Sparkle on 10th Street East

The Happiest Place in Nutana

by: KArin Melberg sChwier Photos: shu urzAdA

When someone says, “Go to your happy place,” everyone in Saskatoon’s Nutana neighbourhood knows exactly where that is. It’s precisely at 506 10th Street East, the little blue house with white trim, where Sheila Urzada and her husband Hugh Tait have been making magic in the front yard for the last 21 years. It’s been ‘must stop and smile’ destination, and as an added bonus for children of all ages, it’s conveniently situated a walkable distance between Homestead Ice Cream on Victoria and the Crave cupcake store on Broadway, a hat trick of happy things to do in an afternoon.

All Seasons, All reasons

“My husband says I’m a crow because I like shiny things,” says Sheila. Known by her nickname Shu, she’s also been dubbed The Sparkle Lady by neighbourhood children. In 2000, she was out for a stroll and spotted a wedding trellis that had been discarded by a recycle bin in a nearby alley. She dragged it home, cleaned and painted it and set it up in the front yard flower garden. “That was the very first display piece,” she says.

For just about every holiday and changing season since, Shu and Hugh have thrilled the neighbourhood

Neighbours Dayne Baylis, Dana Ramsay and son Callum give Shu a wave. The Valentine’s Day show also drew in Sadie Schille, whose grandparents live next door. Dad Brian drove her all the way from Prince Albert.

with colourful, shiny and glittering displays that seemingly appear overnight. Her favourites are the ones with the most gleam and glitter, and there is always something sparkly in every display. Valentine’s Day, (oddly never St. Patrick’s Day), Easter, Canada Day, the Fringe, harvest, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sometimes Shu decorates for no particular purpose—a yard filled with cats (an homage to her own Himalayan feline Cupcake), inspirational quotes, smiley faces or coloured balls for no reason other than to spark joy.

The Perfect Canvas

A lawyer who completed degrees at U of S, Shu lived in the Broadway area and “loved it,” she says. After practicing here, Regina, Calgary, Vancouver and

Photo Credit:s Karin Melberg Schwier

finally Ottawa, she knew she wanted to come back and live in Nutana. A devotee of the Broadway area, she was charmed by “a little doll house” on 10th Street. She bought the home in 2000. “I was intrigued by the house’s history,” she says. “It was built in 1910 and called the May Residence. Many features are original, like the piano windows and the gable (displayed at the Mendel Art Gallery for some time). In short, the house was perfect for me,” Shu says. “It’s quite a bit smaller than other houses I’ve owned, so it took a while to adapt. Especially to the small closets.”

The front yard was rife with possibilities. A 1990 Heritage Award winner, the house has turned out to be the perfect robin’s egg blue backdrop for what was soon to become

a time-honoured tradition just across from GraceWestminster United church.

“I found that ‘playing’ in my front yard has been a means to serenity,” she explains. “I don’t have children, but I needed to contribute in some way to my community. The delight of children as they passed my yard was amazing to see. My yard gives me that gift. I’m touched by the fact that it is not only the children who enjoyed it. I’ve have met so many Nutana residents of all ages because of my displays. They made people smile.”

Big medicine

Shu’s creations go beyond holidays and the changing seasons. One in early 2020 in particular helped boost the spirits of passersby who stop for a peek over their masks.

“I put up a happy face display several months after COVID reared its ugly head,” she says. “Making people smile is pretty powerful stuff. Who would have thought?”

Another summer display featured plaques with inspiring messages. “I was told that it helped a young girl learn to read.”

Over the years, as her collection of decorations grew, Hugh built shelving in the garage for the many storage bins. “I try hard to reuse decorations and transform them into something ‘new’ by painting them, adding to them.” She counts thrift stores, garage sales, flea markets and dollar stores as her favourite sources. Sometimes, she finds her displays in the yard augmented with items “donated by someone unbeknownst to me!” As senior counsel at the Federal Department of Justice for 20 years, Shu finds her yard work is a way to be optimistic and positive. Currently on leave for health reasons, she and Hugh, a musician who works at the Lighthouse and also performs as a busker, thought they might hang up the tradition after this past Christmas. But letting it go has been difficult.

“Last fall I gave a lot of my decorations away, but I still have a lot!” she says. “I understand some of the things I gave away ended up at a church in the neighbourhood, so I’m delighted they’re being well used.”

making memories

The reveal of each everchanging display is highly anticipated and appreciated by the neighbourhood. Shu is often humbled when she finds herself the recipient of joy as well as the provider of it.

“There have been so many wonderful exchanges,” she recalls. “People drop off gifts, a Christmas cactus, cookies, a sparkly unicorn. I received a Valentine’s Day card from Victoria School students. Lovely thank you cards, gift certificates, drawings from children on my block, and chocolates. One grandmother told me that she used my yard as a bribe to get her grandchild to school on time.” Shu laughs. “And I remember two little boys down the street who would come by in their pj’s to see if I added anything to the display that day. They gave me wonderful little drawings and gifts which I cherish.”

Only one or two

It’s been 21 years of decorating for holidays and for no particular reason other than to spread cheer. mishaps come to mind. “It was an ‘oh dear’ moment when I saw a rear-end collision in front of my house,” she says. “The driver was distracted by my yard display.”

And she learned to make sure her Thanksgiving pumpkins and Easter egg displays are well battened down. “We’ve had winds that have carried pumpkins and eggs down the street, into other yards, and across 10th to the church. We’ve had to go pumpkin and egg hunting.”

notable neighbour

Eighteen years in, Shu received the 2018 Nutana Notable Neighbour Award by the Nutana Community Association for the happiness she’s inspired. But she’s always politely declined publicity.

Asked many times for interviews by local media over the years, she has always turned down the requests. Saskatoon HOME is her first and because of the timing of the piece for the summer issue, she and Hugh decided Christmas 2020 would not be the final one after all. Instead, the last official display marked, appropriately, Valentine’s Day 2021. It was a fitting opportunity to show some love, and to demonstrate how much the neighbourhood’s appreciation has touched her heart these past 21 years. Cupcake even sported his heart-themed bandana.

“I love the Broadway area and people here have been so generous and wonderful,” she says. “We have no plans to leave, and I’ve asked Hugh to do an ice sculpture every winter for the front yard. And who knows, I may do random displays. You never know what might pop up or when.”

There’s an understanding on 10th Street East that will stay alive, too. Anyone who finds a wayward pumpkin, scarecrow, a bejeweled Easter egg or maybe even a shiny lost unicorn knows where it belongs and will get it back home to The Sparkle Lady.