Canada Day Saskatoon hosted the 2022 celebration with face painting, activities, and concerts.
“We have some history and experience doing this type of event, and we do a lot of community events here as well. So they asked if we would take this on and we were very happy to do it,” said Shad Ali, director, Canada Day Saskatoon.
This year’s host says it was a challenge to put together, but they loved how it turned out.
“Right now I’m just celebrating with my kids, and if they’re having fun, I’m having fun,” said Jadyss Wolfe, Saskatoon resident.
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The bannock man from Wanuskewin shared indigenous food, offering free bannock with strawberry jam on top.
“There were a lot of first opportunities for people to try it out. If they like it they can come out to Wanuskewin and eat bannock of all sorts. We maple smoke the bannock and we have a flight of different kinds of jams,” said Doug Hyndford, Chef.
The day was spent celebrating ‘A Respectful Honouring of Our Nation,’ which included showcasing all the different cultures within Saskatoon.
There were Chinese dancers, Scottish Country Dancers, Irish dancers, an Afghanistan choir, Ukrainian dancers, Indigenous dancers and storytelling.
“We themed it as a respectful honouring of Canada. It’s not necessarily all celebration, it is about education and information,” said Ali.
Friday night at 10:30, folks can head down to the broadway bridge and watch the fireworks.
“By the time we get to the fireworks at 10:30 tonight, it’s going to be full down there. I’m fully expecting 20, 25,000 people,” said Ali.