Yukon Quest appeals to Fairbanks council over failed funding bid

Last Updated: Monday, December 15, 2008
CBC News

Organizers with the Yukon Quest sled-dog race will ask city councillors in
Fairbanks, Alaska, on Monday to overturn a recent decision to deny the race
$20,000 in funding.

Organizers of the Quest, an annual race between Fairbanks and Whitehorse
held in February, had missed a deadline to apply for municipal funding as a
tourism-related event, resulting in a rejection of the application.

Race officials will appear before Fairbanks city council at Monday night's
meeting, hoping to convince the city to overturn the rejected application.

"I'm fairly hopeful; that's what I can say. I think that everyone in the
city realizes how important this race is to the city, to the community,"
Tanya Simpson, executive director of the Yukon Quest in Alaska, told CBC
News.

Simpson said her office missed the application deadline because of a
misunderstanding and is counting on councillors to realize the value of the
annual race.

"We're certainly going to be talking to the tremendous amount of economic
impact that the Yukon Quest, you know, brings to the city here," Simpson
said.

"This has been a long-standing community event. Certainly in terms of
tourism and winter tourism, it drives a tremendous amount of international
tourists here."

Karen Fox, a member of the Fairbanks municipal committee that reviews
funding applications for tourism-related events, said there is recourse for
those whose applications have been turned down.

"They can go to the city council ‹ and this has been done before ‹ and the
city council, in their infinite wisdom, if they decide that we should accept
their application, we will," Fox said.

Simpson said the Quest is counting on the $20,000 from the city of
Fairbanks. Without it, she said the race's budget will be extremely tight.

With or without the Fairbanks funding, Simpson said the Yukon Quest will go
ahead on Feb. 14, 2009, when mushers will start in Whitehorse and race to
Fairbanks.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2008/12/15/quest-fairbanks.html