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Hundreds of people gathered in the Kiwanis Memorial Park in downtown Saskatoon for Ukrainian Day in the Park on Saturday.
The smell of traditional Ukrainian dishes filled the air, as Ukrainian folk music could be heard throughout.
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One of the booths at the event was selling traditional Ukrainian items.
Olesya Hursky, Stream of Hopes co-founder, said every item they sell comes from Ukraine.
“Most are made by a variety of different vendors, and come from different parts of Ukraine.”
Hursky said shipping goods from Ukraine is not the easiest thing to do.
“It has its challenges. Shipping is extremely expensive because we’re shipping from a war-torn country,” she said.
“There’s also some suppliers that went out of business because of the war, and some factories were completely destroyed. But considering that there is a war in Ukraine, Ukrainian postal services are sometimes faster than Canadian ones.”
As Hursky watched the crowd, she said it warmed her heart.
“It’s nice to see non-Ukrainians come out and support the community,” she said. “To have public support means a lot for Ukrainians. It means that the public understands what we’re going through and is supporting us.”
Hursky moved to Canada in 2001, and said if there’s one thing that has stayed the same, it’s the generosity and kindness of Canadians.
“The heart-warming welcome that Canadians did for us, it has stayed the same,” she said.
“I saw bananas for the first time, I think a year before I moved to Canada. The new wave of Ukrainians have seen it all. They have marketplaces that have all the same produce. So they’re not as excited, not as thrilled about our stores.”
Daria Malin, co-founder of Ukrainian Patriot, was at Ukrainian Day in the Park in Saskatoon on Aug. 30, 2025. (Will Mandzuk/650CKOM)
Raising money for the front line
Ukrainian Patriot was founded in 2022, just five days after Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine.
“We support humanitarian aid, so food bags and hygiene kits. We still do tons of deliveries (and) we do the odd evacuation,” said co-founder Daria Malin.
So far the organization has raised over $1.5 million , and the group hopes to encourage people to remember what is happening in Ukraine.
“It’s not getting any better, in fact, it’s getting worse,” she said.
Malin said it’s important to make sure Ukrainians don’t feel like the world has forgotten about them.
“There’s so many Ukrainian’s here,” she said.
“When volunteers from multiple countries go to Ukraine and they are delivering in somewhat dangerous zones, the Ukrainian people hear accents, and they hear people who don’t even speak Ukrainian, and it reminds them that the world hasn’t forgotten about them.”
Malin added that it’s heartbreaking hearing all the stories coming out of Ukraine.
“Nobody should have to go through this,” she said. “This could be any one of us. What happens if a drone hits Saskatoon? How would we feel?”
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