On August 25, Broadway officially turned 40, and we celebrated the milestone the best way we know how, together!
Throughout the day, 160 people stopped by the Broadway Community Patio at Five Corners to eat, visit, make something, explore a little Broadway history and share in a birthday celebration that was really about much more than an organization turning 40. It was a chance to celebrate the businesses, people, events and traditions that have shaped Broadway over the past four decades and, in many cases, even longer.
We were also very happy to welcome Mayor Cynthia Block, Ward 6 Councillor and Broadway BID Board Member Jasmin Parker, and Saskatoon Nutana MLA Erika Ritchie to celebrate the milestone with us.
A Very Broadway Birthday Party
It would not be a Broadway celebration without good food, and our neighbours came through.
5 Corners Café kept everyone cool with cold brew coffee, while UNA Pizza + Wine provided The Local and vegetarian pizzas. Crave supplied colourful dot cakes for a proper birthday treat, and the Broadway Theatre brought the popcorn.
Around the patio, visitors could make their own Broadway pin at our button-making station, supported by The Library of Things, colour illustrations of familiar Broadway locations, add their thoughts and memories to our community boards, leave a wish for the 40-year time capsule, and browse pieces of Broadway’s past.
We also turned the clock back to the year the BID began with a playlist featuring hits from 1986 playing throughout the celebration.
Listen to Broadway’s 40th Birthday Bash Playlist
Bringing Broadway’s History to the Patio
One of the most special parts of the day was being able to surround the celebration with pieces of Broadway history.
Local historian and author Terry Hoknes generously lent us artifacts, historical materials and several of the books he has written documenting Broadway’s history. Together with old photographs and other pieces from the district’s past, they turned part of the Community Patio into a little temporary Broadway archive.
There was something wonderful about watching people stop to look, recognize a business or building, remember something that used to be there, or tell someone beside them a story about Broadway.
That felt particularly appropriate for a 40th birthday. Broadway isn’t only a collection of buildings or businesses. Its history also lives in the memories people carry with them.
Broadway’s Story Didn’t Start in 1986
While the Broadway Business Improvement District celebrated its 40th birthday this year, Broadway itself is much older.
The commercial history of Broadway and Nutana stretches back to Saskatoon’s earliest days. By the 1980s, Broadway merchants were already working together to strengthen the area, attract people to the neighbourhood and create the kind of lively commercial district we still recognize today.
On August 25, 1986, that collaboration was formally established as the Broadway Business Improvement District. But one of Broadway’s biggest traditions had already begun.
Broadway Street Fair actually predates the Broadway BID itself. A Saskatoon Star-Phoenix advertisement from September 1984 promotes Broadway’s “first ever Street Fair and Sidewalk Sale,” held on September 29, 1984, nearly two years before the Broadway Business Improvement District was formally established. Long before there was an official BID, Broadway’s merchants were already working together to bring people onto the street, support local businesses and create community. More than 40 years later, that tradition continues.
The organization may have turned 40 this year, but the spirit behind it was already here!
Forty Years of Working Together
The Broadway BID was created around a fairly simple idea: businesses working together can accomplish things that would be difficult to do individually.
Forty years later, that continues to shape our work.
Over the decades, Broadway BID has supported district events, marketing and promotion, streetscape improvements, advocacy, public art, placemaking, business initiatives and partnerships throughout the community. Programs have changed. Businesses have opened and closed. Buildings and streetscapes have evolved. New generations have discovered Broadway and created their own traditions here.
What has remained remarkably consistent is the role community plays in making Broadway what it is.
Our Birthday Bash was a pretty good example.
The cold brew came from a Broadway café. Lunch came from a Broadway restaurant. Birthday treats came from a Broadway bakery. Popcorn came from our community-owned theatre. Historical materials were shared by someone who has spent years preserving Broadway’s stories. Equipment was borrowed from a community resource. Elected representatives stopped in. BBID staff made the day happen. And 160 people showed up to celebrate with us. That’s Broadway.
We are also grateful to Global News, SaskToday, 96.3 Cruz FM, Discover Saskatoon and Sneakers & Lipstick for helping share Broadway’s 40th anniversary with the wider community.
Here’s to the Next 40
A 40th birthday gives us a pretty good excuse to look backward, but it also gives us an opportunity to think about what comes next.
Broadway has never been static. It has changed over and over again throughout its history while somehow remaining unmistakably Broadway.
The next 40 years will bring new businesses, new neighbours, new challenges, new traditions and probably more than a few ideas none of us have thought of yet.
What we hope doesn’t change is the willingness to show up for one another.
Thank you to everyone who joined us on August 25; to 5 Corners Café, UNA Pizza + Wine, Crave and the Broadway Theatre for feeding us; to The Library of Things for supporting our activities; to Terry Hoknes for trusting us with pieces of Broadway’s history; and to the staff, businesses, board members, community partners and elected representatives who helped us celebrate.
And thank you to everyone who has ever shopped here, eaten here, worked here, performed here, volunteered here, celebrated here, found community here, or simply wandered Broadway on a good afternoon.
Forty years down. Here’s to whatever Broadway creates next.
