A sweltering 35° had people tossing and turning in the hot early afternoon sun after a long night of dancing and singing. Even with the back end of the tent jacked up to create a cross breeze people were still looking for relief. Sometimes people had to take a boat ride out to the bay to beat the heat. The Ninth Annual Mamweedow Minshtukch gave people another chance to meet old friends and new. People who left the island of Fort George did so only in body, the spirit never left. The trek from the canoe to the tent with our supplies took me on the paths of Crees past including my grandfather. Before the town was relocated, as a kid I went with my grandfather quite often to go hunting out to the bay. The walk to the canoe seemed to go on forever, especially with a heavy load on your back. Today as I walked on those same paths there was a familiarity as if I had never left. I was not alone. Everywhere you looked people had taken their rightful place. Some stayed and kept a lonely vigil to wait for those who left the island. July 10th to the 12th saw the Island of Fort George come to life again. At night the generator pumped life into the loudspeakers. The fiddlers made sure the dance floor also came to life. While walking around waiting for dawn to break I heard people already talking about the tenth Annual next year.