What's on in Whitehorse, Canada through the year

Busy — Winter / Christmas break in Canada, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Aurora season (20 Aug – 10 Apr (usually)), Deep winter cold (1 Dec – 28 Feb)

Busy — Yukon Quest

• Festival

  Yukon Quest

  1–15 Feb · usuallyMajor festivalCrowded

  The long-distance sled dog races leave Whitehorse in early February, the longer one running 888 kilometres of trail to Dawson City. The start line downtown is the part you can watch without a snowmobile. Source ↗

• Festival

  Available Light Film Festival

  5–25 Feb · usually

  Ten days of cinema, music and panels in the darkest, coldest stretch of the northern winter, which is exactly the point of scheduling it then. It is the town's biggest indoor event of the year. Source ↗

Still on: Aurora season (20 Aug – 10 Apr (usually)), Deep winter cold (1 Dec – 28 Feb)

Busy — March break / semaine de relâche in Canada

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Aurora season (20 Aug – 10 Apr (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in April.

Still on: Aurora season (20 Aug – 10 Apr (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

• Nature

  Long summer light

  25 May – 15 Jul · usuallyMidnight sun

  It never gets properly dark around the solstice at this latitude — nineteen hours of daylight and a long blue dusk that runs into dawn. People play golf and paddle at midnight because they can.

Busy — Summer break in Canada, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Yukon River Quest

  18 Jun – 2 Jul · usuallyMajor festival

  Seven hundred kilometres of paddling from the Whitehorse waterfront to Dawson City, run through the round-the-clock light of the solstice. The mass start off the riverbank is the spectacle. Source ↗

Still on: Long summer light (25 May – 15 Jul (usually))

Busy — Summer break in Canada, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: Long summer light (25 May – 15 Jul (usually)), Yukon River Quest (18 Jun – 2 Jul (usually))

Busy — Summer break in Canada, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Nature

  Aurora season

  20 Aug – 10 Apr · usually

  Dark enough to see the lights from late August until the light comes back in spring, with a break either side of the solstice when it never really gets dark. Get out of the city glow and up the Klondike Highway.

Busy — Summer break in Canada

Nothing new starts in September.

Still on: Aurora season (20 Aug – 10 Apr (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in October.

Still on: Aurora season (20 Aug – 10 Apr (usually))

Quiet — one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in November.

Still on: Aurora season (20 Aug – 10 Apr (usually))

Busy — Winter / Christmas break in Canada, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Hazard

  Deep winter cold

  1 Dec – 28 FebExtreme cold

  Cold snaps take the territory well past minus thirty and the highways out of town become a serious undertaking rather than a drive. Block heaters are standard and the road reports are worth reading twice. Source ↗

Still on: Aurora season (20 Aug – 10 Apr (usually))