Pride Fest. Poutine Fest. Canada Day. Hosting at Veg Fest, speaking at South Core Roar. If you've been out and about this summer, there's a good chance you walked right past her. Madisyn Hebert is Miss Teen Thunder Bay, and later this month she's representing our city at the Regional Canada Pageant in Toronto.

She's not going down there just to smile for the cameras. Every delegate brings a platform, and Madisyn's is mental health and addiction struggles in teens — specifically, making sure young people know what help actually exists.

The fundraiser

Every year the pageant picks a Canadian charity for its delegates to fundraise for. Last year Madisyn raised money for Northern Ontario Families of Children with Cancer. This year, pageant director Cheryl Kozera selected SickKids Toronto.

Madisyn's goal was $1,000 — and as of Monday night she's already past it, at $1,020. If you'd like to add to that before she leaves for Toronto:

👉 Donate to Madisyn's SickKids page

A fun fact she buried at the bottom of her email

Madisyn had a small role in Ithaqua — the horror film shot right here in Thunder Bay, directed by Casey Walker and starring Luke Hemsworth alongside local-boy-done-good Kevin Durand. She mentioned it almost as an afterthought. We're mentioning it louder.

Follow the road to Toronto

The Regional Canada Pageant runs August 20–22 in the Greater Toronto Area. If you want to follow Madisyn's journey between now and then, she's on Instagram at @madisyn.h_11.

Go get 'em, Madisyn. Thunder Bay's watching.

A very loud Tuesday at the Auditorium, free tai chi by the water, the second-last Wednesday of Live on the Waterfront, a movie under the trees at Vickers Park, and a weekend of fairs, festivals and a whole lot of dogs. ✅ Outdoor events can still shift on short notice — confirm with the organizer before you head out, and check current fire restrictions before lighting anything at a campsite.

Tuesday, August 11

Wednesday, August 12

Thursday, August 13

Friday, August 14

Saturday, August 15

✅ NO WEATHER ALERTS IN EFFECT

Environment Canada had no watches or warnings posted for Thunder Bay as of Monday evening. Fire restrictions across the Northwest still change day to day in a season like this one — check the province's Restricted Fire Zone rules and your municipality's own ban before you light anything outdoors. Latest alerts at Environment Canada.

🌤️ Tuesday, August 11 — Thunder Bay

Feels like 29 · Overnight low 12°C

A mix of sun and cloud · 30% chance of afternoon showers · UV 7 (high)

The call came in just after 2:30 a.m. Monday, and crews arriving on Memorial Avenue found an intense fire and thick black smoke pouring out of Centerfolds Showbar. Thunder Bay Fire Rescue says the heat was severe enough that firefighters had to briefly withdraw from the building before going back in and knocking it down. The interior took extensive damage. The good news, and it's the part that matters most: nobody was inside when it started and no one was hurt. Fire crews are holding the scene while they investigate the cause, and the Ontario Fire Marshal's office hasn't yet decided whether it will take a look of its own.

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A familiar face is back. Aldo Ruberto filed his nomination papers at city hall on Monday, becoming the eighth candidate for mayor this fall. He sat on council for 16 years before stepping away in 2022, when he said four terms was his limit — though he never quite closed the door. Asked what he's proudest of, he pointed to the revitalization of Prince Arthur's Landing: without the tough calls council made then, “we would not have the fantastic waterfront we have right now.” He's complimentary about the outgoing council's work overall, but critical of the temporary shelter village — he argues it was a provincial responsibility Queen's Park should have paid for in full, and that the city shouldn't have taken it on. He also questions the decision to designate three encampment sites rather than one. On the social media posts that drew an integrity commissioner recommendation during his last term — one council ultimately rejected — he says the tool is still a good one, with a caveat: “Be responsible for what you say, be accountable for what you say, and be proud of what you say.”

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You know the feeling of driving to Duluth or ordering online because the thing you want simply isn't sold here. The city is putting a number on that. It has issued a request for proposals for a consultant to map Thunder Bay's retail and commercial gaps — defining our real trade area, measuring demand, and identifying “retail leakage,” the spending that leaves the region entirely. The study will also benchmark us against comparable Canadian cities and produce a targeted list of brands and concepts to go after, with recommendations for downtown areas and existing retail nodes. CEDC chief executive Jamie Taylor says the goal is to position the city more effectively as the commercial hub for the whole Northwest, serving “rural, remote and Indigenous communities” as well as our own. Business leaders have pointed to Costco's arrival as proof the pull works in both directions — including from Minnesota. Target completion: Dec. 31, 2026.

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Thunder Bay police have investigated eight homicides so far in 2026 — more than all of last year. Deputy chief Jeremy Pearson told CBC's Superior Morning that none of them were random: “the parties involved are known to each other or have an interaction that deteriorates.” He isn't brushing it off. “Obviously I would never tell the community that eight homicides at this point in the year is not something to be concerned about,” he said — but it is not an unprecedented pace for the service. On the wider crime numbers he's holding off: with online reporting now available and other barriers removed, he says it's too early to tell whether the city is seeing more crime or simply more of it being reported. Mayor Ken Boshcoff wants more OPP and RCMP staffing to take the weight off local taxpayers, noting “much of the crime is not necessarily in Thunder Bay, but this is where criminals go to hide.” Pearson's own answer runs wider than funding: “there are, quite frankly, people that need to be arrested” — and at the same time, the city has to work “at the root causes, at the upstream of social determinants of health.”

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Build & Thrive Thunder Bay

Host: Robert Downing · Guest: [guest]

Micro-content is the art of taking one thing you've already made — a talk, a blog post, a customer question you answered by email — and cutting it into a dozen smaller pieces that each stand on their own. This week's episode makes the case that most small businesses are sitting on more marketing material than they realize, and that the work isn't making more, it's slicing better. Robert walks through how to spot the reusable bits and where to put them once you've got them.

In this episode:

🎧 Listen on Spotify →

New episodes every Monday.

What's faster than word of mouth? The Harbour Beat Spotlight! Keeps you updated on what's going on locally and connects businesses to our vibrant community.