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Yorkton
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Beyond Fort Qu'Appelle, the only town of any note on Hwy 10 before you hit Dauphin
is
YORKTON
, which was founded as an agricultural community in the 1880s by farmers from Ontario, although - as with so many other places - it's the Ukrainian community that features most strongly in the town and the surrounding area. The silver-painted dome and barrel roof of the nave of the white-brick
St Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Church
, at 155 Catherine St (by appointment only tel 783-4594), is the town's most distinctive feature. Inside, there's a large illusionistic painting of the
Coronation of the Virgin
(1939-41) on the surface of the dome - about as close as you'll get in western Canada to the Baroque painted domes in Italian and German churches. The Ukrainian community features strongly in Yorkton's branch of the
Western Development Museum
(May-Aug daily 9am-6pm; $6), devoted to the various ethnic groups who have settled in the region. You'll also find a replica of the interior of a 1902 Catholic church and a superb collection of early twentieth-century Fords and Buicks. However, the most startling sights are the bright-red, huge-wheeled early fire trucks, looking entirely too fragile for their function. If you want to see farmworkers and their fierce-looking machines in action, you could attend the
Threshermen's Show
, held in the grounds of the museum in early August. Also in the city, at the corner of Smith Street and 3rd Avenue is the
Yorkton Arts Council
in the Godfrey Dean Cultural Centre (Tues-Fri 1-5pm, Sat & Sun 2-5pm; free), which has a small but striking permanent collection of the work of Saskatchewan artists, plus several galleries which display temporary exhibitions; the Sports Hall of Fame, located in the older part of the building (by appointment only tel 783-7849; free), is also part of the centre. After the long winter, the town is ready to host the
Yorkton Short Film and Video Festival
in May, the oldest festival of its kind in North America (1947).
Just south of the city, on the Yellowhead Hwy near Rokeby, is the Parkland Heritage Centre (mid-May to Sept Mon-Fri 1-8pm, Sat 1-5pm; $2.50), a modest but interesting group of nineteenth-century pioneer buildings brought here from other parts of Saskatchewan. The smart Visitors Information Centre is located at the junction of hwys 9, 10 and 16 (June-Aug Mon-Fri 8am-6pm, Sat & Sun 9am-5pm; Sept-May Mon-Fri 9am-5pm; tel 783-8707 or 1-877/250-6454, www.touryorkton.com ) and can supply a good range of information and maps on attractions in Yorkton and the area. If you'll want to stay in Yorkton there are several reasonably priced central hotels , including the Holiday Inn , 100 Broadway St E (tel 783-9781 or 1-800/667-1585, fax 782-2121; $60-125); and the Imperial 400 Motel , 207 Broadway St E (tel 783-6581 or 1-800/781-2268, fax 786-6399; $60-80), both of which serve great Ukrainian food; and the basic City Limits Inn , off Broadway Street at 8 Betts Ave (tel 782-2435; up to $40). A pleasant B&B is the Lazy Maples , 111 Darlington St W (tel 783-7078; $40-60); the owner is an excellent cook and can serve you Ukrainian pierogies for breakfast.
You can camp in town at the well-shaded
City of Yorkton
campsite
(tel 786-1757 or 786-1750; $11-15; mid-May to mid-Oct), on Hwy 16A near the Western Development Museum. For
food
, the
Gladstone Inn
, corner of Broadway Street and Gladstone Avenue, is the place to go - it has excellent prime rib. Yorkton's
bus station
, served by three buses daily from Saskatoon, is located downtown on 1st Avenue. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Canada,
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