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Good morning, Thunder Bay — and welcome to issue one hundred and thirty-two. Cloudy this morning, clearing early in the afternoon, with a high of 21°C and a southeast wind near 20 km/h. It's Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, and free community dinners are on both Sunday and Monday. In today's issue: $1.5 million for the northwest's forestry accelerator; where to find a free Thanksgiving dinner; and the Waverley library branch's year-long overhaul. Plus seven things to do between now and Wednesday, this fortnight's real estate snapshot, and Scrollback on the clock-change vote.
In this Harbour Beat Issue…
Trivia: About how fast do human fingernails grow — 1 mm, 3 mm, or 10 mm a month? (Answer at the bottom!)
Ask Harbour Beat: Mount McKay looms over the city's south end — who is it named after?
Answer: William McKay (also spelled Mackay), a Scottish free trader who lived in the Fort William area between about 1821 and 1857. Its Ojibwe name, Anemki Wajiw, means "Thunder Mountain." Source
Got a Thunder Bay question? Hit reply. We answer one here every Saturday.
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Thunder Bay Events
From the last night of Come From Away and the Medieval Faire to two free Thanksgiving dinners, here's what's on between now and Wednesday. The City calendar has no other listings for Thanksgiving Monday, so the Dew Drop Inn dinner (from CBC's reporting) is the one to know.
Saturday, October 10
OCT 10 · Thunder Bay Medieval Faire — 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Oct. 10 and 11; tickets online or at the gate · 📍 Hymers Fair Grounds, 47 Hymers Fair Dr., Gillies · The Knights of Valour bring two days of medieval merriment to the fairgrounds. · 📅 Add to Calendar
OCT 10 · Come From Away — 7:30 to 9 p.m., $36 · 📍 Badanai Theatre production (venue details on the event page) · The true story of the Gander airlift on Sept. 11, 2001, as a musical; tonight is the last performance. · 📅 Add to Calendar
OCT 10 · GenX Comedy Takeover Tour — 7:30 p.m. · 📍 The Auditorium, 1 Paul Shaffer Dr. · A night of stand-up from four social-media comedians. · 📅 Add to Calendar
Sunday, October 11
OCT 11 · The Salvation Army's Free Thanksgiving Dinner — 12 to 2 p.m., free, everyone welcome · 📍 Salvation Army Journey to Life Centre, 545 Cumberland St. N. · A community Thanksgiving meal served by the Thunder Bay Professional Fire Fighters Association; a free shuttle leaves City Hall at 11:45 a.m. · 📅 Add to Calendar
Monday, October 12 (Thanksgiving)
OCT 12 · Dew Drop Inn Thanksgiving Dinner — 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. · 📍 Dew Drop Inn, 294 Red River Rd. · A traditional turkey dinner with all the fixings; the Dew Drop Inn expects 700 to 800 meals, its busiest day of the year. · 📅 Add to Calendar
Tuesday, October 13
OCT 13 · Tuesday Group Run — 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. · 📍 Boulevard Lake, Rita Street parking lot · A friendly 5k run or run/walk around the lake; all speeds and fitness levels welcome. · 📅 Add to Calendar
Wednesday, October 14
OCT 14 · Westfort Prosvita Catch the Ace — 7 to 8 p.m. · 📍 Westfort Prosvita, 721 West Gore St. · Weekly progressive draw at The Proz — you don't need to be there to win. · 📅 Add to Calendar
✅ NO WEATHER ALERTS IN EFFECT
Environment Canada has no alerts posted for Thunder Bay as of Friday evening. Expect cloud this morning clearing early in the afternoon, with a southeast wind reaching 20 km/h in the morning.
⛅ Saturday, October 10 — Thunder Bay
21°C
Overnight low 12°C
Cloudy, clearing early in the afternoon. Wind becoming southeast 20 km/h in the morning. UV index 3, moderate. Clear tonight with a low near 12.
Sunday is sunny with a high of 21°C, then turns cloudy overnight with a 40 percent chance of showers and a low of 7°C. Thanksgiving Monday is cloudy and much cooler, with a 40 percent chance of showers and a high of 8°C, dropping to a low of 1°C overnight with a 60 percent chance of showers. Tuesday brings a mix of sun and cloud and a high of 10°C, and Wednesday reaches 11°C. Forecast from Environment Canada.
Ontario puts $1.5 million behind the northwest's forestry accelerator
The province announced this week that it is putting $1.5 million toward the Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre's Boreal Springboard program, which helps forestry-sector companies in the region grow. The money comes through Ontario's Trade-Impacted Communities Program. The program has two streams: an accelerator for entrepreneurs developing forest-based businesses, who can access up to $40,000 in support plus business and product development help, and a "Soft-Landing" stream that helps established companies from outside the region scale up in northwestern Ontario. Forestry Minister and Thunder Bay–Atikokan MPP Kevin Holland said the funding helps forestry and wood-product businesses respond to U.S. tariffs and attract new investment. If you have a forest-products idea, the accelerator stream offers up to $40,000 in support plus business help, and it is run through the Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre.
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Free Thanksgiving dinners are on Sunday and Monday as food costs climb
The Dew Drop Inn at 294 Red River Rd. says Thanksgiving Monday is its busiest day of the year: it served a record 816 meals last year and expects 700 to 800 this time, with a traditional dinner from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. The Salvation Army's Journey to Life Centre at 545 Cumberland St. N. serves a free dinner on Sunday from noon to 2 p.m., prepared by off-duty members of the Thunder Bay Professional Fire Fighters Association, with a free shuttle from City Hall at 11:45 a.m. Both groups point to rising food costs; about 22 per cent of households in the Thunder Bay district are food insecure, according to the health unit's latest Cost of Eating Well report. Both dinners are open to anyone: Sunday at the Salvation Army, Monday at the Dew Drop Inn.
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The Waverley library branch closes Nov. 23 for an $8-million overhaul
The Thunder Bay Public Library's busiest branch, on Red River Road, will close temporarily on Nov. 23, with construction expected to start in January and take about a year. Renderings shown at an open house on Thursday include a children's library more than double its current size, more programming rooms, a new Indigenous knowledge centre and the restoration of the 75-year-old building's original entrance. The Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario announced $1 million for the project, and the library has launched a campaign to raise $2 million from the community. Separately, CUPE says pickets will go up at all four branches if a contract deal isn't reached by Oct. 16. While Waverley is closed, the Brodie, County Park and Mary JL Black branches stay open, and it's worth checking before you go if the Oct. 16 deadline arrives.
🗳️ Your call: the Waverley branch is getting an $8M makeover. What should the new library do best?
Your call: the Waverley branch is getting an $8M makeover. What should the new library do best?
🏡 Harbour Beat Real Estate Snapshot
Brought to you by [your brokerage here — this slot is open]
September was the busiest September for single-detached home sales in more than five years, even as the median price slipped and homes took a little longer to sell.
By the numbers — single-detached homes, City of Thunder Bay (September 2026):
💵 Median price: $395,000 — down 1.3% from September 2025; the year-to-date median of $413,750 is up 2.2%
🏠 Homes sold: 109 — up 11.2% year-over-year and 18.2% above the five-year average for September
⏱️ Median days on market: 18 — up from 14 in September 2025
📈 Total value of sales: $47 million — up 14.5%, a record for any September
What it means: Board president Karen Hill says new listings and overall inventory both declined from August, prices softened again, and conditions moved somewhat further in buyers' favour — but she cautions it is too early to call that a meaningful shift, since one month does not make a trend. The board's MLS® HPI benchmark price for single-family homes was $386,100, down 3.3% year-over-year.
Source: Thunder Bay Real Estate Board via CREA, September 2026 MLS® data. Informational market snapshot only — not financial advice.
Thinking of buying or selling? This space is open to one local realtor or brokerage — just reply to this email.
📊 Scrollback: Readers Want the Clock Change Gone
When Manitoba announced permanent daylight time, we asked whether Ontario should follow. Of the 23 readers who voted, nearly all said yes.
Should Ontario follow Manitoba and stay on daylight time all year? (23 responses)
🥇 Yes — permanent daylight time, matching Manitoba: 91% (21 votes)
🕰️ No — keep changing the clocks twice a year: 4% (1 vote)
🌓 Permanent standard time instead: 4% (1 vote)
Takeaway: This was the most lopsided result of the week. Almost no one defended the twice-a-year switch, and the one reader who wanted a single permanent time chose standard rather than daylight. With only 23 votes, treat this as a temperature check rather than a verdict on the whole city.
💬 What Readers Are Saying
Several readers said the clock change no longer serves a useful purpose, and one argued that a consistent time is better for individuals and businesses alike. One reader who voted to keep the switch pointed to its original safety rationale: darker mornings put drivers and children walking to school at more risk, and communities near the western edge of a time zone, like those in western Ontario, would see the latest sunrises.
Final Thoughts: the city is ready to stop touching the clocks — the open question is which time to pick.
Meme of the Day
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Trivia answer: About 3 mm. Fingernails grow roughly 3 mm a month — about twice as fast as toenails.
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