Manitou Beach (2021 population 364[5]) is a resort village in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within Census Division No.

The village is known for its saltwater lake, the historic dance venue Danceland, and thriving cultural, art, and tourism scene.

It was the most popular summer resort on the prairies, offering an alternative, and became a rival for Banff Hot Springs.

The bustling resort had lots to offer any vacationer: 3 large dance halls, 2 large enclosed mineral hot bath houses, massage parlours, numerous beach stores and restaurants/cafes, several boarding houses, hotels and motels, many cottages, 2 drug stores, 3 grocery stores, 2 service stations, boat rentals, a barber shop, 4 ice-cream parlours, a Y.W.C.A.

Manitou Beach and its activities remained at a lower level for years awaiting rejuvenation in the late 1980s and 90s.

Bill Strongarm, committee member and residential school support worker with TATC, explains that Manitou, in Cree means “Great Spirits or the Creator” while Sakahīcan means “lake.” He says the lake was called Manitou Sakahīcan because it was a place where First Nations people gathered to heal people affected with various skin diseases and other sicknesses.

The Cree people who populated the land area known as Saskatchewan were exposed to smallpox and suffered devastating losses.

Within days of their arrival at the lake, the young men regained their previous state of healthfulness and continued on their tribe’s journey.

Medicine men named the lake Manitou in reference to the Great Spirit, which is the First Nations equivalent to the European God.

As the legend of the lake with healing powers spread via word of mouth, First Nations tribes were followed by the settlers and then visitors from all parts of the world, traveling to the Lake of the Healing Waters to experience relief from a number of maladies.

[4] In the early 1930s, the government decided to construct a luxurious resort hotel as a relief project, using almost exclusively local materials.

A brochure was published, promising a park with picnic grounds, camp kitchens, playgrounds, a tennis court, a 9-hole golf course and a mile long sandy beach – with free indoor showers to wash off the salt.

It features mineral spa, a dance hall, a nine-hole golf course, numerous art galleries, and a regional park and campground.

It is one of only three bodies of water in the world with such properties, the other two being the Dead Sea in Israel and Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic.

The building remains open during the day for tourists to view the architecture and 5,000 square foot dance floor, famously springy due to underlayment of horsehair.

Between the two floors is a layer of horsehair (bought from local farmers and imported from Quebec) six to ten inches thick.

"Art Harmony 7" band (Guy Watkins, a blind musician) used to broadcast concerts over CFQC Radio.

Later Ken Peaker, Mart Kenny and his western gentlemen, Don Messer, Wilf Carter, Sammy Kaye, Bobby Gimby, The Inkspots, Gene Dloughy, Norma Locke, and The Silver Tone played there.The annual Spirit of Manitou Trail is a self-guided art show that feature artists and artisans from the communities of Guernsey, Meacham, Plunkett, Viscount, Watrous and Manitou Beach.

Trail participants have chosen to showcase their talents either at their work studio or have banded together in a central location.

Manitou Beach hosts Saskatchewan's only professional chainsaw carving festival every second year.

The event hosts food and craft vendors, a children's area, live demonstrations, and carving auctions.

The Resort Village of Manitou Beach is governed by an elected municipal council and an appointed administrator that meets on alternating Mondays.