Murray Wood: Fish, biscuits and scenery drawing Americans to Saskatchewan
Murray Wood says Saskatchewan's north is a big draw to American anglers, for some obvious reasons.
It’s not very often — if ever — that three of Saskatoon’s biggest summer festivals all take place in the same week.
The Ex, the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival and A Taste of Saskatchewan all claimed a chunk of mid-August with all three festivals set to wrap up Sunday.
While it’s not the ideal scenario, Tourism Saskatoon director of marketing and communications Sarah Berger will take any summer crowds after the industry was decimated over the past 17 months because of COVID-19.
“It’s great for the festivals to be happening, but you have to look at the spinoff — people staying in hotels, people visiting retail, visiting restaurants with families and friends. It’s a positive thing for our city,” Berger said about the three largest local events happening at the same time.
Typically, each festival had its own week of the calendar claimed to maximize attendance and interest. The jazz festival would take place in early July, A Taste of Saskatchewan would follow towards the end of July and The Ex would take place after the August long weekend.
With all three happening at once this summer, Berger sees the potential for some collaboration in the future for the trio of festivals.
“After the last year, all bets are off,” Berger said. “Now is the time to reimagine the way that we’ve done things in the past. I can’t speak for the festivals, but I do think it would be something that might be something to have a look at to see if there might be some nice synergies there.”
It also raises the question of viability. Can all three festivals share Saskatoon’s population and wealth well enough or will any of them suffer?
The Ex is seeing a dropoff from its attendance so far this year compared to 2019. After its opening three days, 75,657 people walked through its gates. In 2019, a total of 216,084 people took in the activity at Prairieland Park during the six-day event, an increase of 12,721 people compared to 2018.
This year’s Ex is on pace to surpass an attendance of 150,000 but remain far off its usual numbers prior to the pandemic.
“It may be a bit overwhelming,” Berger said.
“People haven’t travelled. They haven’t gone to those faraway destinations; they’ve really stuck close to home. So there is that thought or understanding that there might be a little bit extra money for those who have had the privilege to work through the pandemic.”
No matter what, Berger isn’t complaining, and she sees the return of summer festivals as nothing but a positive trend for an industry filled with its share of bleak news since the start of the pandemic.
“We have events. We have places for people to go out and enjoy Saskatoon,” she said.
