2018

In an effort to grow our festival we decided to relocate to a larger and more central location. After consultation with the Riversdale Business Improvement District (RBID) we chose the 300, 400 & 500 blocks of 20^th Street West as the new site for Foodtruck Wars. This proved to be a great choice as our 3 day celebration attracted over 25,000 festival goers and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

We were pleased to have the following special guests attend and speak at our festival’s opening ceremonies: The Honorable Sheri Benson, MP, Saskatoon West; Hilary Gough, Saskatoon Councillor, Ward 2; Myrna Hewitt, Executive Vice President, Member Experience, Affinity Credit Union; Patricia Cook, Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority; Randy Pshebylo, Executive Director of Riversdale Business Improvement District. We extend a special thank you to the Confucius Institute for performing their Chinese Dragon Dance to open the festival.

New additions to 2018 festival included: a street vendors market, Strongman Power Lifting demonstrations, a buskers circle, free bike parking station and two new competitions: Saskatchewan’s Got Talent & The Ultimate Hamburger Championship.

The Saskatchewan’s Got Talent Search competition sponsored by 92.9 The Bull was a very entertaining competition that included over 100 talented competitors from all over the province vying to become the SGT winner. The competition included: guitarists, gymnasts, singers, comedians, rappers, and song writers, and they certainly made things things tough for our celebrity judges panel. Kranky, Simon Hiatt, and Janela Hamilton, in a close vote, picked Markentin Fehr as the 2018 SGT winner. A special shout out goes to Crackers Karaoke Lounge for hosting 3 semi-final rounds at their bar/restaurant; Larry and his staff went above and beyond in welcoming us to their fine establishment.

And we want to also thank all of our sponsors for their generous support of SGT: 92.9 The Bull, Bartari Video Game Bar and Restaurant, Crackers Karaoke Lounge, North Star Trophies, Roxy Theatre, Saskatchewan Entertainment Expo, and SIGA.

The Ultimate Hamburger Championship (UHC) was a fun addition to our entertainment line up. This event was held in support of two local charitable organizations: the Children’s Wish Foundation and Kidsport. We thank Kranky from 92.9 The Bull and Blair Farthing from CTV for being such great sports and competing in the UHC to raise funds for the respective charities. Although Blair managed to finish on top, they are both winners!

The Buskers Circle was a focus of local dance clubs, gymnastics clubs, and street buskers that included: the longwalkers, Can-Am Gymnastics, Ross Vegas (Australia), Saskatoon Lindy Hop, Ezra & John, Earl, and shuboy.

The Strongman Power Lifting demonstrations were sponsored and conducted by the Black Anvil Lifting Co. This unique demonstration was so popular that we are planning to have a Strongman Power Lifting Competition to be held at the 2019 festival.

We would like to acknowledge and thank the cultural and traditional dance groups that performed at our festival. The groups include: The Confucius Institute, the longwalkers, Pavlychenko Folklorique (PFO) ensemble, Chinese Dance School of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon Lindy Hop, and Desert Beats Belly Dance group.

We were extremely pleased to have Affinity Credit Union, SIGA, Dakota Dunes Casino, Bartari Video Game Bar and Restaurant & the RBID as partners, their financial contributions helped to expand & enhance the festival. In-kind sponsors included: Roxy Theatre, CFCR 90.5 FM, O’Brians Automotive, CJWW 600 AM, 98 Cool FM, 92.9 The Bull FM, Crackers Karaoke Lounge, Great Western Brewing, Image To Go Photography, North Star Trophies, Global Saskatoon & Saskatoon Express Newspaper.

Affinity Credit Union, Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Council & Foodtruck Wars Street Festival worked together to make the festival as environmentally sustainable as possible. We are pleased to announce that we made huge strides towards accomplishing our zero waste goals.

Of course, as in the past, we relied upon a great group of volunteer competition judges and tabulators which included: Janella Hamilton, Jacqueline Wilson, Matthew Little, Miranda Young, Cam Fuller, Simon Hiatt, Patricia Cameron, Kranky, Huw Evans, Blair Farthing, Vickie Clarke, Erin Holm, Joan Farthing, Kara Farthing, and Kim Sieben. On the microphone doing a fantastic job for us were: guest host MC Jay Richards and festival MC Curtis Anderson.

Sadly, Cam Fuller, a respected, longtime Star Phoenix columnist passed away in December, 2018. Cam joined our Flavour Challenge Taste Testing panel in 2018 as a guest judge. We were excited to have him join us and he told us he was looking forward to coming back in 2019 to participate again. We will miss Cam and his incredible humour.