Who's queen?

Not me. But perhaps soon, perhaps soon. As many of you well know, Deon and I are running for King and Queen of the Beluga Jamboree. However, most people aren't clear on the details of how it works, so I thought I'd do a quick summary.

Every year, our community holds a jamboree in late April, when the weather is just nice enough to hold some outdoor, winter activities. Last year was my first jamboree, and there were many events. There's the skidoo race, which is sort of like NASCAR, and has a $10,000 prize for the winner, there are all sorts of relay races and foot races, tea boiling and bannock making competitions, and the list goes on. Each of these activities has significant prize money attached to it, and there are feasts and events throughout the weekend for everyone to participate in. It's a great way to welcome spring, which is just around the corner.

Of course, to hold such an event, fundraising is key. In order to raise money to support the jamboree activities, the jamboree committee holds a contest wherein pairs run for "King and Queen." This year, Deon and I decided to give it a go, and run on behalf of our work place. There are two other couples running, which is a lower number than most other years.

The object of running for King and Queen is to fundraise as much money as possible, in any way possible. In return, the first prize winner (the couple who raises the most money after about 8 weeks) gets round trip flights from Inuvik to Edmonton (~$3000 prize!) plus 50% of the money that they raised. Second place gets round trip tickets to Yellowknife, and third place gets round trip tickets from Tuk to Inuvik. So one way or another, we'll win some sort of prize!

The fundraising itself can be done in many ways. Some of the things we have done so far:
*Selling raffle tickets for an eMachines netbook (mini laptop) at $3/ticket

*Selling raffle tickets for a samsara handbag that was donated by Barrenland Jewellery in YK at $3/ticket

*Selling raffle tickets for cash prizes that were donated by the Jamboree Committee for $2/ticket

*Selling raffle tickets for a Coleman cooler with AM/FM radio, speakers and MP3 hookup

*Selling 50/50 tickets at the radio station while bingo tickets are being sold, giving away bingo dabbers as a second prize

*Selling raffle tickets for a $50 Well.ca gift card that was donated to us

*Hosting a Kiddie Carnival at Kitti Hall where kids could play games such as "Pin the Tail on the Muskox," beanbag toss, balloon darts, nail painting, mini putt, and cake walk

*Hosting a chili and hotdog luncheon at Kitti Hall, where Barry made the chili, my breadmaker and I made a bunch of buns, and Deon took care of the hotdogs

*Hosting a loonie auction and canteen at adult games, where we auctioned off some kids hockey equipment, ratchets, a hot chocolate set, a makeup kit, a kids backpack and hat, and some Adidas perfume and lotion

*A takeout brunch at Kitti Hall during the Canada vs USA hockey game

Next up on the block:
*A 50/50 and $20 Northern Store gift card raffle tomorrow night at the radio station during bingo ticket sales

*A Sunday brunch at Kitti Hall, followed by a rummage sale wherein people pay to have a table (hosted by the 3 sets of King and Queen contestants)

*At the same time as the rummage sale, a "Cake-off" wherein people enter their cakes into a contest, and the cakes are "loonie auctioned" off, and the cake that gets the most loonie auction tickets wins... and the winner keeps 50% of the loonie auction money for their cake

Some ideas floating around for next week:
*Soup and a bun luncheon at Kitti Hall on Monday

*Loonie auction during adult games on Monday night, along with canteen sales

*Pizza luncheon at Kitti Hall on Thursday

*50/50 at the radio station with some sort of giveaway on Friday

Some things that are still in the works:
*Casino night at Kitti Hall hosted by all of the contestants

*Skidoo poker rally

*Nevada ticket sales at adult games

*Bake sale

At any rate, hopefully that explains why the blog has been so quiet lately! People warned us that King and Queen would be a lot of work, and I figured it would be quite busy... but I think to win gold, you have to take it on as a full time job, all day and all night, every day! We both have jobs, that are fairly demanding on their own, and doing King and Queen is like a second job. But, it will be worth it in the end. We didn't enter the contest for the prizes, but instead, to get to know more people around town. I would say that we've been very successful with that already, and that can only be good in the long run. The more people we know in town, the more we become a part of the town, which really is the ultimate goal.

I'd better get back to my fundraising, we've slacked off for the last few days!

p.s. If anyone reading this has anything (products, money, corporate swag, etc etc to donate, we'd be more than happy to accept!!)