Nine Years, One Bowl of Soup, and a Sky I'll Never Forget

Industry

Posted By Stephanie Pocha , June 09, 2026

"This month marks nine years since I stepped into Discover Saskatoon."

Ten years ago, I drove into Saskatchewan for the first time. I wasn't moving here. I wasn't considering a career change. I had been invited on a fishing trip into the boreal forest, one of my deepest vocations, and Saskatchewan had whispered to me through the landscape. I listened.

I stopped in Saskatoon first. I sat down at a restaurant called Odd Couple. I ate a bowl of noodle soup with a rich, deeply layered broth. I drank a collaborative beer brewed in partnership between the restaurant and 9 Mile Legacy Brewing across the street, the creative work of Shawn Moen, Andy Yuen, Rachel Yuen, and Garrett Pederson.

I didn't know then that these people would one day become dear friends. I didn't know I'd be back.

But something shifted in me that afternoon. This urban centre on the edge of nature. The warmth of the community, palpable even to a stranger passing through. The sense that something real and alive was happening here.

Then I drove north. Past Prince Albert, into a dense boreal forest. I grew up in the East Kootenays of British Columbia, and I felt, suddenly and unexpectedly, like I was home. The forest floor was covered in the same dirt, mosses, and flora I had known as a girl just without the mountains on the horizon.

In their place was sky. So much sky. A humbling, endless, extraordinary sky over Jan Lake that I was not prepared for. I have been a tourism professional my entire career. And I was embarrassed to realize I had believed this province was something it is not.

I had underestimated Saskatchewan. Completely.

And standing there at the water's edge — water as far as I could see in every direction — I felt the humility that comes from being shown how wrong you were about something beautiful.

That trip changed everything.

When the stars aligned.

When the opportunity at Discover Saskatoon presented itself, I was thrilled and uncertain in equal measure. Thrilled because I knew, in my bones, what this place was. Uncertain because saying yes meant picking up my two young daughters and moving them into a city where we knew no one, into a house I had never seen.

We came anyway.

I quickly found my footing, connecting deeply with friends who are now family, business leaders and intellectuals, with the physical world, paddleboarding down the river under fireworks, and spiritually, in ways I hadn't anticipated. The river, I was reminded, is my relative. The land here asks something of you, and if you're willing to listen, it gives back more than you know how to hold.

My family and I have built a quality of life here that I believe is unparalleled in this country. Access to experience, health, community, athletics, vibrancy, culture, space to have hard conversations, art, storytellers, and a beauty that goes on forever.

That is Saskatoon. That is Saskatchewan.

Nine Years of Building

This month marks nine years since I stepped into Discover Saskatoon. I went back to Odd Couple to mark it. I sat with family, savoured the flavours, watched the room fill with people settling in for a beautiful night. I thought about everything it takes to make a room like that possible.

Nine years is long enough to know what this work truly demands. It demands strategy and accountability, yes, and more than that, it demands belief. Belief that tourism is not a luxury. It is essential infrastructure. It is the system that keeps communities vibrant, connected, and whole.

I am proud of what our team has built. The Discover Saskatoon rebrand was a two-year, community-wide effort brought to life by an extraordinarily talented local creative agency who wove the voices, values, and identity of this city into something everyone could see themselves in.

Coupled with that rebrand, and inseparable from it, was something truly historic. A first-of-its-kind partnership agreement in Canada between a Destination Organization and the Saskatoon Tribal Council.

That partnership was a commitment. A recognition that tourism has a role in truth telling and that truth telling is how we move, one day, toward reconciliation. It acknowledges that we are responsible for acting on three of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action: #87, #89, and #92. This is not optional.

You cannot market or manage a destination honestly without reckoning with its full story.

Belonging matters. And we are building communities where that belonging is real.

I am proud of the international group tours now arriving in Saskatoon — a market we have grown with intention and care. I am proud of the international business events we have won in sectors leading the world — nuclear medicine, agricultural innovation — secured through funds like the International Convention Attraction Fund, which we access because we have earned the credibility to compete at that level.

I am proud that we are bringing the CCMAs to this city. The 100th Year Brier. Hockey Canada's Rivalry Series. Events that fill our community with energy, pride, and visitors who leave changed by what they found here.

None of it happened alone. It happened because of investing partners like Saskatoon's Best Hotels, our municipal and provincial champions, national collaborators all who showed up around tables that most people never see. It happened because of entrepreneurs like Shawn, Andy, Rachel, and Garrett, who built something worth coming back to. It happened because of a community that keeps showing up for itself.

Saskatchewan's motto is Multis e gentibus vires — from many peoples, strength. I live this every single day.

Nine years in, I am more convinced of this work than ever. More in love with this city. More humbled by what it continues to become.

It starts with one. One flight. One arrival. One bowl of soup. One moment where a place stops being a dot on a map and starts feeling like somewhere you belong.

That moment happened to me. Our job, every single day, is to make sure it keeps happening for others.

What was your first moment with Saskatoon?

Industry

The Author

Stephanie Pocha

As the CEO of Discover Saskatoon, Stephanie's responsibilities transcend the boundaries of traditional leadership. At the core of her role is the pursuit of championing Saskatoon's unique identity on the global stage, bridging its historic legacy with contemporary aspirations.