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Prince Albert Winter Festival
In this province, winter is a time to celebrate and embrace the season.It may be cold, but our intense blue skies and sunshine throughout the winter months provide the most beautiful backdrop for all the winter activities the prairies have to offer. Hockey, skating, curling, winter camping, ice fishing, skiing, snowshoeing, bird and wildlife watching, snowmobiling, dogsledding, the Northern Lights and winter festivals are all part of the Saskatchewan experience.
2018 Prince Albert Winter Festival
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Prince Albert is ideally located for immersing yourself in the season and everything it has to offer – and, there is no better example than the community’s annual winter festival. Every February, since 1964, the city has played host to over a week of exciting indoor and outdoor activities. Festivities include musical shows, a Beerd Derby, sled dog races, sliding party, a fish fry, a jigging contest, King Trapper events, a Kidz Zone, sleigh rides, arm wrestling, a craft & trade show and fireworks.
2018 Prince Albert Winter Festival
The Prince Albert Winter Festival kicks off every year with the Tux & Toques Gala in January – an entertaining evening of great music and fine dining! And, throughout the festival period, there is no end to musical entertainment – all showcasing local and Saskatchewan artists. On the E.A. Rawlinson Centre stage there is a Fiddle Show, the Rock Show Experience, a Country North Show and Gospel Show. At the Prince Albert Exhibition Centre, young artists perform in the Northern Spirits Showcase and Voices of the North.
For the past 26 years, Voices of the North has been a highlight of the festival. The show begins every October with auditions. Voices of the North provides an opportunity for Aboriginal youth to gain self-confidence and self esteem by experiencing the audition process and then performing before a live audience. This opportunity was the brain child of the late Bernice Sayese who wanted to celebrate, promote and support youth in the performing arts.
The winter festival on the river in 1973.
Photo courtesy of the Bill Smiley Archives.
As part of the festival, the Mann Art Gallery facilitates their annual Winter Festival Juried Art Show & Sale which showcases local and area visual artists. Throughout the entire festival, the talent proves to be breathtaking!
The first Prince Albert winter carnival, in 1926, ran for three years.
Photo courtesy of Bill Smiley Archives.
The success of the festival is all due to the year-round work of the Prince Albert Winter Festival Society who won the Samuel McLeod Business Award for Tourism in 2017. Congratulations to the Society and all the volunteers who once again organized an amazing 2018 festival!
2018 Prince Albert Winter Festival
2018-19 Discover Prince Albert Guide
