They could have just gone with some simple wrapping paper, or one of those dollar-store gift bags. But a fiddling group from Williams Lake, B.C.
, instead stumbled upon something much more interesting and meaningful, when they needed to wrap some gifts for their host in Whitehorse — an old fiddle case that once belonged to Yukon's beloved "fiddler on the loose," the late Joe Loutchan. It happened last week when the Cariboo Chilcotin Youth Fiddle Society was in Whitehorse for the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Competition. They'd brought along some gifts from Williams Lake — some fresh honey, a hand-carved spoon, and a tea cannister made by a local potter — as a way of saying thanks to the event's local organizer, fiddle teacher Keitha Clark.
But they didn't have anything to put their gifts in. That's when Mary Forbes, who's with the Williams Lake group, happened upon the perfect thing when she wandered into an antique and curio shop in downtown Whitehorse. "I was telling her [the shop owner] about what we were doing in town and she said, 'well, maybe you want to see these,'" Forbes recalled.
The shop owner pulled down a few old fiddle cases that were tucked at the back of a cabinet. They didn't have prices on them. "They were fairly old and worn, but still beautiful in their age — and the stories that are inside them," Forbes said.
The shop owner opened the last case, revealing a golden velvet lining with a name roughly inscribed. Forbes said she had trouble reading it at first, comparing it to "heiroglyphs" that may have been etched with a pocket knife. The fiddle case was lined with golden velvet fabric, and had Loutchan's name and number roughly inscribed.
(Mary Forbes) It read, "Joe Loutchan, Whse Yukon," along with a phone number. Forbes had no idea who Loutchan was, but she soon learned all about his long and legendary career as Yukon's "fiddler on the loose." In his decades-long career, Loutchan won countless fiddling competitions and became a kind of musical ambassador for the territory.
When he died in 2021 , Yukon's MP called him a "gentleman legend" and a national treasure. Forbes quickly called the leader of her fiddling group, Ingrid Johnston, to tell her what she found and how the battered old case would make "amazing wrapping paper." "And she [Johnston] said, 'go for it.
' And then I got down to some serious haggling," Forbes said. Cree elder has been playing fiddle for 70 years — and opened his grandson's wedding with 1st tune he learned She was delighted when the shop owners gave her a sweet deal "because they knew who it was going to." The group made the surprise presentation to Clark on Thursday night.
Johnston said it was a special moment for everybody, to show their thanks for all the work Clark had put into bringing the fiddling championships to the North for the first time ever. Ingrid Johnston and the Cariboo Chilcotin Youth Fiddle Society of Williams Lake, B.C.
, present their gifts, including the fiddle case, to Yukon fiddle teacher Keitha Clark last week. (Sue Voth) Johnston said that, like Clark, she's also a fiddle teacher in a small town and that she knows exactly how much work and effort is involved. "You donate a lot of time and you do hours and hours of like.
.. it kind of almost feels thankless sometimes," Johnston said.
"We were the last ones to play that evening too. So I think it was even more fitting to be able to present her with the case and be the final ones and to give her a massive 'thank you,' for thousands of hours — two years — thousands of hours to put this together.".
