page_title: Saskatoon
section_title: Events and festivals
hierarchical_section_title: Saskatoon / Culture / Events and festivals
caption_attribution_description: English: Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan festival tents south of the Mendel Art Gallery on the banks of the South Saskatchewan River. Photo taken from the U of S
context_page_description: Saskatoon is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as the cultural and economic hub of central Saskatchewan since its founding in 1882 as a Temperance colony.
  With a 2016 census population of 246,376, Saskatoon is the largest city in the province, and the 17th largest Census Metropolitan Area in Canada, with a 2016 census population of 295,095. The City of Saskatoon has estimated its population to be 278,500 as of July 2018, while Statistics Canada has estimated the CMA's population to be 330,674 as of 2019.
  Saskatoon is home to the University of Saskatchewan, the Meewasin Valley Authority which protects the South Saskatchewan River and provides for the city's popular riverbank park spaces, and Wanuskewin Heritage Park, a National Historic Site of Canada and UNESCO World Heritage applicant representing 6,000 years of First Nations history.
context_section_description: Saskatoon's major arts venue is TCU Place, which is next to Midtown Plaza downtown. Since opening in 1967, it has hosted scores of concerts, theatrical performances, live events such as the Telemiracle telethon, high school graduation and university convocation ceremonies, and conventions. It is also home to the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra. It recently underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation to its main theatre (named in honour of former mayor and senator Sidney Buckwold). Saskatoon was the 2007 host city for the Juno Awards, Canada's foremost music industry honours.
  For rock concerts and major shows, SaskTel Centre is the main venue. It is Saskatchewan's
  largest arena, with a capacity of 15,195 for sporting events and 14,000 for concerts. Musical acts from Saskatoon include Joni Mitchell, Kyle Riabko, Wide Mouth Mason, The Northern Pikes, The Sheepdogs, and The Deep Dark Woods, as well as countless others popular at both local and regional levels.
  Saskatoon hosts many festivals and events in the summer, including the Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan Festival, The Great Plains Comedy Festival, the Jazz Festival, the Saskatchewan Children's Festival, the Saskatoon Fringe Theatre Festival (a showcase of alternative theatre), Saskatoon Folkfest (a cultural festival), Doors Open Saskatoon, Fairy Door Tours Saskatoon and the Canada Remembers Airshow.
  For over 25 years, Saskatoon has hosted a gathering of antique automobiles, (mainly from the 1960s) that has grown into an event called "Cruise Weekend". The event is usually held on the last weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) in August. Activities include a poker derby, dances, and a show 'N' shine with over 800 cars from all over western Canada. No admission is charged and everyone is free to walk around and enjoy the atmosphere.
  The city's annual exhibition (now called the Saskatoon Exhibition but also known in previous years as Pioneer Days and "The Ex") is held every August at Prairieland Park. In the late 1990s, the Saskatoon Exhibition was rescheduled to August so that it no longer was in direct competition with the Calgary Stampede, which frequently overlapped the event.
  Saskatoon's Sikh community celebrates the festival of Vaisakhi with a parade held in May.
  The francophone community is represented by the Fédération des francophones de Saskatoon which organizes many cultural events.
caption: Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan is an annual Shakespeare in the Park festival held in Saskatoon.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-S60", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop 7.0", "Image DateTime": "2008:09:07 18:07:11", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0]", "Image ExifOffset": "288", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "814", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3372", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/400", "EXIF FNumber": "26/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:07:25 14:27:54", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:07:25 14:27:54", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "18", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2208", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1332", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}