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