YOU CAN TAKE IT HOME WITH YOU
Manitou Beach has it all —from art and antiques to healing waters, offering visitors a full range of places to go, things to see and items to buy.
The Resort Village of Manitou Beach offers several opportunities for those in search of antiques, original art, collectibles and rare and unusual treasures. In addition to antique shops West Beach Antiques and Relics: Art, Antiques and Things Unique, the Manitou Beach Flea Market (MBFM) offers a wide range of arts and crafts.
Arnie Tiefenbach, of Relics: Art, Antiques and Things Unique, has been involved in the antique business for more than 30 years.
“I’ve always been interested in antiques and art even while I was working other things,” he says. While his and the other store offer a range of items for sale, the MBFM gives visitors the option of shopping in the great outdoors for which the area is known.
The area’s central location is very advantageous for tourism, about 80 per cent of the province’s population is within a three to four-hour drive.
“When you think of Watrous/ Manitou Beach, I think it’s called the hub of the province,” Tiefenbach says.
Not only is the location central, it also lies in the parkland region of the province, a big draw for tourists. The parkland, the geographical area of the province that separates the prairie grassland to the south from the boreal forests of the North, is covered with trees and dotted with lakes and agricultural land.
Long a magnet for First Nations people, its beauty and the healing waters of Little Lake Manitou began drawing European settlers around the turn of the 19th century. The first settlers arrived in about 1903, with the greatest influx between 1904 and 1914. Watrous was incorporated as a town in 1909, with a population of 659. The population of the area has now grown to more than 3,000 residents, including Watrous and the Village of Manitou Beach.
The waters of Little Lake Manitou are among the main attractions for visitors — more than 100,000 each year. They are said to possess a range of healing and therapeutic properties and the entire industry based on it continues to attract visitors from near and far. Visitors and residents also flock to the amenities at the Manitou and District Regional Park. The area also boasts a nine-hole golf course, nature trails and other attractions for those who love the outdoors.
Visitors or locals wanting to enjoying the outdoors and shopping, too, can take advantage of the various offerings at the MBFM, one of the longest-running flea markets in Saskatchewan. Held every Sunday until September from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., it’s located in the ball diamonds, kitty-corner from the Community Hall and immediately north of the Manitou Beach Regional Campground. There are washrooms and a concession sells food and refreshments.
As many as 40 vendors sell a variety of items ranging from locally grown food, antiques, collectibles, memorabilia and clothes, as well as garage and estate sale items.
“It offers everything from original art, pottery, antiques, hand-made items and baking. You name it,” says Tiefenbach.
In addition to all the other activities and sights in and around Watrous and Manitou Beach, visitors can now add antiquing to their lists of things to do.
“It’s such a beautiful area, we get a real diversity of visitors and a lot of them like to take home a souvenir,” Tiefenbach says. With the variety of items old and new available, visitors can take home more than a t-shirt.