Road Trip - Rockin' Down The Highway - Yukon Flashback
By Kevin Wierzbicki

Looking back over the forty or so Road Trip pieces I’ve written over the last half decade makes me realize how fortunate I am to be able to travel the world in search of music and music-related fun and then recount my adventures for the readers of Antimusic.com. Picking out a favorite “oldie” on this occasion of Antimusic’s lucky 13th anniversary wasn’t easy but I think you’ll like this one about the Dawson City Music Festival that I wrote in 2007. The festival takes place way up north in the Yukon in Canada where the scenery is nothing short of stunning, where the Klondike gold rush began and where, in summer, the sun never quite sets. It takes a good bit of travel to get there but the setting is like nothing you’ve experienced before---how many music festivals are there where you can spot grizzly bears just outside of town!?! The 2011 Dawson City Music Festival takes place July 15-17 and features a line-up that includes Owen Pallett, Timber Timbre, Yukon Blonde, Rich Aucoin, Stampeders, Tanya Tagaq, and coming all the way from Niger, Etran Finatawa. Enjoy! 

Gold! There was a time when the whole world was hurrying to the northwestern part of Canada hoping to strike it rich by finding bags full of the Yukon's shiny metal. The rush is long over but gold is still mined in the province's mineral-rich Klondike, an area that every summer also yields a mother lode of another precious resource---music. 

Dawson City is about a six-hour drive north from the Yukon's major population center and its capital, Whitehorse. The small town is also about the half-way mark on a massive road trip adventure that will eventually take you into Alaska for a moment then loop back down into Whitehorse. You could rush through this gorgeous area in a few days but if you allow a week or so you'll not only have time to enjoy the spectacular scenery but you'll be able to spend a couple of days in Dawson City. After gold was found on Bonanza Creek, Dawson City quickly grew and at one time was the largest city north of San Francisco and west of Winnipeg. Nowadays there are less than 2000 residents in town and you wouldn't expect there to be much going on in this place not too far removed from the Arctic Circle. Wrong! Dawson City is of course very proud of its history and if you want to learn about the gold mining days you can visit the Dawson City Museum or go out to the very spot on Bonanza Creek where the first nuggets were found. You can tour a dredge and learn how the giant machine was used to sort out the gold flecks from the dirt. And it's hard to resist buying a bucket or so of "pay dirt" and washing it yourself, right in Bonanza Creek. Gold fever aside, there is a surprising amount of fun to be had in Dawson City. The town "stretches" for only a few blocks in any direction no matter where you are, so it is easily navigated on foot. The streets are unpaved and the sidewalks are boardwalks---this gives the town a great "old time" aura---but the lack of pavement is actually due to the fact that the Klondike sits on permafrost that "moves" under the surface and would cause paved roads to be in disrepair on a regular basis.  There are lots of choices for lodging in Dawson City including the modern log cabins at Klondike Kate's where their restaurant is housed in a Gold Rush-era building from 1904. Click Here The town's favorite watering hole and social gathering place, Bombay Peggy's, also offers rooms. Peggy's too is housed in a Gold Rush-era building that used to be one of the town's brothels. Staying here may mean you have to share a bathroom with the other guests but it is also the place to hang out if you want to run into "Caveman Bill," a former Toronto resident who now lives in a cave outside of town. Click Here If you are a little less adventurous and would like to stay in a more conventional place, you can find all the comforts of home at the El Dorado Hotel Click Here Once you've found a place to set up camp (yes, there are campgrounds and RV parks too) it's time to start exploring! 

The whole town is "open" during the Dawson City Music Festival and there are quite a few fun things to do between visits to festival stages. You can stop at the locomotive shelter at the Dawson City Museum where a number of old locomotive engines that once served the area are on display. Literary fans will want to visit the cabin of famed poet Robert Service or the Jack London Interpretive Center where a replica of London's original Yukon cabin is available for tour. If you'd prefer to get out on the river seek out Tommy Taylor at Fishwheel Charter. Tommy explains the area's history and some First Nations' folklore as he shows you the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon Rivers, a salmon-catching fish wheel and old paddle-wheel wrecks. He'll even take you to the island he lives on where you'll meet his sled dogs and be fed a snack of tea and bannock (a tasty First Nations' pastry.) Back on shore, head for Diamond Tooth Gertie's.  Gertie's is a casino filled with one-armed bandits and other gambling devices and games but its real claim to fame is the show put on by Diamond Tooth Gertie herself. The show replicates the entertainment that the miners might have seen during the Gold Rush, complete with can-can girls and an old-time piano player. The show has an audience participation aspect to it---you might just end up on stage with the lovely ladies! And last but not least, if you're really brave or just prone to accepting dares, you need to make a stop at the Sourdough Saloon in the Downtown Hotel. Here they serve a drink called the Sour Toe which is a cocktail of your choice with a pickled human toe dropped in it. In order to claim that you've had a Sour Toe you have to drain the whole glass until the toe touches your lips. Not for the squeamish but what a story to tell!