Compiled by Chandré du Plessis

Saskatchewan is a province in the heart of Canada. Right in the middle. Its borders stretch from Santa’s front porch to North Dakota in the USA. In winter we experience days that can get as cold as -45 °C. Our summers are lovely and temperatures can rise to 35 °C. The province is based on farming, and the golden yellow canola fields are something special to behold in high summer. Our province is called the “Land of Living Skies” because of the aurora borealis that we can see quite often, but colloquially we simply call Saskatchewan the “Canadian Free State plains” because it is so flat.

It’s a fun event, with colourful flags fluttering in the wind and the parking lot is crammed with cars. Words like “Sawubona”, “Yebo” and “Dumela” warmly welcome you at the entrance. Under the huge “South African Market Welcome!” banner Afrikaans people greet you, take the entrance fee and put a stamp on your hand. It’s remarkable how friendly the people are, everyone laughs and chats and Afrikaans music can be heard in the distance. Children play and laugh, and hearing “Hallo, oom” or “Dankie, tannie” just makes your day!

The first row of stalls are food stalls. The food flavours and smells fill your nose and your heart and you can’t help feeling nostalgic. Hit after hit from the gazebo kitchens become dishes that are served in bowls and bags. Curry and rice, vetkoek, jaffles, pancakes, pumpkin fritters, bunny chows, sosaties, boerewors, roosterkoek, pap and kaiings and many more. The hand-made decor and all kinds of stalls do not disappoint either. The industrious fingers of a creative community have made beautiful designs. From protea cushion covers to African-motif earrings, from braai boards to braais, wire cars and kick bikes, cutlery, pottery and welcome mats for your front door. There is no end to the artfulness and creativity of South Africans. People come to take part from as far as Manitoba and Alberta and sleep over just to be part of this unique annual festival.

The tables once again groaned under the koeksisters, milk tarts, rusks and chocolate cakes. The biltong, droëwors, boerewors and oxtail filled many a cooler box. There were also pickled vegetables, chutney, biltong spices, jam and all the types of cookies your heart desires! Talking to the organisers of the market, it becomes clear that no one expected so many people at the first market. “Those of us who had stalls thought if no one showed up, we would just buy from each other, but let’s hope 200 people show up. What a surprise when 3 000 people turned up in July 2023 at the first market. We quickly realised that we would have to look for another larger site if we wanted to take on the event again.” This year it was even bigger and better with more than 70 vendors and around 5 000 visitors. A large grass field was converted into three areas, one area for jumping castles and slides, one hosted boeresports and on the other one the Gophers Rugby Club from Saskatoon taught the young ones how to play rugby. A tea garden served coffee, milk tart and slices of cake. The annual dance competition makes for great fun. To the rhythm of Afrikaans music, people dance away their worries and a whopping $200 cash prize for the winners makes the competition a great attraction.

Apart from expected South Africans and Canadians, there were also visitors from countries such as Switzerland, Ghana, Latvia, Australia, the Netherlands and Iran. There were people with Springbok jerseys, traditional Cape Malay attire, traditional Xhosa beads decorated the necks of ladies with big smiles, little boys wore khaki clothes and vellies and many more. Socks with Zoo cookies, Creme Soda and Fizzer motifs were a playful addition to the South Africans’ already colourful day. I will certainly attend this event again next year. The day was fantastically organised and the management team did their job exceedingly well. Marketing was fantastic, the venue was top notch and everything was superbly organised. A colourful day like this unfortunately also comes to an end. With nostalgic thoughts and your heart longing for your home, your culture and your people, you walk out to your car, under the signs that welcomed us so generously earlier.

Our hearts are overflowing with the joviality we have experienced, to be able to socialise with fellow countrymen. Our shopping bags and cooler boxes are filled to the brim with all the goodies we crave, and our children have made new friends. Until next year, Saskatoon!

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