What's on in Whitehorse, Canada through the year

Peak crowds — Christmas Day closures, Winter / Christmas break in Canada

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Aurora season (20 Aug – 10 Apr (usually)), Deep winter cold (1 Dec – 28 Feb), Christmas Day closures (24 Dec – 1 Jan)

Busy — Yukon Quest

• Festival

  Yukon Quest

  1–15 Feb · usuallySporting eventCrowded

  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 · usuallySporting event

  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))

Peak crowds — Canada Day, Summer break in Canada

• Holiday

  Canada Day

  1 JulNational holidayClosuresCrowded

  1 July is a statutory holiday across the country, moved to 2 July when it falls on a Sunday. Banks, government offices and many shops close, towns put on daytime concerts and parades with fireworks after dark, and hotels and ferries fill when it makes a long weekend. Source ↗

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))

Peak crowds — Christmas Day closures, Winter / Christmas break in Canada

• 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 ↗

• Holiday

  Christmas Day closures

  24 Dec – 1 JanChristmas & New YearClosures

  Christmas Day is a statutory holiday nationwide: most shops, museums and many restaurants close and transit runs a holiday schedule. Boxing Day brings sales crowds to the malls where it is kept, and 1 January is another quiet, mostly closed day. Source ↗

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