Plans to build a community floating sauna on Yellowknife Bay might be slowing down, but they are still steaming ahead.
Tyler Fissel, Peter Kelly and Thomas Whittaker started The Great Slave Sauna Society, a not-for-profit with the intent to build a sauna on the lake. The three friends created the group late last year, but the idea has been gathering steam for a while.
Peter Kelly, Tyler Fissel and Thomas Whittaker stand in front of Yellowknife Bay, where they're hoping to launch a community floating sauna.
Kelly, whoSA国际影视传媒檚 spent time Finland building a sauna as part of a masterSA国际影视传媒檚 architecture project, was inspired by the sauna culture there.
Community saunas are not common in Canada. In Yellowknife, there are no community saunas, and only two to which the public could gain access to SA国际影视传媒� one at the Multiplex and one at the Yellowknife Racquet Club.
The floating sauna project would allow members of the community to access the sauna at any time -- as long as they bring wood for the fire.
The GoFundMe fundraiser for the sauna, with its original goal slated at $20,000, has about 35 days left to reach its funding, but with current numbers at $1,600, the original plans have been revisited.
That means looking at in-kind donations instead of straight cash.
SA国际影视传媒淚f we were donated a whole bunch of sheet metal, that would be a different sauna than one made of wood,SA国际影视传媒� said Kelly.
The society was formed earlier this year when a group of three friends with a passion for architecture decided that what Yellowknife was really missing was a community Sauna.
The sauna scene is radically different in Finland, said Kelly.
SA国际影视传媒淭here are more saunas in Finland than cars SA国际影视传媒� it'd be unacceptable for a building not to have a sauna, it'd be like not having a shower.SA国际影视传媒�
Saunas in Nordic countries are traditionally used for more than just sitting and sweating, said Whittaker.
SA国际影视传媒淭raditionally, the sauna was the first building that you would build because you would do everything SA国际影视传媒� your bathing, cleaning, cooking SA国际影视传媒� all in your sauna. ItSA国际影视传媒檚 where traditionally all Finnish mothers gave birth and where they would dry meat. They'd even clean the dead.SA国际影视传媒�
Though the group's sauna would differ in use than those of traditional Swedish ones, the community aspect would be there. And alongside it, the experience of having a sauna on Yellowknife Bay.
SA国际影视传媒淚tSA国际影视传媒檚 beautiful and very calming SA国际影视传媒� basking in the sun is really nice SA国际影视传媒� this will become a place where people can come, hangout on the water, and get to experience and enjoy a sauna,SA国际影视传媒� said Kelly.
