Saskatoon is home to a plethora of cultures that have migrated from all over the globe and one upcoming event hopes to showcase that diversity.

The Prairie Prism multiculturalism event takes place in Saskatoon every two years and this year the event is happening at Mount Royal Collegiate on Oct. 2, running from 1 p.m. until 6 p.m. Prairie Prism hopes to bring together the many cultures in Saskatoon for an afternoon of culturally based activities and displays. This will allow patrons to have a hands-on experience with the cultures of Saskatoon and with admission being free, it is a completely accessible experience.

This event is possible through the support of many organizations around the city which bring a unifying experience to the people of Saskatoon. Ayesha Haig, one of the event co-ordinators, discusses how the event will be run in order to provide a variety of activities.

“In one of the gyms, there will be the entertainment. There’ll be singers and dancers and drummers — it’s lots of fun. We have what’s also called static displays, [meaning] many organizations have a display board and pamphlets and that kind of thing. People can just walk through those and see what is offered in the community,” Haig said.

She also described children’s activities, which will include a variety of crafts as well as a workshop on Bollywood style dancing. These children’s activities will happen in another gym at Mount Royal Collegiate.

The event will allow patrons to experience other cultures in a variety of ways aside from the standard information board style.

“There are what we call the interactive displays … these will be people who will be able to demonstrate how to do something or make something. We have somebody who’s going to be demonstrating how to make Ukrainian Easter eggs and there will be somebody who is going to be demonstrating origami,” Haig said.

These interactive displays will allow people to try out each of the activities that are being shown. In addition to origami and Easter eggs, there will also be a variety of music-based activities, kite making, dream catcher making and more.

Haig also mentioned that Prairie Prism will feature a diverse lineup of storytellers.

“There’s going to be two First Nation storytellers, [and] one from Congo, one from Afghanistan, one from Pakistan and one from Syria. They are going to tell their stories. Some of them are Indigenous stories and some of them are life stories. A number of these people have come here as refugees and have some very interesting experiences to talk about,” Haig said.

While some of these stories outline traumatic events, Haig provided assurance in saying that they all have happy endings. Alongside the storytelling, Prairie Prism will also feature a way for patrons to share their own stories. This will be done through the Saskatchewan History and Folklore Society, who are sponsoring the 80th episode of the SaskScapes podcast that will be recorded live at Prairie Prism.

This podcast session will be done in a “story-slam” format. This means that not only will people be able to sit in on the recording of the podcast, but it will also provide opportunities to share their own stories on the podcast as well.

Haig also shared the main goal that Prairie Prism hopes to achieve by bringing together such an eclectic group of cultures.

“[The event advocates] learning from each other, sharing who we are, what we enjoy in our cultures. Other people have an opportunity to learn about it [too],” Haig said.

For more information, head to prairieprismsk.webs.com or find the event on Facebook.

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Jack Thompson / Staff Writer

Graphic: Gloria Sun