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Good morning, Thunder Bay — and welcome to issue one hundred and fifteen. Increasing cloudiness and a high of 16°C, with a 30 percent chance of showers moving in overnight — worth a light jacket. In today's issue: Marina Park's festival grounds get ready to hold twice as many people; new owners take on Vickers Manor with a promise to fix what the last ones didn't; Thunder Bay's summer of wildfire vet care becomes a standing emergency team; and a Thunder Bay radio station keeps a lost hiker company for 11 days on Isle Royale. Plus this week's Local Business Spotlight, and eight things to do between now and Saturday.
In this Harbour Beat Issue…
Trivia: What's the name for the invisible boundary around a black hole beyond which nothing — not even light — can escape? (Answer at the bottom!)
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Thunder Bay Events
Thursday's the theatre-and-bingo night, Friday's built for live music, and Saturday runs from an artisan fair out the Slate River valley to a night of tango at St. Paul's.
Thursday, September 24
SEP 24 · Plant BINGO at Creekside — 6 to 9 p.m., 19+ · 📍 Creekside Nursery & Garden Centre, 683 Woodcrest Rd. · Bingo where the prizes are tropical plants. Tickets include a welcome drink and 20 per cent off at the nursery, and $5 from each one goes to Our Kids Count. Bring a dabber. · 📅 Add to Calendar
SEP 24 · Come From Away — curtain 7:30 p.m., $36 · 📍 Badanai Theatre · The Gander musical, directed by Candi Badanai. Third weekend of the run, Thursday through Saturday, with more dates to October 10. · 📅 Add to Calendar
SEP 24 · LIVE Open Mic Comedy Thursdays — doors 7 p.m., show 8-10 p.m., no cover · 📍 Campfire Comedy, 117 Cumberland St. N. · Weekly laughs with touring comedians and rising stars — sign up to perform or just watch. Open to newcomers and veterans alike. · 📅 Add to Calendar
Friday, September 25
SEP 25 · Come From Away — curtain 7:30 p.m., $36 · 📍 Badanai Theatre · The Gander musical continues its third weekend, directed by Candi Badanai. · 📅 Add to Calendar
SEP 25 · Voice of Cash featuring King Can Dan — 8 to 11 p.m. · 📍 Royal Canadian Legion Branch 5, 229 Van Norman St. · Pat Silvaggio and The Rockhounds — dancing and listening to live music in the Port Arthur Legion clubroom. · 📅 Add to Calendar
SEP 25 · The Cover Show XXXIV — 9 p.m. · 📍 Black Pirates Pub, 215 Red River Rd. · Wiggins Productions' 34th tribute night — local acts paying homage to Metallica, Olivia Rodrigo, Iron Maiden, Paramore and more. · 📅 Add to Calendar
Saturday, September 26
SEP 26 · Autumn Rendezvous artisan show — 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., free · 📍 4485 Highway 61, out through the Slate River valley · Seventh year for this one: local artisans, live music from Jim and Chris of tbay TRAD, and a Welsh cream tea in the pines that sold out last year — book ahead at 807-475-9758. · 📅 Add to Calendar
SEP 26 · Payadora Tango Ensemble: Tangomania! — 7:30 p.m., doors at 7, $25 / $15 students · 📍 St. Paul's United Church, 349 Waverley St. · Consortium Aurora Borealis opens its 48th season with the Toronto quintet — bandoneon, violin, mandolin, piano and bass, plus a Uruguayan vocalist. Accessible by elevator. · 📅 Add to Calendar
✅ NO WEATHER ALERTS IN EFFECT
Environment Canada has nothing posted for Thunder Bay as of Tuesday evening. Thursday itself turns cloudier through the day — nothing severe, just a chance of evening showers.
☁️ Thursday, September 24 — Thunder Bay
16°C
Overnight low 11°C
Increasing cloudiness during the day, with a 30 percent chance of showers overnight. Light winds.
Cloud builds through Thursday, with a high of 16°C — cooler than the past few days — and a 30 percent chance of showers moving in overnight, down to a low of 11°C. Friday clears back up with a high of 20°C, Saturday settles into a mix of sun and cloud at 21°C before another 30 percent chance of showers returns Saturday night, and Sunday stays unsettled with cloud and a further 30 percent chance of showers at 19°C. Winds stay light through the stretch. Forecast from Environment Canada.
Marina Park's festival grounds get ready to hold twice as many people
Phase one of the revitalization of Marina Park's festival area is set to wrap this fall, with stormwater ponds, dozens of new trees and a rebuilt Camelot Street parking lot leading into a much bigger change: moving the stage to the north end of the grounds, which pushes festival capacity from about 8,000 people to roughly 15,000.
Landscape architecture supervisor Guy Walter said the project leans hard on nature-based infrastructure — bio-basins, a “mesa” berm that doubles as a natural amphitheatre, and a new dock connecting to McVicar Creek — to cut both construction and long-term maintenance costs. The playground will be dismantled this fall as phase two, budgeted under $10 million, goes out to tender next month.
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Vickers Manor gets new owners, and a promise to fix what the last ones didn't
Sister companies Big North Capital and Willowstone Living Group announced Thursday they're buying the seniors' apartment building at 325 Archibald St. S. from SMS Property Trust, whose owner faces 36 provincial charges tied to dozens of fire and health code violations that nearly got the building's utilities shut off this summer. Existing tenants can stay, and the new owners say safety repairs come first.
Tenant Michelle Hamilton, whose son John lives at Vickers Manor, called the sale welcome but said she's “still guarded” until she sees it through. A lawyer with the Kinna-aweya Legal Clinic noted tenants don't need to sign anything new — their leases and rent protections carry over automatically under the Residential Tenancies Act. The former owner is due in Provincial Offences Court by video on Nov. 25.
🗳️ Your call: the previous owner is due in court in November. What should happen to landlords who let a building get this bad?
Vickers Manor's previous owner is due in court in November on 36 code violations, while the new owners promise repairs and say current tenants can stay. What should happen to landlords who let a building get this bad?
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Thunder Bay's summer of wildfire vet care becomes a standing emergency team
Vets Around the Corner's Community Veterinarian Program is turning its six-week wildfire deployment into a permanent Veterinary Emergency Preparedness and Response Team, after discovering how few options pet owners had during this summer's evacuations. CEO William Woodstock said Ontario has no existing framework for getting pets veterinary care during a disaster, so the group is building one: a volunteer roster of vets ready to deploy to emergencies and to make scheduled visits to remote communities between crises.
The need runs deeper than wildfire season, said Erin Manahan of Northern Reach Network — not a single Thunder Bay-area vet is currently taking new clients. A new veterinary program at Lakehead University may ease that over time, but for now the volunteer team is being built “with best intentions,” Woodstock said, largely on donations, since the program receives no government funding.
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A Thunder Bay radio station kept a lost hiker going for 11 days on Isle Royale
Craig Berg, a 70-year-old from the Detroit area, was four days into a solo hike on Isle Royale when he lost the trail, fell into a swamp and lost his satellite phone. He spent 11 days surviving on dwindling freeze-dried food and swamp water before kayakers heard him shouting and flagged down his rescuers. Through it all, he says, a wired-together antenna on his MP3 player picked up 91.5 CKPR out of Thunder Bay — and just hearing voices, and the weather reports, kept his spirits up and helped him make it out alive.
Berg was hoisted out by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter and treated for hypothermia. He's since reached out to thank the station and says he'd like a coffee mug as a memento. His advice to other hikers: don't lean on technology the way he did — bring a backup plan for when the phone and its apps stop working.
🥖 Local Business Spotlight
Featured Bakery & Deli: Nucci's Bake-A-Deli
Overview
Nucci's Bake-A-Deli has been a Thunder Bay fixture since 1983, when it opened on Red River Road; a second location followed on Balmoral Street in 1995. Over 40-plus years the family bakery built its name on made-from-scratch Italian pastries, Persians and sallyannes, alongside a deli counter of specialty cheeses, deli meats and imported groceries — the kind of place regulars just call “Nucci's.”
Highlights
Persians — the Thunder Bay classic, iced fresh most mornings
Sallyannes, cookies and made-to-order custom cakes
A full deli counter: cured meats, specialty cheeses and imported groceries
Deli sandwiches built to order, for a quick lunch on the way through
Ambiance & Experience
Two straightforward neighbourhood counters, not a sit-down café — the draw is walking out with a box of pastries and a sandwich, not lingering over a coffee. Regulars know to check the weekly flyer for specials before they go.
Location & Contact
📍 801 Red River Rd. — main location
📍 400 Balmoral St. — second location
📞 807-767-4501
Operating Hours
Monday–Friday — approx. 9 a.m.–7 p.m.
Saturday — approx. 9 a.m.–6 p.m.
Sunday — approx. 9 a.m.–6 p.m.
Hours can vary a little by location — worth a quick call ahead, especially around holidays.
Final Slice
Forty-plus years in, the Persians are still the reason people cross town for Nucci's.
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Meme of the Day
Brought to you by Harbour Beat
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.
Trivia answer: The event horizon. Once anything crosses it, gravity's pull is strong enough that not even light can escape back out.
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