Saskaboom

Approximately 209,000, according to 2008 estimates.

$49,313 (Statistics Canada, 2006)

This spring, roughly $275,000. Housing prices have doubled since 2005, but followed national trends and dropped sharply in recent months.

The city’s slogan isn’t “Saskatoon Shines” for nothing. This is one of the sunniest places in Canada. Summers are dry (with an average of 18 C in July) and winters are sunny but often very cold (averages are -16 C in January, but cold snaps bottoming out below -20 C are frequent).

The Yellowhead Highway section (a.k.a. Highway 16) of the Trans-Canada will take you right to town, a trip of a little more than five hours from Edmonton, a bit more than seven from Calgary. Flights from either city to John G. Diefenbaker International Airport take less than an hour.

Saskatoon was built on riches from oil and potash: Behind Alberta, Saskatchewan is the biggest exporter of oil, and almost two-thirds of the planet’s recoverable potash is found here. No wonder PotashCorp is headquartered in Saskatoon, but so is Cameco, the world’s largest publicly traded uranium company, taking advantage of the province’s rich deposits. Also, the city has positioned itself as a science centre, building on the success of outfits like the Canadian Light Source. Innovation Place research park adjacent the University of Saskatchewan has become a hub for IT, environmental, life sciences and agri-biotech firms. Agriculture is, of course, also big and mining continues to grow, especially for diamonds.

The River Landing development near downtown has completed a new home for Persephone Theatre and is entering Phase 2 of construction on a mixed-use business and residential area, potentially including a new $55-million Art Gallery of Saskatchewan.

Try this on a new Saskatchewan client: “So, I hear Saskatoon is more dangerous than Vancouver’s Downtown East Side.” (It leads Canada in violent crime.) For slightly tamer talk, ask locals about the controversial plans to roll the iconic Mendel Art Gallery into the new Art Gallery of Saskatchewan.

With the boom, new restaurants pop up monthly. The Ivy downtown is a staple for business dinners. Carver’s Steakhouse is the place to go for triple-A beef and Sask-grown bison and boar. Locals know that Calories, on trendy Broadway Avenue, is the place for dessert. For tapas, try the new Barking Fish downtown. Or check out the teppanyaki menu at the Samurai Japanese Restaurant in the Delta Bessborough.

The landmark Delta Bessborough, or the Bess, is a Bavarian-style castle hotel built by the Canadian Pacific Railway at the start of the Great Depression. Can’t get a room? Try the other downtown business properties: the Hilton Garden Inn, the Radisson or the Sheraton Cavalier.

If your trip falls outside of the summer’s six-week Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan festival, bring along your golf clubs. Saskatoon is home to several notable courses, including the challenging and acclaimed links at Dakota Dunes Country Club. The 36-hole Willows Golf & Country Club is also respected and occupies, as its name suggest, a leafy spot right on the water.