2022 Saskatoon Folk Fest returns Thursday through Saturday
Jeeyu Birch is looking forward to performing traditional Korean music with her mom and two children at this year’s edition of the Saskatoon Folk Fest.
“We don't have a large Korean population here so we weren't able to hold an event big like this, but this year we can be part of this and we’re very excited about it,” she said.
Birch, who opened up the SK Korean Language School in Saskatoon in 2020, says after the Korean government donated traditional instruments including gongs and drums, she flew to Korea to learn how to play them properly.
Birch and her family will be at Merlis Belsher Place Thursday through Saturday at the newly created International pavilion.
Executive director Terresa Strohan says the theme is “Culture Unites”.
“There's something exciting, something unique, something special about people coming together and with such pride, being able to show what matters to them,” she said. “We tried to create a format where as many groups could join us as possible.”
“One of our new collaborative venues is bringing multiple cultures together, and I think that's where the “Culture Unites” theme is, that we're all coming together to once again share and celebrate culture in Saskatoon.”
Because of fewer volunteers coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic, this year’s festivities will be scaled back. There will be 11 pavilions compared to 17 in 2019, the last time the event was held, with the popular Scottish and German pavilions not making an appearance.
The Folk Festival will also be moving away from paper passports.
“You can go to our website, www.saskatoonfolkfest.com, and purchase your E-passport,” said Strohan.
“You get unlimited admission to and from all the pavilions over the three days, access to the Folk Fest bus, but there's just no physical paper passport to purchase.”
Despite fewer people taking part, the opportunity to showcase their culture was one Birch and her family couldn’t pass up.
“Friday we will do a little fashion show, wearing Korean traditional costumes and our models, they’re mostly young children, they will represent how to play Korean traditional games on the runway, so that will be very interesting to watch,” she said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.