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Summer Solstice Festival d'été

It's the 20th Anniversary of the Southern Saskatchewan Summer Solstice Festival!

 
Check out all the amazing events and activities happening town-wide June 17 & 18.
 
FRIDAY, JUNE 17
Jeffery Straker at the Convent Chapel. Need a ticket? Pick yours up at Styles or buy online here. Doors open at 6:30 pm.
 
Ready for a party? Put on your dancing duds and head over to Neighbours Kitchen & Bar for for our festival kickoff celebration.
 
SATURDAY, JUNE 18
8 am - 11 am: Legion Pancake Breakfast (Lion's Hall)
11 am: Fun in the Sun Parade!
11:30 am - 5 pm:
  • Epic Street Fair on Main St featuring over 40 vendors
  • Solstice Snacks: Local eats from around the world!
  • Styles Carnival & Bouncy Castle
  • Windy River Petting Zoo
  • Arts and Crafts Tent
  • Traditional Storytelling Teaching
  • Museum Tours & Community Art Quilt Display
  • Hoop dancing workshop
  • Face painting
  • FREE, cultural activities all afternoon on the Soucy Park Stage

5 pm - 10 PM: The FREE family fun continues with live music in the park from Denita & Ron, Fransaskois singer Thomas Chevalier, and bluegrass wizards The Local Group. You won't want to miss the special appearance from hoop dancer Terrance Littletent and the Kawacatoose boys.

10 pm - 2 am: Wrap up your Solstice Weekend by rocking out to all your favourite tunes with Kings & Renegades. 19+ only and the cover is only $10!

Summer has arrived!

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Summer Solstice Festival d'été

Culture, heritage, and spirituality shine at the annual Summer Solstice Festival d'été. This inclusive cultural event builds on the traditional significance of the Summer Solstice and reinforces the resilient nature of all the peoples who call southern Saskatchewan home. We invite visitors to experience a ‘celebration of the sol’ with a diverse weekend of musical, literary and performing arts programming.

Saskatchewanderer Video

Ancient cultures had a definite religious and life sustaining need for marking the ‘solstitium’ (Latin for ‘sun stands still’). Many of these cultures were agricultural in nature and their life depended on a long growing season. Without a sure marker of when the season had begun, they could miss days or even weeks in the growing cycle. Many traditional ‘solstice’ customs were related to health and fertility for fields. Solstice was also celebrated in cities and towns with parades, pageants, plays and festivals in the market place, the town green and in the forests.

Midsummer is the moment when the warmth and beauty of the year are at their height as the sun reaches the highest point of its arc in the sky. The ‘longest day of the year’ is a time in which the humming fullness of summer seems endless. "The rippling transition into the warmth of the year has passed and the cooling winds of autumn are yet to be." It's a time to celebrate Mother Earth and all nature in its' glory. It is a great time for health, love, and purification. Fill your darkness with light. It is a time of abundance.