Great Saskatchewan Mustard Festival draws hundreds

REGINA – It’s a condiment that usually sits on the squeeze bottle sidelines, but on Sunday mustard was the star player.

“Everyone has their lentil festivals or whatever, but mustard seemed to be one that always was kind of left out,” said Malcolm Craig, one of the organizers of the Great Saskatchewan Mustard Festival.

Hundreds packed into The Willow on Wascana for the event, which featured samples of treats including mustard sorbet and mustard muffins, among many other concoctions.

The event stimulated taste buds and competition.

The 23 vendors did their best to impress visitors, who determined the winner of the People’s Choice Award.

“We’ve got some mustard with the smoked pork and, on top of that, we’ve got a whiskey BBQ sauce and a mustard horseradish mayo,” said Todd Taylor. “It dances in your mouth. It’s delicious.”

His pork-on-bread combination ended up winning the competition, though Saskatchewan has many other mustard winners of another kind.

“Canada itself produces 90 per cent of the world’s mustard, and, of that 90 per cent, 70 per cent of that comes from Saskatchewan. So, yeah, that’s quite big chunk of change when it comes to mustard,” said Craig.

And visitors of the event can understand the international appeal.

“I was thinking, like, who doesn’t love mustard? I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone that doesn’t love mustard, really, ever” said first-time festival-goer Nadia Williamson with a laugh.