Yukon's Adka Cultural Festival called off for 2nd year in a row

Yukon's Adka Cultural Festival has been cancelled for another year.

The annual week-long eventbrings Indigenous cultural performers to Whitehorseand showcases local First Nations arts and culture.

This year's festival was originally going to take place at the end of June, but was postponed to late August when a wave of COVID-19 cases hit the territory last month.

Now, organizers have cancelled it altogether.

"It's been pretty difficult to try and keep the momentum up to plan the event when there is so much uncertainty in Yukon right now with the current COVID outbreak," saidCharlene Alexander, executive director of the Yukon First Nations Cultural and Tourism Association.

She says the decisionwas made for everybody's safety.

It's the second year the festival has been cancelled.

Adkawas first held in Whitehorse in 2011, and next year's event will mark the tenth anniversary.

"Next year is going to be a circumpolar theme and we are going to have artists from across the North and other countries in Whitehorse," said Alexander.