It’s Trek Time Again!

Trek Over the Top master Erik Zalitas arrives at the Downtown Hotel on Friday morning to make sure his Alaska trekkers are organized for the day. Photo by Dan Davidson

Welcome to the March 1, 2005 online edition of the Klondike Sun, reproducing a selection of the articles and photographs from the news stand edition of the same date. That was a 24 page paper with 20 articles and 40 pictures.

While the online edition is posted some time after the newsstand (after all, we have to sell this paper), they now have the same dates.

There was still no report from the auditor in this issue, but the winter tourism season continued unabated with the Trek Over the Top. We had concerts and other special events. All in all, a busy two weeks.

This issue is being readied for posting on March 29, 2005.

The best (and most current) way to read the Klondike Sun is still to have the paper in your hands. There is subscription information on the Home page of this website.

The outgoing KVA board meets the membership. Photo by Dan Davidson

KVA Enjoys Modest Profit for 2004, Sees Expenses for 2005

by Dan Davidson

The Klondike Visitors Association enjoyed a modest degree of profitability in 2004, with revenues managing to run $59,689 over expenditures.

This looks very encouraging when compared to last year’s figures, when the KVA went in the hole by $122,765. An improvement of $182,454 looks pretty impressive until you realize that most of it came from lopping off one of the organization’s staple programs.

Most of the loss in 2003 came from the operations at the Palace Grand Theatre, and most of the improvement in 2004 came from the fact that the KVA no longer runs the Gaslight Follies there.

In 2003, the Follies ran in the red to the tune of $110,924. After a few years of previous losses, the board of directors and the general membership decided to abandon the program, which had ceased to break even when Holland-America removed it as a standard item in its tour package.

Reporting on the financial situation, treasurer Dick Van Nostrand said he felt that dumping the Follies had been a necessary decision at the time it was taken, but indicated that he had concerns about the long term effect on the KVA itself.

Major expenses for the organization last year included the replacement of ten older slot machines with ten new ones, a program cost shared with the Yukon government. Slot machine revenue at Diamond Tooth Gerties increase by $166,912 to $1,149,203 in 2004, and the general feeling from the staff and the board was that this was due to the investment in new, jazzier equipment. Ten more replacements are slated for this summer.

In summing up the year outgoing chair Brenda Caley indicated that the fire season had provided the KVA with quite a challenge, one it attempted to meet with the assistance of the YTG with an advertising blitz to offset the scary national media coverage.

In spite of problems with fire coverage, the KVA remained a major summer employer in Dawson last summer, with sixty-four people on the payroll at the peak of operations.

Celebrations related to the anniversary of the Dempster Highway cost the KVA money without any immediate return, but Caley indicated that this activity had produced many times the money spent in advertising value.

The KVA will be continuing to promote convention activity over the next year, but will do so without any contribution from the City of Dawson, which had been one of the prime movers behind this tourism thrust in the first place until the town council was removed last year.

At the moment, however, the KVA is without a marketing manager, and Van Nostrand said that the resumes submitted for this position from all over the country have been disappointing.

Some, he said, made the Farside comic strip look like serious stuff. The search continues.

Interest in the joining the board was healthy this year, with ten people running for the six two year positions that were open. Elected or re-elected to the board were Peggy Amendola, Brenda Caley, Tim Coonen, Kim Bouzane, Dylan Griffith and Greg Karais. The last two were newcomers to the board.

They join continuing members Heidi Bliedung, David Millar, Tony Dovas, Wayne Rachel, Barb Hanulik and Eric Zalitas.

The entire board meets to choose an executive shortly after the AGM, as well as to ratify the provisional budget, which is presented to the membership for discussion purposes at the AGM but not passed there.

During the membership issues portion of the evening a number of topics emerged.

KVA manager Vale Anderson explained to the group that much of the association’s marketing effort is directed towards Alaska, since this is an area that YTG’s general Yukon promotion doesn’t seem to target as much. Noting an increase in motorcycle tour traffic, Brenda Caley indicated that some money was being directed to this market niche.

Boyd Gillis asked about the association making an effort to revive the grandeur of the Discovery Days weekend, but Caley indicated that this has not traditionally been part of the KVA’s mandate.

Glen Everitt felt that YTG doesn’t do enough to promote the Klondike, leaving most of that to the KVA, which he felt was a disgrace given the $287,301 that YTG gained from the license for slot machine operations here last year.

Everitt also worried about the long term health of the association. The turnout at each AGM was quite predictable, he said, and he one reason the organization is somewhat stagnant is that some people make an organized effort to keep other people from being on the board.

Everitt indicated that he was not talking about himself, though he was unsuccessful in his bid to be elected to the board.