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ENVIRONMENT MYSTERY 16 Wednesday October 21 2015 6.8103 in x 6.3125 in By CRAIG GILBERT A global phenomenon but one not of this world the paradox of the fairy door has spread to the Northwest Territories. The path to Hay Rivers tiniest secret be- gins somewhere along the water outside town. Kim Rapati of the Northern Farm Training Institute NFTI discovered them and deliberately describes their location vaguely to keep an element of surprise alive for her students. That piqued the interest of transplanted Yellowknifer Amy Lam who augmented her gardening skills at NFTI over the summer and found the tiny town in the woods. It was nice to walk along the trail and nd a door then another one and another one Lam said. Its whimsical. Its nice to come across these little surprises. In a big- ger city you see these anonymous art instal- lations and projects a little more so it was really nice to see something like that in Hay River and really nice to see pieces of art in nature as well. Lam moved to the NWT three years ago after travelling the world and not quite feel- ing the city anymore when she returned home to Toronto. She followed a friend who was relocating to Fort Smith but stayed in Yellowknife. She may not have seen a fairy door dur- ing her travels but others around the world have. In Ann Arbor Michigan more than a dozen fairy doors adorn buildings around the city including one on the front wall of a bookstore that opens to reveal a scene Amy Lam discovered these fairy doors in the forest outside Hay River where she was taking a workshop at the Northern Farm Training Institute. Hay Rivers tiniest secret a NWT fairy tale including classic volumes whose titles can be made out and another at the Google ofces labelled Giggle in near-Google typeface. A request for comment emailed to the Urban Fairies Operators of Ann Arbor was not answered before press deadline. It appears fairies arent welcome every- where or more accurately in any quantity though. Park ofcials in the United Kingdom have had to take steps to curb fairy door pro- liferation in Wayford Woods Crewkerne ac- cording to the BBC. Hundreds of the doors some tasteful many gaudy have popped up at the bases of trees. In many cases small gurines and other features have appeared creating tiny scenes in what some call the fairy woods. Weve had as many as 10 doors put up on a single tree they surrounded the tree trustee Steven Acreman told the BBC. We had a complete fairy fairground arrive but we rejected that planning proposal. The doors and other accessories can be bought online. Some miniature scenes have appeared in the Hay River woods as well. Lam would not admit responsibility for any of the fairy doors or whether she plans to ex- pand the tiny universe nor would she deny it. Friends and I talk about that a lot doing somethinglikeanartinstallationaroundYel- lowknife where you dont know who it belongs toorwhereitcamefromshesaid.Itsanidea thatsalreadytakenbutIlovethewholeconcept of having little art projects around the city that arentattributedtoanyonesosomeonecanhappen across it and it just brings a smile to their day. PhotoscourtesyofAmyLam