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Happy Friday, Thunder Bay! Mainly cloudy, 24°C, with a 40 per cent chance of showers and a risk of a thunderstorm — and the CLE midway is open from noon for day three of five. In today's issue: Shelby Ch'ng resigns her seat on city council, NAN says an audit of the province's wildfire response isn't enough, a Thunder Bay-trained diver leaps out of a helicopter into shark water, and the Multiplex gets its walls and roof. 🌦️
In this Harbour Beat Issue…
🏛️ Shelby Ch'ng resigns her seat on city council
🔥 NAN wants a public inquiry, not just an audit
🦈 A Thunder Bay-trained diver leaps into shark water
🏗️ The Multiplex gets its walls and roof
Trivia: How many strings does a standard modern concert harp have? (Answer at the bottom!)
The CLE's last full weekend, a benefit concert for families burned out by this summer's fires, a motocross payout day at Kakabeka, and a metalcore night at the Auditorium. ✅ Showers are in the forecast most days, so confirm with the organizer before you head out to anything outdoors — and check current fire restrictions before lighting anything at a campsite.
Friday, August 7
AUG 7 · Canadian Lakehead Exhibition — from noon, daily through Sunday, Aug. 9 · 📍 CLE Grounds, 425 Northern Ave. · Day three of the 136th CLE: rides, games, food trailers, live entertainment and the agricultural exhibits the whole thing grew out of · 📅 Add to Calendar
AUG 7 · FIRE AID! Wildfire Relief Concert — night two — from 8 p.m., 19+ · 📍 Black Pirates Pub, 215 Red River Rd. · $10 at the door · Night two of a three-night benefit raising money directly for families and First Nations hit by this summer's fires; four bands on the bill, with a third night Saturday · 📅 Add to Calendar
Saturday, August 8
AUG 8 · Mike “HOSS” Ellchook Teddy Bear Ride — from 8:30 a.m. · 📍 OPSEU Thunder Bay Regional Office, 326 Memorial Ave. · A memorial charity ride held each year in memory of Mike “HOSS” Ellchook — a brother, friend, uncle and son, as the organizers put it · 📅 Add to Calendar
AUG 8 · Zulu Challenge Thunder Bay — 10 a.m.–4 p.m. · 📍 Boulevard Lake, Lyon Blvd. W. · Registration required · A tethered obstacle course with a 5 km adult route, shorter kid categories from age three up, and a 5 km K9 course for dogs in a harness and hands-free leash · 📅 Add to Calendar
AUG 8 · Kakabeka Motocross Pro Class Payout Race Day — from 9 a.m. · 📍 KBMX, 5254 Hwy. 17, Kakabeka Falls · Race day at the track just west of the city, with a big track for full-size bikes and a mini-track for 50cc–65cc riders · 📅 Add to Calendar
Sunday, August 9
AUG 9 · Sundays in the Park Concert Series — 1:30–3:30 p.m. · 📍 Chippewa Park Main Stage, 1735 City Rd. · Free · Free live music north of the Pavilion, put on by the Friends of Chippewa Park. Bring a lawn chair · 📅 Add to Calendar
Monday, August 10
AUG 10 · Abigail Lapell with Faith Russell — doors 7 p.m., show 8 p.m. · 📍 Royal Canadian Legion Branch 5, 229 Van Norman St. · Tickets from about $32 · An intimate listening-room show with the rising Canadian folk songwriter; organizers say only a small number of tickets are available · 📅 Add to Calendar
Tuesday, August 11
AUG 11 · Killswitch Engage, with Machine Head and Malevolence — 7 p.m. · 📍 Thunder Bay Community Auditorium, 1 Paul Shaffer Dr. · Tickets from about $110 · Two decades of metalcore headliners, plus Bay Area veterans Machine Head and UK openers Malevolence · 📅 Add to Calendar
✅ NO WEATHER ALERTS IN EFFECT
Environment Canada had no watches or warnings posted for Thunder Bay as of Friday morning. Fire restrictions across the Northwest can 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.
🌦️ Friday, August 7 — Thunder Bay
24°C
Feels like 28 · Overnight low 14°C
Mainly cloudy · 60% chance of showers · Risk of a thunderstorm · UV 6 (high)
A softer, greyer day than yesterday. Mainly cloudy with a high of 24°C and a humidex of 28. Environment Canada bumped the odds up this morning: there's now a 60 per cent chance of showers and a risk of a thunderstorm, so if you're heading to the fairgrounds or an outdoor show, pack something waterproof and keep an eye on the sky. UV index 6 (high): worth the sunscreen whenever the cloud breaks. It cools off nicely overnight to a low of 14°C under partly cloudy skies. The weekend looks brighter — 24°C Saturday and 23°C Sunday, both a mix of sun and cloud with a 30 per cent chance of showers, and a clear night Sunday. Full forecast and any new alerts at Environment Canada.
Shelby Ch'ng resigns her seat on city council
Thunder Bay is down a councillor. The city's website now lists the councillor at-large seat held by Shelby Ch'ng as vacant, and Ch'ng has confirmed her resignation took effect July 31. She told Thunder Bay Television she is leaving because of work commitments and a new full-time, permanent position. Ch'ng had already announced in April that she would not seek a fourth term, and she hasn't attended a council or standing committee meeting since June 23. She was first elected in Northwood in 2014, re-elected in 2018, and won an at-large seat in 2022. The seat is expected to stay empty until the Oct. 26 municipal election — where six candidates have already filed for the five at-large spots, with two weeks left before nominations close.
NAN wants a public inquiry, not just an audit
Ontario's Auditor General confirmed this week that it is running a performance audit of the province's wildland fire management. Nishnawbe Aski Nation says that's welcome — and nowhere near enough. “First Nations have been paying the price for the Ford government's inaction,” Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said. “The warnings were there. The recommendations were there.” He wants the audit used to inform a full public inquiry into this season's response. The history backs the frustration: a 2022 audit made six wildfire-specific recommendations broken into 15 actions, and a 2024 follow-up found “little or no progress” on two-thirds of them — including three actions meant to ensure crews meet maximum response times and two that would have extended FireSmart to First Nations and unorganized territories. The Auditor General's office says it will follow up again in 2027.
A Thunder Bay-trained diver leaps into shark water
Here is a sentence we did not expect to write this week. Molly Carlson — Fort Frances-born, and trained as a diver at the Canada Games Complex — jumped 50 feet from a moving helicopter into a purpose-built cage in shark-inhabited water off the Bahamas, for the Discovery Channel's Shark Week special Ultimate Shark Dive. The catch: she has been afraid of sharks since she was a kid in the pool. “I've been scared of sharks since I've been in the chlorine,” she said. It took producers three months to talk her into it. The dive itself she describes as time stopping mid-air. Getting out was the hard part — she slipped off the jet ski and briefly ended up in the open water. Carlson, now 28, competes on the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series and has four million followers on TikTok. She says the next stunt is already in the works.
The Multiplex gets its walls and roof
If you've driven past the site lately, it's starting to look like a building. Crews are now installing the walls and roof on the Tbaytel Multiplex, Thunder Bay Television reported Thursday, with steady progress inside and out on the $39-million project. Work is also moving into the next phase on the Community Auditorium parking lot.
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Trivia answer: 47. A standard concert harp — the pedal harp you'd see in an orchestra — is strung with 47 strings, and its seven foot pedals each change the pitch of one note across the whole instrument.