Sask. Parks: Canada Day events, new hiking app, fire bans

Across the province, there are beautiful campsites, hiking trails, and lakes to visit during the hot summer months.

Danielle Lingelbach is the Saskatchewan Parks Director of Visitor Experiences and Public Programming. She said there will be lots of events happening in the parks this year.

“Visitors can expect to look forward to the return of some signature family favourite events like Canada Day, SaskExpress, Summer Cinema, as well as some new experiences like Glow Mania being hosted at Pike Lake this year,” said Lingelbach.

“Glow Mania is a new event we’re hosting this year. It’s gonna be an evening event, it’s gonna be night-themed,” said Lingelbach. “We’re hoping to plan a late-night swim; we’re gonna have a silent disco with some light-up headphones, a glow hike, and some other games and crafts for visitors to enjoy.”

Although Canada Day isn’t until July 1st, Lingelbach said the parks will be holding Canada Day celebrations on Saturday to allow visitors time to travel to and from the parks.

Minh Truong is the Executive Director of Visitor Experiences at Sask Parks. He outlined some of the events happening on Canada Day.

“There is a whole host of activities that we’ve got planned. That includes Canada Day-themed arts and crafts. There’s fairy house making, there’s treasure hunts using geocaching, there’s volleyball (and) soccer,” said Truong.

For those looking to go on hikes throughout the summer, Lingelbach said that Sask Parks has partnered with TrailCollectiv to put out an app for hikers.

“It’s a family-friendly app that provides information needed to have fun and safe access to trails across Saskatchewan … What we are working on with TrailCollectiv, with our in-park interpreters, (and) with our in-park Park Operations team is to provide updates to trails, update trail closures, or if there is maybe unpassable conditions,” said Lingelbach.

She said the app currently does not provide any updates on wildlife in the area.

For people looking to go camping this summer but missed out on initial bookings, there’s still hope of finding a campsite.

“If a spot (is) taken up and unavailable, you can actually sign up for an availability notification, and should that spot become available, because plans do change, then you will receive a notification that it becomes available, and then you can go book it … A lot of folks use it; people love to book last minute,” said Truong.

Truong said people can sign up for availability notifications on the Saskatchewan Parks website. He said people can also go to their website to find information on fire bans.

“We list all our fire lifts and restrictions on there. We also list it on our reservation website … If there are any fire bans or fire restrictions in place, there will be notices up at the park as well,” said Truong.

Truong said he expects the parks to be busy over the long weekend.