I’ll be honest, I wasn’t looking forward to driving through the Prairies. Lucky for us we scored not one, but two house sitting gigs for two weeks in Saskatoon on our way to BC. This gave us something to look forward to in the Prairies, and boy did Saskatoon come through, not only with stuff to do, but useless facts. And if you know me, you know I LOVE useless facts! I guess I’m like Cliff Claven from the show Cheers, minus the mailman uniform and the fact I don’t live with my mom.

As house sitters we have to keep an eye on the pets, so late night or all-day excursions aren’t typically things we usually do. So for our first weekend in town we wanted to hit the farmers market. Which led to another fun little event. And then another fun little event. And then another fun little event! By going to the market we scored 4 fun and free things to do in Saskatoon. And then we found a fifth thing we thought we’d add to this list of free things to do in Saskatoon. So here they are:

#1. The Farmer’s Market

If you’re in Saskatoon during the spring, summer and fall months, you’ll likely be able to enjoy some of the outdoor market as well. It’s your typical Farmer’s market, with local fare consisting of seasonable veggies, meats, and other organic goodies. We stopped to chat with this guy from Uncle Mike’s, what a cool thing they’re doing. They make all natural products, from deodorant to lip balm to beard oil and more!

We had a mighty tasty breakfast there too. Actually, mine was okay, I ordered a breakfast burrito knowing full-well I should have ordered the waffle. Shelly, on the other hand, ordered this tasty meal of breakfast awesomeness:

Useless fact learned at the Market: Saskatoon Berries are very tasty. Okay, that’s more of an observation than a fact, but whatever.

#2. Meewasin Centre

Down the road from the market is the Meewasin Visitors Centre. We stopped in to see what all there was to do in Toon Town and got a ton of info for things to see and do. But the Centre also has their own pictorial history of the town – past, present and future style, which offered plenty of information for all.

Useless Fact Learned – Saskatoon was founded by a dude from Toronto and he didn’t want the town to drink or gamble. But they did anyway. Ha, picked the wrong country bud!

#3. Lucky Bastard Distillery Tour

While at the farmer’s market we stopped at a booth selling bottles of booze. They had pictures of pin-up girls on the bottle, kind of like Sailor Jerry’s rum if you’re familiar with that. Anyway, the young lady mentioned LB Distillery offers free tours. We’ve done a few brewery tours, so we figured why not try a Distillery tour. Our charismatic guide was Tyler and he was well educated on the process of making spirits – he even knows why they’re called “spirits”, and he’s fluent in Latin – if fluent means knowing three phrases. LB makes vodka, gin, rum, and will soon be pouring aged whiskey (three year). There’s a lot of info on this tour, and you’ll:

1. Learn how Lucky Bastard Distillery got it’s name.
2. Meet Ginger (who goes both ways…) and Ginger’s counterpart “Magic Mike”, who appears to be known for his girth.
3. Get free samples in the lounge – Hazaa!

Love the lounge area in this super cool local #distillery. #yxe

A photo posted by Shelly and Al (@sellallyourstuff) on May 1, 2016 at 1:24pm PDT

The samples we received were of vodka (super smooth and flavorful, best vodka I’ve ever tasted), Gin, Rum, and a liqueur. Having just spent 18 months in Latin America we didn’t think their rum would hold a candle to Nicaragua’s Flor de Caña,  but it was nice and smooth and didn’t have the burn, sorry “warmth” afterwards. Lastly we had a berry liqueur. I can see this going on some ice cream for sure! They also have a pickled vodka – complete with a pickled pickle inside! How would this stuff taste in Bloody Caesars!

Useless fact learned – Gin is actually made from Vodka!

#4. South Saskatchewan River Walk

Saskatoon has an amazing path along the South Saskatchewan River. The scenery along the river is beautiful. And you can walk, run, roller blade, or cycle along the path. Or take a canoe, kayak or SUP out on the water (careful of the current). Try venturing out early morning when the sun is rising and reflecting off the river, definitely worth waking up before 7am to do so. There are also stops along the way where you can learn about the history of the river, the bridges over it, and the future plans Toon Town has for the river as well.

Good morning #Saskatoon! Beautiful sunrise @deltabess #wearethebess

A photo posted by Shelly and Al (@sellallyourstuff) on May 6, 2016 at 6:05am PDT

Useless fact learned (of many on the river walk) – The South Saskatchewan River actually starts in Banff as the Bow River, which flows through lower Alberta into Saskatchewan, through Saskatoon, then later drains into Lake Winnipeg (Manitoba), which then feeds Hudson’s Bay.

#5. Visit Broadway

Wish we found Broadway a little sooner. The side streets offer some picturesque street views. I can only imagine how cool this looks when the leaves are changing colours.

Broadway is an eclectic neighborhood with some eclectic stores offering eclectic stuff. One store, aptly named The Better Good offered hemp shirts, hemp wallets, and many other natural products for sale. We’re always cool with that kind of stuff. But the best shop (in my opinion) was the Bulk Cheese Warehouse, where I bought two pepperettes that were SOOO tasty. As I said, I wish we’d found this place sooner so we could have tried some other food at this little gourmet deli.

Useless Fact Learned – My brain was too full of pepperettes to absorb facts.

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Not everything in life is free, and some will say there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Well, to them I say; here are five fun and free things to do in Saskatoon, so stop expecting food and start looking for fun things to do.

Now go sell all your stuff and visit Saskatoon!