Fourth annual bazaar highlights city’s connection to international arts, culture
SASKATOON Dozens of vendors representing art and culture from around the world had the opportunity on Saturday to show off their skills — and their wares — to the people of Saskatoon.
The fourth International Bazaar, organized by the Saskatoon Open Door Society, brings together “vendors and entertainers representing over 30 different countries and cultures,” according to a press release from the society.
Open Door Society community connections team lead Julie Fleming Juarez said there are 43 vendors taking part this year, which is nearly double last year’s 24 vendors. It’s one of the reasons they ’ve moved to the larger space at the Army Navy & Air Force Veterans hall in downtown Saskatoon.
“There isn’t another craft show like this in Saskatoon,” Fleming Juarez said. “We just put the word out that we were looking for more vendors, and people came forward.”
The bazaar has grown substantially since its first year, with more than 1,000 visitors coming through the event in 2017. Fleming Juarez said it was tough to know ahead of time exactly what their numbers would be like, but they were hopeful the event would keep growing.
Fleming Juarez said getting diverse cultures out for the showcase is important for Saskatoon because it “makes us richer as a community” to acknowledge the growing variety of demographics that make up the city ’s population.
One of the first performances on the small stage at the bazaar was the Dancegypt belly dancing group from within Saskatoon. Megan Kent said her grandmother was Egyptian, and when she took up dancing with Dancegypt, her extended family was proud that she was trying to connect with part of her past.
“It was a really interesting way for me to get to bond with my extended family,” she said. “Even though we’re not a big centre, we’ve got a lot of great cultural diversity.”
Danahe Palacios, a Venezuelan immigrant and one of the vendors attending the bazaar, is an experienced painter who creates primarily abstract landscape paintings and collages.
Palacios said events like the bazaar mean a lot to her as someone who wants to try to integrate more into the artistic community of Saskatoon.
Her artwork is mostly landscapes of Venezuela that she makes based off her memories of the countryside there. But she’s starting to incorporate views of Saskatchewan: Mixing elements of her old home and the new one.
““I love the city,” Palacios said. I love the landscapes and the skies.”