‘It’s like traveling the world’: Wintershines returns to Saskatoon

The 13th year of Saskatoon’s Wintershines event is drawing in many families to enjoy what the colder months have to offer. Hallee Mandryk reports.

The 13th year of Saskatoon’s Wintershines event is drawing in many families to enjoy what the colder months have to offer.

“The city and the community seem to really enjoy it. Today they’ll be pony rides and there’ll be wagon rides outside. There’s usually a lineup for that, and the amazing snow and ice slide...is a very popular item,” Shad Ali, the festival director, said.

Hosted both inside Gather Local Market and outside in Market Square, the week-long event features a number of activities intended to highlight the fun parts of Saskatoon winters, and cozy options inside for those looking to warm up.

“We try to make sure there’s something for everyone here as well. Come indoors and Gather Local Market. It’s like traveling the world. We have several vendors here, we have shopping here... and the temperature is really not all that bad out there today. So I love to have people come down and join us,” Ali said.

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This year’s theme is Footsteps & Stories, which directly ties into one of the indoor activities intended to inspire visitors to use their creative side.

“I think it’s an interesting idea to make us to review and think about where we actually come from, and look back and collaborate with the animal habits in a snowy season. Have it in a snow like a snowy season. It’s actually quite lovely to realize our footprint, animals’ footprint all together and to put them on the canvas as a total vision,” Xiao Han, one of the artists with Kyuubi Culture Artist Collective, said.

Han is part of the Following Their Treks program where visitors can create and decorate a set of foot or handprints to contribute to a larger art piece on display throughout the week.

Han added that it has been fun to see how each visitor brings their own unique addition to the larger collection of tracks.

“They will draw the flag up all the places have been to or they are from, and then they will do something referencing Canada or Saskatoon. It’s quite sweet to realize how people describe their identities through visual arts,” Han said.

While a handful of programs with limited space require a paid ticket, the vast majority of programming is free of charge. Ali shared that this aspect of the event was very important to him and the organizing team.

“We work hard at making sure this is accessible to the majority of our community, so that people can simply come down and enjoy the space that we’re providing with their families and get to know one another a little bit better,” Ali said.