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This summer, Heritage Saskatchewan and the Museums Association of Saskatchewan have partnered with local startup MemoryKPR to host the Keys to Cultural Heritage initiative. Using this link, anyone can upload photos and be entered into a draw for prizes. The Keys to Cultural Heritage is about promoting and celebrating Saskatchewan: our land, our communities, our gatherings, and our people. 

When people hear the word "heritage", old buildings, family trees, or ethnicity often come to mind. (Furniture and paint colours come first to me.) In that vein, it is easy to think "cultural heritage" could mean buildings or cultural festivals. However, our cultural heritage is everything that we inherit from our families, friends, neighbours, communities, and the world around us. It makes us who we are. It is everyone's unique experience. No two of our summer experiences will be alike.

We are inviting people, whether locals or visitors, to participate in the story of Saskatchewan and share their summer 2025 experience in photos. What places in Saskatchewan matter to you? What places do you want to share with others, whether to remind them or tell them for the first time? What events or festivals did you attend? What did you discover? What spaces do you want to show others that they might not otherwise get to see?

I am really excited about this initiative and have been avidly submitting photos for the past couple of weeks. I look forward to seeing new photos from other contributors each time I send in a photo. There are a wide variety of topics: churches, ice cream shops, lakes, bear tracks, and more.

What I appreciate a lot about this is that it is similar to sharing one's adventures on social media, but it is not about the "likes". We are documenting and exploring for the sake of sharing the adventure itself, not to garner personal attention or to game the algorithm. The names of the contributors are not publicly visible, making the experience all the more relatable and universal to the viewer. It is about being here in Saskatchewan in the summer of 2025, and how that contributes to our collective identity while celebrating our uniqueness.

I personally gained a lot of appreciation for local tourism. While I do travel within the province regularly, I definitely take more photos of out-of-province trips. A weekend getaway to Saskatoon, a day-trip to Moose Jaw, or a walk in Wascana Park generally have not felt all that worth sharing when compared to places further away. Getting the chance to treat Saskatchewan as exotic this year has been a fun experience. Even as someone who tries to tour around locally, there are lots of things that I miss or never think to go to. Going to the RCMP Sunset Parade is a cliché, but it was exciting and new to me. I got to experience the Queen City Ex as an adult for the first time, having not been there in twenty years. This has been a chance to share the mundane activities that I do every summer and the unknown places that I visit. I have had the chance to share places that we often pass by, but never go inside (whether because we don't want to or because the spaces aren't often open to the public). 

This isn't a photography contest about who can submit the most interesting or beautiful picture. This isn't a contest to see who can do the most exotic thing or share the most exotic place. This isn't necessarily about trying to draw tourists to a spot. That's what makes this experience special: we are sharing our stories with each other and building our Saskatchewan identity. This is all our cultural heritage and makes us who we are.

Let's share our summer together!