Written by Zey Small and Deirdré Norval

A joyful celebration of Afrikaans, tradition and community spirit in the heart of Canada

We can say with grateful hearts that the South African Market that took place on Saturday, 27 July 2025 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan was a huge success!

Approximately 2 000 people from across Canada showed up to support the 40 vendors with an array of outstanding quality products. Visitors from as far away as Ontario, Alberta and Manitoba made the long journey to be part of this annual festival. In addition to South Africa, other African countries such as Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ghana were also represented.

One could feel the warm heart of Africa beating right here in the Canadian prairies. As in the past, the residents of Saskatoon eagerly came to support our vendors, especially the food stalls. Some because they have South African friends and have experienced our delicious food before, others simply out of curiosity.

The sun smiled upon us and a gentle breeze blew just enough to break the heat and carry the pleasant aromas of boerewors, sosaties, bunny chow, curry and rice and pancakes. In the background, Afrikaans music reminded us of the 100th anniversary of Afrikaans as official language. There were also funny posters with Afrikaans idioms, the origin of Afrikaans and advertisements to remind you of how colourful the world’s youngest language is.

This year we also provided picnic tables where people enjoyed the most delicious food and drinks early in the day, visited with old acquaintances as well as new friends and rested for a while before continuing their shopping.

For those with a competitive streak, there was the opportunity to participate in rugby, netball, a dance competition (with guests of honour, Jo Black and Appel as judges) and even a cookie eating competition for the teenagers. Parents could let the youngsters loose to enjoy themselves on the bouncy castles to get rid of all their energy.

There were old favourites, such as ginger beer, Hertzoggies, rusks, milk tart, koeksisters, biltong, droëwors and new treats such as milk tart flavoured ice cream, beef tallow cream, biltong cream cheese, malva pudding and Romany Creams rusks.

Finally, we can truly say that the craft tables were excellent this year and the good sales of their products once again bear testimony to a deep appreciation for something that is made by someone themselves out of a love for our culture.

Beautiful crochet work, table linen, macramé, traditional batik from Zimbabwe, beautiful linen and bags with Kuba material from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, biltong boxes for those who long for their own biltong, Shweshwe bags, wire proteas and woodwork, aromatic soaps and 3D products and many more.

The South African creativity truly knows no bounds! We even released a 100-year commemorative coin, the brainchild of Johann Malan and designed by Zey Small!

The market day concluded with a concert, presented by promoter Arnold Nel of SA Events in Canada and USA, in collaboration with AfriForum Worldwide. The spirits were high, and people sang along and cheered while Jo Black and Appel entertained us. Canadians remarked that our South African food is very tasty and that we are truly a jolly bunch.

We went home with grateful hearts and renewed hope and courage to make life enjoyable for ourselves here on the Canadian Prairies!

We are looking forward to the 2026 market!

What’s happening near you?

Did you know AfriForum Worldwide offers a free service where you can market any Afrikaans or South African gatherings or festivals on our platform? Feel free to send an e-mail to wereldwyd@afriforum.co.za and let us know about any nice Afrikaans gatherings abroad.