This summer I finally experienced the Red Lake Norseman Festival – a local fair centered around the bush plane. If you’re thinking the
Norseman Festival is along the lines of the Stampede, Klondike Days, PNE or CNE, you’d be sorely mistaken. Red Lake’s population is 5,200
so it’s definitely a small town fair.
For those who’ve never been to Red Lake, there’s only a couple motels. Food is limited to three small restaurants, two of which close
early. Cab fare from the airport is $25 each way and unless you’re doing a lot of commuting it’s nothing to walk around Red Lake. If you
do need a rental car book it well in advance. The same goes for motel rooms.
The festival officially begins on Friday morning with a golf tournament and several local activities but there’s no flying. We however took
advantage of the calm to visit Chimo Air Service and arrange flights in their Beech D18 and Noorduyn Norseman. I now understand the
Norseman’s famous “5-mile takeoff.” Lucky for us the weather worked its way from heavy rain in the morning to light showers and finally
clear skies by evening.
During our Norseman ride we met another father-son team from England. Far more determined than we were, these two men traveled overseas to
see the festival and Oshkosh. We bumped into them time and time again. There was also a pair of enthusiasts from Belgium but we didn’t
meet them.
Saturday morning awoke with a rather slow start to the activities. It wasn’t until mid-morning before the vendors were set up. The main
street had been closed allowing locals to sell home-made jewelry, paintings and carvings. There was lots of interesting stuff to be seen
and incase you’ve been searching for hand-carved moose antlers for your living room, here’s the perfect place to find one that’ll meet your
decorative tastes.
Rides in one of Canada’s quintessential bush planes were of course the highlight of many visitors’ trips. Flights cost $40 for adults and
$30 for children but I noticed that flights could range from a couple minutes to a quarter hour tour of the community. With a telephoto
lens it was possible to get some nice landing and takeoff photos, but as a courtesy to the locals the pilots don’t fly over the town so
in-flight photos were difficult to obtain. Broken cloud helped keep temperatures down, but also reduced the sunlight.
At first there was only one visiting Norseman on the public docks, but this eventually increased to three as the day wore on. Apparently
they were still needed to haul passengers back from fishing lodges in the morning. Beyond the public docks were two more Norsemans; one at
Green Airways and another at Viking Outposts. I would have thought the operators would have condensed their planes to the public dock
instead of leaving them spread along the waterfront. As a result there weren’t a lot of people around Green Airways’ docks, while Viking
Outposts’ office was deserted. Everyone was friendly but the lady at Viking Outposts offered us hats, played a Norseman song she’d
commissioned from a local singer and made us feel thoroughly welcome. I should add that the people at Chimo Air Service were just as
friendly while Green’s were quite busy when we visited with two Otters and a Beaver to load.
Saturday evening was dampened by light rain showers while entertainment was supplied by a music group calling themselves “Pop the Trunk.”
The singing was good and their selections included pop and country. It wasn’t until we got back to town at 9:00pm that we discovered that
two of the town’s restaurants were closed and we ended up patronizing one of the street vendors. A large tent used during the day for a
hypnotist‘s show provided shelter, a table and chairs. At 10:30pm a fireworks show started off. For such a small community, the show
lasted a respectable 15 minutes. Unfortunately I left my tripod back home because of an overnight fishing trip that failed to happen.
Instead I watched the fireworks unconcerned about exposure lengths or aperture settings, something I haven’t done for a while.
Regrettably we had to cut our visit to Red Lake short because of several weather systems building on our return route. Flying to events
sometimes means you have to sacrifice photos for a safe trip, especially when it’s 1,500 kilometers each way.
According to the program there was to be a float pumping contest and Norseman fly-by in the late afternoon. I would have liked to have
photographed both of these events, but again it came down to the weather.
BEECH D18, C-FHZA
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
KEN'S FIRST BEECH FLIGHT IN 36 YEARS
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
BEECH D18, C-FHZA
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, CF-KAO
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
DE HAVILLAND DHC-3 OTTER, C-FODG
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, C-FJIN
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
SCENIC FLIGHT AROUND RED LAKE
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
WELCOME TO RED LAKE
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
STORE FRONT SIGNAGE
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
"NORSEMAN EXPRESS"
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, CF-DRD
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, CF-DRD
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
ESCENTIAL FISHING GEAR
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, C-FJIN
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
DE HAVILLAND DHC-2 BEAVER, C-FVIA
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, CF-ZMX
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, CF-DTL
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, C-FBHZ
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, C-FBHZ
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, CF-FQI
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, CF-KAO
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, CF-GSR
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, CF-GSR
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
TREVOR AT THE CONTROLS
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
BEECH D18, C-FHZA
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
BEECH D18, C-FHZA AND NORSEMAN C-FJIN
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, CF-KAO
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
DE HAVILLAND DHC-3 OTTER, C-FODG
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, C-FJIN
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
SCENIC FLIGHT AROUND RED LAKE
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
THE NORSEMAN INN
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
LOCAL STREET VENDORS
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
HOWEY BAY TRAFFIC
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, CF-DRD
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
DE HAVILLAND DHC-2 BEAVER, C-GGMB
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
CORVETTE POWERED SEABEE, C-FDOQ
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
THE FAMOUS LAKEVIEW RESTAURANT
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
DE HAVILLAND DHC-2 BEAVER, C-FVIA
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, CF-ZMX
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, C-FBHZ
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, C-FBHZ
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
VIKING OUTPOSTS' OFFICE
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, CF-FQI
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, CF-GSR
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, CF-GSR
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
KEN AT THE CONTROLS
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
BEECH D18, C-FHZA
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
BEECH D18, C-FHZA
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
DE HAVILLAND DHC-3 OTTER, C-FODG
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
CHIMO AIR SERVICES' DOCKS
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, C-FJIN
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
SCENIC FLIGHT AROUND RED LAKE
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
DOWNTOWN RED LAKE
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
KIDS' PLAY SLIDE
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NORSEMAN PARK
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, CF-DRD
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
DE HAVILLAND DHC-3 OTTER, C-FODG
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
CORVETTE POWERED SEABEE, C-FDOQ
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
DE HAVILLAND DHC-2 BEAVER, C-FVIA
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, CF-ZMX
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, CF-ZMX
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, C-FBHZ
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, C-FBHZ
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, CF-FQI
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, CF-FQI
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, CF-GSR
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
NOORDUYN NORSEMAN, CF-GSR
Red Lake, Ontario
July 2006
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