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“Do you want to participate in The Ritual?”
A server has approached our table at Circa 27, the plush lounge in Regina’s Hotel Saskatchewan, with little crystal shot glasses on a tray. Despite the vaguely sacrificial-sounding pitch, my bestie and I accept.
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Turns out, it’s a daily 5 p.m. tradition, where you get a little lesson about the hotel’s prohibition-era history from the bartender — Saskatchewan was the first Canadian province to ban private booze sales — and everyone in the bar does a shot of rye. There’s a train whistle involved.
I am only half-listening because I am also thoroughly enjoying my Saskatoon Spritzer, because when in… close enough. But I always appreciate some local colour with my local flavours.
We were only in the Queen City for 20 hours, but I feel like we experienced a lot of Regina gems in that short amount of time. Such as a truly excellent meal at Rosemary & Rye, which specializes in regional prairie cuisine (get the schnitzel! It comes with German potato salad that I am still thinking about), followed by an inspired production of Frozen: The Musical at the Globe Theatre.
The Globe is celebrating its 60th anniversary season this year, and I can see why this in-the-round theatre (Canada’s only permanent one) is a point of pride for Regina. It has major Prairie Theatre Exchange vibes, though it seemed a bit smaller to me, making the production of a full-scale musical production a true feat. The staging was so inventive; the performances were stellar — especially Jade McLeod in the lead role of Elsa.
McLeod was the reason we got on a plane; we saw them perform as Jo in Alanis Morrisette’s jukebox musical Jagged Little Pill when it was in Winnipeg, and my god, what a voice.
Before this trip, I got a lot of, “You’re going to Regina? Why?” And I engaged in talk that sounded a lot like, I suspect, how people in Toronto talk about Winnipeg. But this quick trip was a good reminder, especially for me, a Winnipegger who really oughta know better, that there are gems to be discovered everywhere. That culture exists everywhere. That bigger isn’t better.
Plus, everything was a three-minute walk away from each other which, when there’s a bracing -40 windchill, I appreciated.
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