{"id":624750,"date":"2026-04-24T03:51:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T03:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/624750\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T03:51:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T03:51:29","slug":"toonik-tyme-organizers-tired-looking-for-more-volunteers-sponsors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/624750\/","title":{"rendered":"Toonik Tyme organizers \u2018tired,\u2019 looking for more volunteers, sponsors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The volunteers behind Iqaluit\u2019s Toonik Tyme<\/a> won\u2019t organize its popular snowmobile races to Kimmirut<\/a> and back next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re ready to pass the torch,\u201d said Stephen Johnson, a spokesperson with 123Go!, the non-profit, volunteer-run organization responsible for the 61-year-old spring festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that the racing community is strong enough in its membership and supporters to organize the Kimmirut races in 2027.\u201d<\/p>\n

The four-member board, led by president Pitseolak Alainga, has co-ordinated the Kimmirut snowmobile race for the past eight years.<\/p>\n

But the volunteer board is \u201ctired,\u201d Alainga said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s getting harder and harder every year to try and get things going.\u201d<\/p>\n

One thing that won\u2019t change is Toonik Tyme\u2019s free access to all its family-friendly events, said board member Robynn Pavia.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really passionate about youth and elders,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

However, volunteers have families too, Alainga added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all have children and grandchildren and we all have wives and husbands,\u201d he said. \u201cIt would be nice to see younger people take over.\u201d<\/p>\n

More businesses need to step up and help out on day one, he said, adding that a number of businesses do answer the call.<\/p>\n

Canadian North organizes children\u2019s activities and contests, including an annual scavenger hunt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re so happy for them to be participating every year,\u201d Alainga said.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Combustion Performance Inc. created the oval for this year\u2019s children\u2019s races, and Tom Fitzgerald Construction cleared an ice road and loaned some equipment for the adult races.<\/p>\n

The City of Iqaluit, RCMP, Dominix Fire Protection & Services Inc., RL Hanson Construction Ltd., and Apex Quickstop also helped out.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time Alainga has hinted at wanting a succession plan for the festival. In 2024, after receiving a Canada Post grant for Toonik Tyme, he told Nunatsiaq News<\/a> he is looking for the younger generation to take the reins.<\/p>\n

Alainga said he might step down as board president this year, depending on how many people join the board.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where we\u2019re at right now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The board will announce the date of its annual general meeting on Facebook in coming weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The volunteers behind Iqaluit\u2019s Toonik Tyme won\u2019t organize its popular snowmobile races to Kimmirut and back next year.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-624750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}