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Happy Wednesday, Thunder Bay! Sun to start, then a mix of sun and cloud and a high of 22°C — about as easy as August gets, and good timing for the last Live on the Waterfront of the summer. In today's issue: council's spending powers freeze at the end of this week, Brayden Bushby has been granted full parole, a gas station fire in Kakabeka Falls sends one person to hospital, and a north side family pulls letters from the 1930s out of a wall. ✉️
In this Harbour Beat Issue…
Trivia: The Olympic marathon is an oddly precise 42.195 km. At which city's Olympic Games was that exact distance first run? (Answer at the bottom!)
Thunder Bay Events
Two summer series take their final bow this week, then the blues move into the ballpark and the Fort fills up for the weekend. ✅ Outdoor events can shift on short notice — confirm with the organizer before you head out, especially Friday and Saturday with showers in the forecast.
Wednesday, August 19
AUG 19 · Live on the Waterfront — final night — 6–9 p.m. · 📍 Festival Area, Marina Park, Water St. · Free · The last one of the summer: Rock 'n Country night with Cartwrights at 6, Rebekah Stevens at 7 and Kendra Gabrielle at 8, food trucks alongside · 📅 Add to Calendar
AUG 19 · Thunder City Speedway Race Night — 6:30–10:30 p.m. · 📍 3250 Hwy. 130 · Ticketed at the gate · A full card of WISSOTA dirt-track classes — modifieds, super stocks, street stocks and hornets · 📅 Add to Calendar
Thursday, August 20
AUG 20 · Summer in the Parking Lot — final night — gates 6 p.m. · 📍 Superior Inn and Conference Centre, 555 Arthur St. W. · $7 at the gate · The last night of the 2026 series: Fluffing Wolf, Headrush and Hellbourne · 📅 Add to Calendar
AUG 20 · Open Mic Comedy Thursday at Campfire Comedy — doors 7 p.m., show 8–10 p.m. · 📍 117 Cumberland St. N. · No cover · Touring comics and first-timers on the same list; sign-ups at 7:30 if you've been threatening to try it · 📅 Add to Calendar
Friday, August 21
AUG 21 · Blues In The Ballpark — from 3:30 p.m. · 📍 Port Arthur Stadium, 420 Lisgar St. · Ticketed · Tom Lavin & The Legendary Powder Blues, Erja Lyytinen, Solomon Hicks, the Mike Wheeler Band and Jeff Rogers; it runs again Saturday from 1 p.m. with ZZ Ward · 📅 Add to Calendar
Saturday, August 22
AUG 22 · Anishinaabe Keeshigun — 11 a.m.–7 p.m. · 📍 Fort William Historical Park, 1350 King Rd. · Free · A weekend of First Nations entertainment, demonstrations and hands-on activities at the Fort; runs again Sunday 11 a.m.–5 p.m. · 📅 Add to Calendar
AUG 22 · Story Time with Mz Molly & Friendz — 2:30–3:30 p.m. · 📍 Mary J.L. Black Library, 901 Edward St. S. · Free, drop-in · An all-ages library story hour with local drag performers Mz. Molly and Lady Fantasia LaPremiere · 📅 Add to Calendar
Sunday, August 23
AUG 23 · Sundays in the Park at Chippewa — 1:30–3:30 p.m. · 📍 Main Stage, Chippewa Park, 1735 City Rd. · Free · Live music north of the pavilion — bring a lawn chair and make an afternoon of it · 📅 Add to Calendar
Where Harbour Beat readers live — the results
Thank you. Over eight issues, 116 of you told us which postal code you call home, and the picture is a genuinely even one: P7B 27 · P7A 26 · P7C 25 · P7E 16 · P7J/P7K 9 · P7G 8 · outside Thunder Bay 5. Almost a three-way tie across the north side, the core and the south, with a solid block out in P7E. Here's what it's actually for: a local business shouldn't have to pay to reach the whole city when it only serves one end of it. Knowing where you are lets us line the two up. The poll is retired for now — we'll bring it back briefly in a few months to catch new readers.
✅ NO WEATHER ALERTS IN EFFECT
Environment Canada had no watches or warnings posted for Thunder Bay as of Tuesday evening. Fire restrictions across the Northwest still change day to day — check the province's Restricted Fire Zone rules and your municipality's own ban before you light anything outdoors. Latest alerts at Environment Canada.
⛅ Wednesday, August 19 — Thunder Bay
22°C
Overnight low 7°C
Sunny, clouding over by mid-morning · W wind 20 km/h · UV 5 (moderate)
A comfortable one. Sunny to start, becoming a mix of sun and cloud in the morning, with a west wind of 20 km/h coming up late in the morning and a high of 22°C. UV index 5, or moderate — nothing extreme, but still worth a hat if you're out at midday. Clear skies tonight after midnight and a low of 7°C, which is cool enough to want a sweater at the Waterfront. Thursday is the pick of the week — sunny and 24°C — before a 40 per cent chance of showers arrives Friday and hangs around into Saturday. Full forecast and any new alerts at Environment Canada.
Council's spending powers freeze at the end of this week
Nominations for the Oct. 26 municipal election close Friday, Aug. 21, and the moment they do, Thunder Bay council goes “lame duck” — provincial rules that cap what an outgoing council can decide until the new term begins. “Most of them are finance-related, so they have essentially a spending cap on … what council can do for decisions,” said deputy city clerk Jeff Walters, with a few more covering hiring and eliminating positions. Standing committees keep meeting as usual; their decisions just aren't binding. Nominations get certified Aug. 24. There will be new faces regardless: Mayor Ken Boshcoff and councillors Kristen Oliver, Dominic Pasqualino, Shelby Ch'ng and Michael Zussino are not running again. Asked what got away from them, Pasqualino named transit — “there's a large population of the community that depends on it, and we haven't been as dependable as what we should have been” — and Oliver named the long hunt for a shelter village site: “It just seemed like we were really chasing our tails for a bit on that one.”
🗳️ Your call: the current council can't start anything big now — so what should the next one pick up first?
Council's spending powers are frozen until the new term. What should the next council take on first?
Brayden Bushby has been granted full parole
The Parole Board of Canada granted full parole on Thursday to Brayden Bushby, convicted of manslaughter in the 2017 death of Barbara Kentner — a 34-year-old member of Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation who died of medical complications months after a trailer hitch was thrown at her from a moving vehicle. The decision documents, provided to CBC News on Tuesday, say his release will not pose “undue risk” and will help him reintegrate “as a law-abiding citizen.” Bushby was sentenced in 2021 to just under eight years. He was first granted day parole in 2023, had it revoked in 2024, and was back on day parole from December. Seven conditions apply to the full parole, including no alcohol, no contact with Kentner's family, and a treatment plan for substance use and emotions management. Nishnawbe Aski Nation called the decision “devastating news” for the family, the community and the city, and “a profound injustice.” Cora McGuire-Cyrette, CEO of the Ontario Native Women's Association, put it plainly to CBC: “this is what systemic failure looks like.”
Support for anyone affected by the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous people is available 24/7 at 1-844-413-6649. The Hope for Wellness line is at 1-855-242-3310, or by chat at hopeforwellness.ca.
A gas station fire in Kakabeka Falls sends one to hospital
One person was taken to hospital after fire broke out Monday night at the Petro-Canada station in Kakabeka Falls. TBT News has video from the scene. Details were still thin as of Tuesday evening — we'll follow it and pass along whatever gets confirmed.
Letters from the 1930s turn up inside a north side wall
A local family opened up a wall in a north side home and found letters from the early 1930s sitting inside it — an accidental time capsule, and an afternoon spent reminiscing about generations past. If you have ever wondered what is behind your own plaster, this is the story that will have you looking. TBT News has the family on video.
Meme of the Day
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Trivia answer: London, at the 1908 Games. The course was laid out from Windsor Castle to the finish in front of the royal box at the White City Stadium — 26 miles and 385 yards. Early Olympic marathons had run several different lengths; the IAAF made that 1908 measurement the official standard in 1921, and it has stood ever since.
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