The 2020 Juno Awards are this weekend, and ahead of Sunday’s award show, events are bringing Saskatoon to life.
Quinn and Kim’s Flowers has been hard at work since the weekend. They have a big order — over 170 floral arrangements for the Junos.
They’ve been putting in up to 10-hour days to get everything done. But it’s all worth it down the line.
“It’s a nice thing to have on your resume,” said Quinn Brown, who owns the business with his wife.
Dale MacKay, the owner of Ayden Kitchen and Bar, will be catering the awards gala.
He has 1,200 mouths to feed at the gala, but he’s been getting more hungry customers leading up to the big night.
“The closer we get to the actual Junos … people are starting to come to the city so we see our reservations kind of ramping up and people booking larger parties,” he said.
The Juno Awards and events leading up over the week are expected to bring in between $8 and $9 million to the local economy, according to Tourism Saskatoon.
“Anything that comes to the city like the Junos is so good for the city and the province and for the hospitality industry for hotels, for shops, for everything,” MacKay said.
“It also turns into tourism later on too because whenever people come to Saskatoon they realize what an amazing place this is and then they want to come back.”
Tourism Saskatoon said it doesn’t know how many people have travelled to the city for Juno week yet, but does know they’re spending money.
“With the Juno Awards, there’s a lot of people that shop up their wardrobes to have something relevant and related to the Junos, so there’s some more spending and retail, probably higher than average with this cultural event compared to a lot of other ones,” Tourism Saskatoon president and CEO Todd Brandt said.
Brandt said the organization will know the full impact of the awards on Saskatoon once they’re over.
Despite Canada’s first death from COVID-19 in B.C., and inmates at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre being quarantined after an offender said he had previously come into contact with someone with the disease, the awards appear to still be on as of Wednesday afternoon.
“A lot of people have already travelled into Saskatoon so the event will continue, barring some catastrophic change,” said Brandt when asked about the possibility of cancelling the show.
“We’re doing everything we can to emphasis sanitation and taking care of people and each other as we go through the weekend and attend these different events.”
People can read more on recommendations for precautions to take at the Juno Awards amid COVID-19 concerns online.