From prairie picnics to the Labour Day Classic: Saskatchewan's love of sport on display

For many, Labour Day weekend in Saskatchewan means football.

Every year, fans pack Mosaic Stadium in Regina to watch the Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers face off in the annual Labour Day Classic.

But even before the Riders-Bombers rivalry became a fixture, sports held an important place in Saskatchewan.

"Obviously, the Roughriders are really paramount, in front of mind for a lot of people, but there's a lot of really interesting sport history in the province," said Matthew Gourlie, communications co-ordinator for the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame.

Communities across the province held sports days — grassroots gatherings that often stretched from morning to night with races, high jump competitions, baseball games, picnics and dances.

This summer, the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan is shining a light on that history with a new exhibit that pairs well with the excitement of Labour Day weekend.

"What we've done is we've decided to highlight the community aspect, the community importance of sports," said archivist Leanne Tremblay.

Many of the records in the exhibit come from pioneer questionnaires collected in the 1950s, which asked Saskatchewan residents to recall their earliest experiences of recreation and community life.

"If they attend this event, they'll kind of gain a more richer understanding of the history and a richer appreciation for what they're participating in," Tremblay said.

People wrote about picnic lunches of fried chicken, cake and lemonade that sometimes stretched a single lemon into syrup for the whole family.

Others remembered makeshift high jump competitions with no landing mats, or giant swings built on the open prairie where trees were scarce.

Tremblay said those details capture the creativity and joy of small-town life.

"It's really neat to see what people were eating, how they spent time together and the kinds of activities that defined their communities."

According to local historians, events like these helped set the stage for larger sporting traditions in the province, including the Roughriders' Labour Day weekend clash with the Blue Bombers, which first kicked off in 1949.

Tom Fuzesy, a local Regina historian, said people sometimes forget that Labour Day football hasn't always meant Winnipeg vs. Saskatchewan.

"A lot of people think Winnipeg has always played here. They haven't," Fuzesy said.

"[The] first game was in 1937 against Calgary. Even in 1949 when Winnipeg played here for the next 20 years, Winnipeg only played here eight times. The 12 other times it was a mixture of B.C., Montreal, Edmonton."

Back then Regina didn't yet have television; families still relied heavily on the radio; and the city had only recently installed its first traffic lights.

"It was a very different time," said Fuzesy.

Fans often arrived at Taylor Field by train or by car, though vehicles were only just becoming a regular part of leisure life. Looking at the old footage, Fuzesy said, what stands out most is the crowd itself.

"The first thing you notice is that no one was wearing green. Today, everybody's in green. Back then, people just came as they were," he said.

As the years went on, Labour Day football has grown into a cultural touchstone.

Winnipeg has been Saskatchewan's permanent opponent since 1982 and because the teams are so close geographically, they have faced each other back-to-back over the Labour Day weekend since 2004.

It's one of the fiercest rivalries in the CFL.

"Both fan bases, Winnipeg and Saskatchewan, are incredible," Fuzesy said. "If you want to see what the CFL is all about, the Labour Day Classic and the rematch in Winnipeg the week after, that's the pinnacle of the season."

As fans fill Mosaic Stadium this Sunday, Tremblay said the new exhibit is a reminder that sport in Saskatchewan has always been about more than the game.

"For people who have grown up in Regina, in Saskatchewan too, it's neat to see how this team that they've been following, how they've changed over time," said Tremblay.