A celebration of Northern aviation is bringing pilots and performers from across the country to tour 97 communities this summer.

The Canadian Arctic Aviation Tour spans all three territories as well as a few communities in Manitoba, Quebec and Newfoundland.

Thirty-one communities in the Northwest Territories are scheduled to have shows over their communities, with 11 receiving a SA国际影视传媒渨heels-downSA国际影视传媒� event where the airplanes will land and community members can meet the performers.

The show kicks off in Fort Liard on June 2 with a wheels-down stop. Fort Liard Mayor Steven Steeves said the hamlet already has plans to give performers a true Northern welcome.

SA国际影视传媒淲e've got our kids putting up legends and stories ... We're giving them a big drum dance and everything, too,SA国际影视传媒� Steeves said. SA国际影视传媒淲e want to show Canada, the world, what we're all about.SA国际影视传媒�

Hamlet recreation co-ordinator Sophie Kirby said community members are excited about the event.

The hamlet will be putting on a feast before the drum dance, both of which will take place June 1 the evening before the airshow is scheduled to start.

Kirby said the plan is for the show to be done over the Liard River, adding the hamlet plans to have lifeguards on hand as well.
SA国际影视传媒淗opefully the entire community will be there for the event,SA国际影视传媒� she stated in an e-mail.
Some members of the show's crew are already in the community for the tour's education component. Nancy McClure, executive director for the Canadian Arctic Aviation Tour, said that segment is geared toward encouraging young people to pursue dreams of a career in aviation.
SA国际影视传媒淭he education piece is all literacy-based. A lot of it will be conversations our pilots have on the ground with kids as they talk about the possible career choices they might be looking at,SA国际影视传媒� she said.
She and her team sees aviation as a career that could bring Northern youth back to their home communities to work and live.
SA国际影视传媒淲e're really focusing on the fact that if you look at Northern people (in) these careers, they're going to come back home hopefully,SA国际影视传媒� she said.Some of the challenges the team has faced include how to bring in proper aviation gas to some of the smaller communities, securing accommodations and finding sponsors to help cover the cost of the tour.
Most of the project has been driven by volunteers.
McClure said the team is still fundraising, and is also crowdfunding with an initiative that allows people to purchase their own personal kilometre of the tour for $25.
The airshow itself is free of charge, unlike many of its southern counterparts. McClure said when she signed on as executive director, she decided the show needed to something everyone could come to see SA国际影视传媒� despite any financial implications of running a free show.
SA国际影视传媒淲e did not compromise on our original vision. That was what was really important to me, because the point of the project was that we would bring this to everyone,SA国际影视传媒� she said.
SA国际影视传媒淲e could have solved some of our problems by making this a paid airshow ... but we didn't want people to be excluded because they couldn't pay.SA国际影视传媒�
The tour will also be carbon-neutral, McClure said. The team partnered with Carbonzero, a Canadian carbon offset firm, by purchasing SA国际影视传媒渃arbon creditsSA国际影视传媒� to be re-invested elsewhere in the country.
SA国际影视传媒淲e made it a priority,SA国际影视传媒� McClure said.
SA国际影视传媒淲e're not only carbon-sensitive, we're actually net zero on this project.

"The show was developed partly as a way to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday, but also as a way to celebrate the tradition of aviation in the North.
SA国际影视传媒淲e really wanted this to have more of a legacy approach,SA国际影视传媒� McClure said.
SA国际影视传媒淭he North-south corridor was built with airplanes, not trains, and that continues to be the case. So how would we bring an event to many of these locations? We'd have to fly an event in. The airshow grew from that.SA国际影视传媒�
Communities will have up to nine aerobatic performances. The team's Yellowknife stop will include a demonstration jet as well.
Among the performers are Anna Serbinenko, who McClure said is the only performing female airshow pilot in Canada, as well as Bud and Ross Granley.
SA国际影视传媒淚n airshow circles in North America, (Bud) is kind of the grandpa of air show performers. He is a legacy,SA国际影视传媒� McClure said.

Fact File
NWT tour dates
June 2 SA国际影视传媒� Fort Liard
June 7 SA国际影视传媒� Fort McPherson, Tsiigehtchic
June 8 SA国际影视传媒� Inuvik
June 9 SA国际影视传媒� Sachs Harbour, Ulukhaktok, Paulatuk
June 10 SA国际影视传媒� Aklavik
June 11 SA国际影视传媒� Tuktoyaktuk
June 12 SA国际影视传媒� Fort Good Hope, Colville Lake
June 13 SA国际影视传媒� Norman Wells, Deline, Tulita
June 14 SA国际影视传媒� Fort Simpson, Jean Marie River, Wrigley, Nahanni Butte, Sambaa K'e, Fort Providence
June 17 SA国际影视传媒� Fort Smith
June 18 SA国际影视传媒� Kakisa, Enterprise, Fort Resolution, Lutsel K'e, Wekweeti, Behchoko, Whati, Gameti
June 19 SA国际影视传媒� Ulukhaktok
July 8 SA国际影视传媒� Hay River
July 9 SA国际影视传媒� Yellowknife