Photo Courtesy Daryl Mitchell under Creative Commons License

It’s hot, it’s summer and you know what that means — the lines will be snaking out the door at Homestead Ice Cream. Homestead expanded a few years ago by building across the street from their old location which is now occupied by Las Palapas. Their new location allowed them to have a decent sized patio area while having a relatively spacious interior. The interior has a 50’s diner feel to it with a checkboard floor and a genuine old tyme jukebox.

Homestead makes its own ice cream in small batches, in dozens of different flavours. Some of them are definitely targeted at children such as Harry Potter themed ice creams (shhh, don’t tell J.K. Rowling). All your favourites are there, from a variety of chocolates, vanillas, cookies ‘n cream to the much more exotic. I’ve personally tried their olive and the avocado flavours, not being able to resist. (The result — interesting but not likely to give Ben & Jerry any concerns.) You can have your ice cream in a variety of cones or dishes and other types of ice cream treats like sundaes are present too.

Photo Courtesy Kim Schmidt – SneakyFoxProductions

Another claim to fame is Homestead’s “Dog’s Breakfast”. This concoction contains 14 scoops of ice cream, 2 bananas, cookie crumbs, nuts, sprinkles, whipped cream and a cherry, served in a dog’s dish. There’s 2 ways to approach this monster: Share it with friends or go wild and try to eat it yourself in the shortest time possible. The current record holder is “Paul” who ate it in 6 minutes and 10 seconds. Having contacted him, he tells me he plans on trying to best that record this summer. Stay tuned. In the meantime, watch the video of his world record shattering event.

Homestead Ice Cream & Cappuccino
910 Victoria Avenue

306 653-5588

The Broadway Roastery is probably known best as Saskatoon’s largest independent coffeehouse. Located at the top of the Broadway bridge, it sprawls across a couple of levels, filled with small circular tables. There are a few pastries and such to nibble on, but the focus here is location, location, location. You are at ground zero of Saskatoon’s hipster community at the Roastery where you are as likely to overhear people talking about the band they saw last night as you are to hear about organic farming. You are here to see and be seen.

Photo Courtesy Sheila Steele under Creative Commons License

The coffee and teas offered are good and fair trade coffee is always available. I’m not exactly sure how I feel about getting tea in a big glass mug, but I do like their specialty coffees including ones with Saskatoon berry syrup. Free wi-fi is available as well as beans to purchase to take home.

Grab a table with a friend or watch life pass outside on stools surrounding the windows. The outdoor tables are filled on hot, sunny days.

Broadway Roastery
614C Broadway Avenue

306 652-5558

SIR is Western Canada ’s oldest drag strip, founded in 1966, and is located 13 km south of Saskatoon off of highway 11. It is owned and run by the Saskatchewan Drag Racing Association (SDRA) whom have made several improvements to the facility over the years such as guard rails, a computer timing system and a new racing surface.

The site has a ¼ mile drag strip which is sanctioned by the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association), and celebrated its 40th Anniversary in 2006.

Besides a couple of major events, SIR hosts regular point series races which is where racers accumulate points towards a year end championship. Another popular series is the Street Legal program which provides an alternative to street racing for car enthusiasts. You can sign up and see how your ride compares to others in a safe and fun setting.

Photo Courtesy silverfoot99

SIR (Saskatchewan International Raceway)
13 KM South of Saskatoont

306 955-3724