Midway Lake Music Festival, Fort McPherson, NWT

Midway Lake

Fort McPherson
Annual
Midway Lake Music Festival

History: The Gwich’in Nation extends across three territories NWT, Yukon and Alaska since time immemorial; the Gwich’in lived as nomads following their main source of food the Porcupine Caribou. During the long cold winter months in search of food, the Gwich’in encountered some very difficult times when caribou was scarce. When warmer and longer days of spring weather arrived; it was a welcoming time for these nomadic people of the north. Birds were coming north to nest; flora beginning blossom; twenty-four hour day light was here; berries are blooming; fishing was good; it was a few months where everything was plentiful. This was a time to gather and socialize in song music and dance. After the gathering; these hunter/gathers were back on the land preparing for another long winter