Skiers used to jump through a ring of fire at this wild festival in Edmonton (PHOTOS)
Edmonton used to have a wild winter festival that involved skiers jumping through rings of fire, and we wouldn’t be mad if it came back.
It could use a change in name, though. The Muk-Luk Mardi Gras was a winter festival that kicked off in 1963 in Edmonton, bought in as a winter counterpart to summer festivals such as Klondike Days.
The founders of the Muk-Luk Mardi Gras were not Indigenous, and the name and several events that occurred during the festival are considered stereotypical today and offer a limited representation of Northern culture.
Only one Indigenous person was involved in the inaugural year of the festival. James Tegeapak, an Inuk man from Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, according to an article from Jasper Place Community History. Tegeapak oversaw the building of a massive 25-foot-tall igloo on the festival grounds.
Edmonton Journal/Newspapers.com
They really said this man was using telepathy to teach people how to build igloos.
The inaugural event took place from February 22 to 24, 1963, and had its fair share of problems to boot. Activities took place at Kinsmen Park – renamed “Polar Park” for the festival.
At Polar Park, you could find toboggan slides, sleigh rides, an ice maze, skating, ice sculptures, and the “Muk-Luk Midway” with games, rides, and foods such as buffalo burgers, among other treats.
The Exhibition Sportex hosted dances (with an article describing teenagers gyrating, twisting and writhing humanity), the Edmonton Ski Club had festivities, and the Victoria Golf Course hosted dog sled team races.
One festival attraction that caught our eye was the festival ski jump, which involved a massive ring of fire.
Provincial Archives of Alberta/Flickr
If that wasn’t wild enough, fireworks also shot out of the top of the ski jump.
Provincial Archives of Alberta/Flickr
What will it take to bring back the flaming ring!?
While it sounds like a wickedly good time, a major chinook rolled into the area during the inaugural festival, melting nearly everything. Plus, with so many large events taking place on the same weekend in the river valley, it caused massive traffic jams in the area. Knowing Edmonton, it’s no surprise that traffic complaints made it into the local history books.
After a chaotic first year, the festival switched things up in 1964. Organizers held it earlier in February, “Polar Park” was moved to Laurier Park, and the dance took place at the Jasper Place Sports Centre.
The festival even had its own “Muk-Luk Mardi Gras Queen,” as pictured in this undated postcard.
deespostcards/eBay
In 1966, the festival was expanded from one weekend to 10 days, from February 4 to 13. This new format included activities downtown, a folk-jazz festival at the Jubilee Auditorium, and a parade down Whyte Avenue to Polar Park, which again created a massive traffic jam.
While it was incredibly popular, the Mardi Gras festival was not financially viable, as the 1966 edition barely broke even, according to reports. Its final year was in 1968, and almost all of the events took place at the Edmonton Exhibition Grounds.
It was completely dropped the following year, and despite attempts to revive it in the ’80s, the Mardi Gras festival never returned. Check out Jasper Place Community History if you want to learn more about this wild event.