Saskatoon’s Prairie Lily may sail into the sunset in 2025

The Prairie Lily has navigated the South Saskatchewan River for 13 years now.

That’s been much than capable clip for captains Mike and Joan Steckhan, who are present looking to retire, and it means 2025 could beryllium the last send-off for a Saskatoon icon.

“We’ve really had a bid of emails and a batch of radical person expressed sadness due to the fact that they’ve truly enjoyed it. … So it’s benignant of sad, but immoderate joyousness that’s determination for us, excessively ”

Mike says the vessel is arsenic fashionable arsenic ever, and work could adjacent person extended past the summertime — particularly with the bully upwind Saskatoon has been having.

“We could person tally aboriginal into the year, of course. But astatine immoderate constituent you say, OK, that’s enough.”

The captains accidental they’ll retrieve the radical the most.

“There was a woman who sent a enactment successful this morning, talking astir her two-year-old grandson, who was connected a cruise a fewer weeks ago. And erstwhile they left, the small feline conscionable said, ‘More boat, much boat.’ But it’s that benignant of amusive and the appreciation radical person — those are the favourite things.”

They privation the assemblage to cognize however overmuch their enactment implicit the years means.

“Without radical coming successful enjoying the ship, we don’t person thing either. So it’s conscionable a tremendous acknowledgment to the assemblage and the enactment that we’ve received.”

While the Lily’s captains are acceptable to retire, that doesn’t mean the riverboat has to, arsenic well.

The Prairie Lily volition beryllium up for merchantability aft the 2025 season.

The captains anticipation a caller proprietor volition travel guardant to support the Lily connected the stream and support bringing joyousness to Saskatoon.