson in 1993.

The centre provides regular guided tours, and is open everyday until the middle of September.