Saskatoon
bills itself as ‘the sunniest city in Canada.’ Even in the depths of December,
it gets more sunlight on average than Toronto. No one denies that winters can be cold (the record low for
the city is a bone-chilling -50o Celsius), but the summer days, by
way compensation, are very long and (of course!) sunny. And for LGBT
travellers, at any time of year, there’s warmth in Saskatoon’s welcome.
Saskatoon,
you see, is one of those places where the LGBT community is woven into the
fabric of the mainstream. You
don’t go there to bar-hop or see and be seen in all the ‘right’ places.
Instead, you visit the city to relax, take in the sights, and just be yourself
– anywhere. Yes there’s an active
gay community, with bars and restaurants and the Avenue Community Centre, which provides social services to people of
all descriptions.
But most of
the city’s attractions are open to everybody. There are festivals – the city is
festival-crazy, especially in summer – as well as art galleries, restaurants
and other urban amenities, plus a range of outdoor activities from cycling to
snowshoeing to communing with nature and discovering the lives of the region’s
first inhabitants. That
urban-outdoors mix is part of the package in what is, with a quarter-million
people, Saskatchewan’s largest city.
So is its relaxed attitude.
Curtis
Korchinski was born and raised in Saskatoon. He and his husband (they’ve been
married for over eight years and have an adopted son) run The Ivy Dining & Lounge, an upscale restaurant downtown.
“Most
people think we live in a Prairie hick town and that you could never be out in
this city,” he says. “But we do
it. We live in a suburban neighbourhood and have a public business. There are
no secrets in our life.
“Saskatoon
is progressive and very gay-friendly. People just don’t care. We’ve never
experienced an issue here at all. We go out as a family to many restaurants
other than our own, our son is in different sports and other activities. We
just blend in.”
Korchinski
offers some insider’s tips for visitors to Saskatoon:
Explore
the riverbank
The South
Saskatchewan River flows through the middle of the city and is its geographic
heart. (There are seven bridges across the river in the city.) The Meewasin Valley Trail (Meewasin is the Cree word for
beautiful) follows the river and is a must-see for visitors, at any time of
year. You can explore the trail on foot or by bicycle, and in summer, you can
canoe down the river.
Go for
brunch
One of the
city’s landmarks is the Delta Bessborough hotel, the youngest in a series of
castle-like railroad hotels built across the country in the late 19th and early
20th centuries. It’s always worth a visit, but Korchinski says that for his
money, one of the best places for brunch is the nearby Sheraton Cavalier. “It’s right on the river, and they
have the most stunning views of the city,” he says, adding that the Bessborough
is part of the view.
Peru on
the prairie
Looking for
something out of the ordinary? For a very unique food experience, Korchinski
recommends The Hole in the Wall Restaurant, a destination restaurant about 40
kilometres south of Saskatoon on Blackstrap Lake. The owner is from Peru and
has created a menu that fuses Canadian and Peruvian dishes.
A park
with a view
Saskatoon
is located in a transition zone between the boreal forests to the north and the
grasslands to the south, in a region of the prairie called aspen parkland.
Korchinski says the best way to get a sense of the vastness of the prairie is
to visit the Wanuskewin Heritage Park, a national historic site about 10 kilometres
north of the city. The park presents the story of the Northern Plains Indians
(some of the archeological sites there are older than Egypt’s pyramids) and
allows visitors to get a sense of the unspoiled prairie landscape.
Food
Korchinski
runs a restaurant, so it’s no surprise that one of his picks as a must-see
attraction is the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market. It also makes sense because
Saskatoon sits in the midst of a one of Canada’s major agricultural regions.
The market is open year-round, though the selection is biggest when crops are
being harvested.
Visit
Tourism Saskatoon for information about the city. http://www.tourismsaskatoon.com/
Native son: Saskatoon’s place in LGBT history
Saskatchewan-born
Doug Wilson (1950-1992) was one of Canada’s earliest and most prominent gay
rights activists. In 1975, Wilson was vice-president of the Gay Community
Centre Saskatoon and had been trying to start a gay academic union at the University
of Saskatchewan. The dean of the university’s College of Education refused to
allow Wilson into the school system to supervise practice teachers because of
his public involvement with the gay rights movement.
Wilson was
unsuccessful in his attempt to get the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission to
protect him, and spent most of his life fighting for human rights issues,
activism and AIDS organizations.
Daniel Drolet
is an Ottawa writer, a member of Travel Gay Canada and president of Éclair Communications.