Athletes race in massive York boats as of part of northern Manitoba festival

Norway House Cree Nation is celebrating the return of its annual summer festival where rowers will compete in a uniquely Manitoban event: York boat racing.

From Aug. 4-13, Norway House will host Treaty and York Boats Days, a 10-day event featuring games, sporting tournaments, competitions, dances, musical acts, and highly anticipated York boat races.

This year marks the 50th anniversary since the festival began. Community members from Cross Lake First Nation, Oxford House First Nation, Island Lake, Fisher River Cree Nation and other communities will be in attendance.

"We wanted to make it a big celebration for our community and our visitors across Manitoba," said Ed Albert, a councillor for Norway House Cree Nation.

York boats – which Albert said are about 12 metres long and four metres wide — were often paddled to and from York Factory and Norway House carrying furs and other supplies.

Albert said the York boats replaced canoes, since they were able to carry more weight and more people, including eight rowers, one steersman and one caller, he said.

The York boat race stretches 10 kilometres and wraps around some islands in the area. 

Alberta said the race is "an experience in itself," and reminds the community about the determination of the people who used the boats centuries before them.

"They want to remember ... our ancestors, how hard they worked to get from one location to the other," he said.

The festival is meant to honour the community's history during the fur trade, when Hudson's Bay Company and the Northwest Company established a fur trading post where Norway House Cree Nation now stands — at the north end of Lake Winnipeg along the eastern channel of the Nelson River.

The post served as a storage facility for