Search form

Share +

The Flame is Extinguished - Community is Still Warm

All Saturday, the sky over Nuuk will growl of sound from the red DASH-8 aircraft. No fewer than 35 departures of 17 hours is planned to fly the many participants, coaches, referees, families and other guests out of town.

In their baggage they have a week of intense experiences, culminating with a blast of a closing ceremony Friday night. The spectacular show was opened by the Nuuk violinist Hanne Saandvig Emmanuelsen who played from between the audience.

Then the big stage was filled with uptempo, moving and energetic performances. The hosts Hans Henrik Suersaq Poulsen (who himself shone with throat singing) and Maren Louise Poulsen Christensen presented leap gymnasts, dancers, singers, a rock band and drum dancers.

Halfway through the show the many athletes from the nine participating contingents were welcomed. Contrary to the opening show, where delegations came separately, all the colorful jackets were now mixed. The red Team Greenland, the gray/green from Team Northwest Territories, the blue of Team Alberta North, red/black from Team Yukon, blue/yellow from Team Nunavut, gray/yellow from Team Alaska, the red from Team Sapmi, black / green from Team Nunavik-Quebec and blue of Team Yamal formed a diverse color palette and told about new friendships and community.

With the athletes standing on the floor between the stage and the audience the atmosphere rose even some degrees when the band Small Time Giants set the tone for the official AWG2016 song "We are the Arctic."

Thus uplifted by a feast of a show, the hosts from Nuuk and visitors from other parts of the Arctic said goodbye to each other - and walked through town to the colonial harbor where another fireworks rockets, colors and thunderous put an impressive end to an eventful week.