Yup, it's got an official street sign.
YAY! The ROAD TO NOWHERE won for Nunavut!! Thanks to everyone who voted!!
All the songwriters are amazing. Luci Idlout was voted the winner. I’m sure she’ll do a fantastic job. I hope the song will be poetic and lovely and quirky and real – just like the Road to Nowhere.
And YAY Waskada!!!
I love LOVE CBC Radio 2. I’m obsessed. I Loved being interviewed by Tom Allen, it was a highlight! I love all the small towns and quirky places nominated. I love that Prairegirl commented on the blog and told me all the Manitoba kids are rooting for the R2N! I love that Ellen, one of the songwriters nominated for Nunavut, has written a few times with such lovely words about the R2N. I love that this contest could produce an album with songs about Waskada, Love, Dildo, the Dempster Highway, Wilenski’s Light Lunch and of course, the Road to Nowhere!
THIS is the Road to Nowhere, Thanks to Letia Obed for the pic!
September 30, 2009 at 12:33 pm |
I am with Susan! As a life long resident of Nunavut and Iqaluit, you sometimes forget how unusual the “Road to Nowhere” sounds, and its a reminder like this that makes you remember how unique it is. It is a beautiful stretch of road that takes you from town to, well, nowhere in quick order. Great for dog walking, camping, picnics and bonfires! It has already been immortalized in words by a poet names Chris Banks that wrote the poem “Bonfires on the Road to Nowhere” (from the book Bonfires).
And beyond that very specific place, Nunavut is like no place in Canada, and often forgotten and looked over.
September 30, 2009 at 10:38 pm |
YAY Jessica!!! Thanks for the comment and support for the idea! I didn’t know you were a CBC2 fan too! excellent!!! pass it along to others up there ok? I should post the link to my fb page.
October 12, 2009 at 2:33 pm |
Hi there,
Susan… would love to talk to you about the Road to Nowhere… could you get in touch?
carole.warren@cbc.ca
October 8, 2009 at 6:01 pm |
hey, I have nominated St. Viateur Bagel Bakery in Montreal but I must say, the “Road to Nowhere” is a great suggestion – I lived in Iqaluit for 5 years!
Good luck to you and to me! Here’s the link to my blog
http://www.emaltin@wordpress.com
October 8, 2009 at 6:21 pm |
Small World it is! I was voting for St. Viateur while you were voting for Road to Nowhere. And good to connect with you again. YAY CBC2!
Tell your friends to vote for R2N!!! It’s actually listed as #3 after Iqaluit and Alert!!! We need it to be #1!!!
October 15, 2009 at 2:54 am |
Unnukkut!
The Road to Nowhere: It’s so mysterious. I used to hike up the road before there were houses there and pitch a tent in the summer. Recently I lived on it–4002-D. I also was living in Iqaluit when the famous explosion happened–I was recording my first album called Night Sun and we captured the sound of the explosion on tape –someone shot at the dynamite storage shed.
I’m now one of the Nunavut songwriters on the list of 5 and it’s a great honour. I love this island and I love Iqaluit–road to nowhere and all.
“Let’s park the truck and hike in higher
Find a spot to light a fire
Make some bannock and some tea
Flavour it with qijuqtiit
The more we realize
Time flies”
Qujannamiik! Ellen
October 15, 2009 at 2:09 pm |
Ellen! yes, I saw that you were nominated. I think you moved to Iqaluit after I left. I lived at 4002 too!!! fun.
Love your lyric/poem.
Quajannamiik to you! and good luck!
October 15, 2009 at 3:52 pm |
Ellen is my choice to write a Road to Nowhere song. Absolutely!
October 18, 2009 at 4:50 am |
…One summer in the early 90′s we had a tent pitched just at the edge of what is now the Road to Nowhere subdivision…Walking up the Road to Nowhere, the first thing you pass is the pond (now surrounded by houses) where for years, and to this day, kids play hockey every day of the year there’s ice and it’s not below -25…You walk past civilization towards the sand pits, turn and look in the direction of Apex, and the small river snaking through the valley around sand bars (gravel bars, really), the blush of Arctic Fireweed in August, a tent or 2 pitched and campfires burning – it’s really serene and gorgeous – especially -if you look at the horizon – with the low mountains on the far side of Frobisher Bay some 40 km in the distance…
Ellen can certainly do this place justice in song…
October 18, 2009 at 1:42 pm |
Thanks Chris. This is a beautiful description! It’s exactly how I remember it too, before the new housing developments.
Thanks for your vote!
October 18, 2009 at 11:23 pm |
Here are some Road to Nowhere details and factoids thanks to my friend Letia in Iqaluit and her discussion with former mayor Bryan Pearson, and the Senior Director of Planning and Lands for the City of Iqaluit:
- The R2N was built in 1985 to create a gravel source, recreation purposes and for a potential sea plane landing on the lakes (mostly for mining use). There was no gravel, only sand. After 1986, the mayor wasn’t re-elected, and the road wasn’t continued.
- There was one main sand pit and three smaller ones at the end of the R2N; however, they are no longer in use. The main sand pit was permanently closed over a year ago. The smaller ones have been depleted for numerous years.
- It is approximately 3.6 kilometers long, from the intersection of Niaqunngusiaq Road (Apex Road) to the end.
- The Road to Nowhere subdivision was started in 1999. There are approximately 60 buildings, the majority are single-family units. The medium density buildings are concentrated near the entrance of the subdivision.
October 21, 2009 at 11:17 pm |
Bonfires on the Road to Nowhere—-I remember being at a bonfire when some hungry souls ordered poutine from Iqaluit’s Snack restaurant and had it delivered out to the end of the Road to Nowhere in the early hours of the morning.
Blueberry picking
Crowds gathering during the late summer heat waves to go swimming in the Apex creek… it looked like a water park with kids in inner-tubes and crowds of families picnicing
Sightings of herds of caribou a few years back from the Road to Nowhere…Fall 2004? Where are they now?
In December, driving out as far as we could get on the snowy Road to Nowhere and walking out under full moon and seeing the Northern Lights in the sky above as our boots and kamik squeaked on the snow.
October 22, 2009 at 12:48 am |
I walked out to almost the end, by myself, one winter. I ventured off the road and within 4 steps ended up waist-deep in snow. It took me some panic, tears and sweat to get myself out! I thought I was stuck forever. It reminded me that one need not venture far from town to truly be in the middle of nowhere.
A friend reminded me that the Road to Nowhere was also like the “sunday drive”, in summer: families would go to the corner store on Apex Rd by “Lego Land” and “Coronation St”, buy ice cream, and drive out to the end of the Road to Nowhere.
October 23, 2009 at 1:44 am |
hey ‘road to nowhere’!
just coming by to say hi and that a bunch of WASKADA, MB kids are voting for you all the way!
i haven’t had the pleasure of visiting your part of the country yet … but sure would love to visit some day! have enjoyed reading the other comments and memories and hope i have my own memories some day as well …
love how this contest is connecting us all …
cheers!
prairiegirl
October 23, 2009 at 2:31 am |
Hey Prairiegirl! this is wonderful!! I’m thrilled that the MB folks are voting for the Road to Nowhere!! I’ve been voting for all the small places like Waskada and Love and Dildo. I think it would make a wonderful collection of songs!! Thanks for writing. I took a look at your blog, Very Lovely! and yes, it’s wonderful how this contest, and CBC Radio, connects us all.
Cheers back.
October 26, 2009 at 10:22 pm |
WOO HOO! many congratulations on your win ‘road to nowhere’ … absolutely thrilled for you! i know you will be done proud with a song by lucie idlout … can’t wait to hear it!
yup ~ sad here for dildo and grand bend … always love to see the little one get some recognition … but you know, for sure this contest will have given these wonderful places exposure that they never had before … that’s certainly the way we felt about waskada ~ just how fortunate we were to be in the top 5 …
and now? wow … over the moon … just over the moon with excitement about chantal kreviazuk writing a song for waskada … did i say ‘wow’?
thanks SO much for all your encouragement and support …
here’s to you! cheers!
prairiegirl
October 27, 2009 at 12:45 am |
Right back at you Prairiegirl!! we did well! can’t wait. I guess you’ll be welcoming Chantal Kreviazuk and mayber her brood for what I imagine is some excellent Waskadian hospitality! fun!