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Good morning, Thunder Bay — and welcome to issue one hundred and nine. Mainly cloudy and 19°C, with a 30 per cent chance of showers in the morning and a northwest wind picking up before lunch. In today's issue: the art gallery writes to every council candidate about its half-built waterfront home; ransomware takes down lab and imaging services at the Nipigon hospital; Shelter House's SOS van starts running in daylight as well as after dark; and three orphaned bear cubs go back to the bush near Dryden. Plus this week's Local Business Spotlight, and eight things to do between now and Sunday.
In this Harbour Beat Issue…
Trivia: The Hammond organ's swirling, wobbling sound usually comes from a rotating speaker cabinet named after the man who built it. What is that cabinet called? (Answer at the bottom!)
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Thunder Bay Events
The theatre season opens tonight and the weekend fills up fast — the waterfront lit up Friday evening and a rock show at the Auditorium the same night, then Saturday stacks a trail race, a convention and a toy run on top of each other, and Sunday brings the Terry Fox Run to Boulevard Lake.
Thursday, September 17
SEP 17 · Come From Away — opening night — curtain 7:30 p.m., $36 · 📍 Badanai Theatre, 499 Dewe Ave. · Badanai's staging of the musical about the 38 planes grounded in Gander on September 11, 2001, and the town that took everyone in. Runs Thursday to Saturday through October 10. · 📅 Add to Calendar
SEP 17 · 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 afterward, and $5 from each one goes to Our Kids Count. Bring a dabber. · 📅 Add to Calendar
Friday, September 18
SEP 18 · Arts & Culture Under the Lights — 6 to 9 p.m., free · 📍 Market Square lot and the Baggage Building Arts Centre, Marina Park · The City's evening arts night on the waterfront, spread across the parking lot and the arts centre. · 📅 Add to Calendar
SEP 18 · Sass Jordan — 7:30 p.m. · 📍 Thunder Bay Community Auditorium, 1 Paul Shaffer Dr. · Four decades on from her first records, one of the most durable voices in Canadian rock. Tickets through the Auditorium. · 📅 Add to Calendar
Saturday, September 19
SEP 19 · Chippewa Challenge 4K and 8K — 9:45 a.m. to noon · 📍 Chippewa Park, 1735 City Rd. · The Metre Eaters' annual 4 km and 8 km race on a mix of paved and gravel trail, built for all paces. Online registration closed September 12. · 📅 Add to Calendar
SEP 19 · ThunderCon — 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., day passes from $25 · 📍 Superior Inn and Conference Centre, 555 Arthur St. W. · The region's volunteer-run fan convention — sci-fi, gaming, comics and anime, with panels, guests and a cosplay competition. Runs again Sunday, 10 to 5. · 📅 Add to Calendar
SEP 19 · 43rd Annual Toys for Tots Motorcycle & Classic Car Ride — gathers at noon, rides at 1 p.m., free · 📍 Thunder Bay Harley-Davidson, 636 Arthur St. W. · Bikes and classic cars meet for dessert, then ride to the Salvation Army's Journey to Life Centre for a 1:30 reception and lunch. Bring a new toy or a cash donation. · 📅 Add to Calendar
Sunday, September 20
SEP 20 · Terry Fox Run — 2 to 4 p.m. · 📍 Current River Community Centre, 450 Dewe Ave., out around Boulevard Lake · A 5 km run, walk or ride for cancer research. Any pace, any wheels. · 📅 Add to Calendar
✅ NO WEATHER ALERTS IN EFFECT
Environment Canada had no watches or warnings posted for Thunder Bay as of Wednesday evening. Showers move through overnight, then Thursday is a grey, breezy day that turns mild by afternoon.
🌤️ Thursday, September 17 — Thunder Bay
19°C
Overnight low 3°C
Mainly cloudy. 30 per cent chance of showers in the morning. Northwest wind 20 km/h from late morning. UV index 3 — moderate.
Two degrees above the September normal of 17°C, but you will feel the wind more than the warmth: mostly grey, a 30 per cent chance of showers before noon, then a northwest breeze at 20 km/h that settles again after dark. It clears overnight and drops to 3°C — close to the first real chill of the season, so cover anything still growing in the garden. Friday is the cool one at 14°C and cloudy, then the weekend turns: sunny and 19°C Saturday, sunny and 17°C Sunday, both good for anything outdoors. Sunrise 7:35 a.m., sunset 8:08 p.m. Forecast from Environment Canada.
The art gallery writes to every candidate about its half-built home
The Thunder Bay Art Gallery has sent every mayoral and council candidate a letter it calls a briefing note, arguing that the risks of leaving its new waterfront building unfinished are “significant and far-reaching” while the benefits of completing it are “substantial and immediate.” CEO Matthew Hills told Newswatch the ask is for candidates to be engaged, to support completion, and to advocate alongside the gallery at the provincial and federal levels — not, he said, for more money from the City.
The numbers behind the letter: $55 million secured, including $7.5 million from the City, against a revised estimate of $75 million from August 2025. The gallery blames environmental and remediation work that ran more than $11 million over expectations, pandemic-era supply chains, construction inflation, and labour and procurement problems — “a changed construction environment rather than a change in the Gallery or fault of project management.” The building is about 65 per cent complete. Construction was paused in mid-June for a three-month review of scope, budget and schedule, and it is still paused; Hills would not speculate on a restart date. The gallery's pitch to candidates leans on 75 full-time-equivalent jobs and $4.5 million in annual economic impact once it opens. The other big waterfront proposal, the $80-million Science North facility, also has no confirmed start.
🗳️ Your call: a building two-thirds up, $20 million short, and a new council about to inherit it. What should they do?
The new waterfront art gallery is about 65% built and paused, with $55 million raised against a $75 million estimate. What should the next council do?
Ransomware closes lab and imaging at the Nipigon hospital
Nipigon District Memorial Hospital is working through what it calls a cyber security incident after ransomware hit its IT systems. The hospital says it activated its incident response and business continuity procedures immediately and is working with outside cybersecurity experts, hospital partners and law enforcement to contain it and restore systems safely.
The practical effect for patients: longer waits, and the outpatient lab and diagnostic imaging closed until further notice. CEO Shannon Cormier said Wednesday afternoon that some services and processes remain affected and staff are falling back on established manual procedures where they have to. Nipigon Mayor Suzanne Kukko told CFNO the hospital has confirmed some files that may contain personal and personal health information were encrypted by the malware. An investigation is under way, and the hospital says it will notify affected individuals as required.
The SOS van is now on the road in daylight too
Shelter House's SOS program has added day shifts seven days a week, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., on top of its existing 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. run. Executive director Brendan Carlin said the reason was simple: people were calling the SOS line during the day and getting told to phone emergency services or call back at six. The District Social Services Administration Board offered funding and, in his words, they jumped on it.
The van carries two outreach workers at all times. They help people in crisis, drive them to shelter, hospital or safe sobering, and hand out first aid, water and sandwiches. Evenings typically bring 15 to 20 calls, more in winter; the new day shifts have been quieter so far, though the announcement only went out Monday after a soft launch the Friday before. The funding is for one year and Carlin is hoping it gets extended. The SOS line is 807-620-7678. The program came back in 2025 after being shut down in September 2022 for lack of money.
Ozzie, Oscar and Oliver go home to the bush
Three black bears were released back into the bush near Dryden on September 10, eighteen months after they were orphaned as newborns. In March of last year a heavy equipment operator disturbed a pile of logs where their mother had denned; she fled and never came back. Ministry of Natural Resources staff kept the cubs fed and warm until they could be moved to the Bear With Us sanctuary near Parry Sound.
Founder Mike McIntosh said they arrived barely furred and needing regular feeding, and credits the people who handled them first with saving them. All three came back healthy and considerably larger, and were let go together at a site Dryden district MNR staff picked last week — in good time to find a den for the winter. “These three guys are still very close. They're brothers,” McIntosh said, and he expects them to stick together a while yet. His parting advice to them: be careful out there, your most common enemy walks on two legs.
🏪 Local Business Spotlight
Featured Shop: Hill City Comics & Cards
With ThunderCon filling the Superior Inn this weekend, it seemed like the right week to point at the shop that has been quietly supplying this corner of the city's fandom for decades. Hill City Comics & Cards sits on Court Street South in the north-side downtown and has been in business for more than thirty years — long enough that a fair number of customers first walked in as kids and now bring their own.
What they carry
New-release and back-issue comics, plus graphic novels and manga
Trading cards and singles — the “& Cards” in the name earns its keep
Board games, card games and role-playing games
Model kits and action figures for the shelf-builders
The feel of the place
Narrow aisles, full racks, and staff who will actually talk you through a run rather than just ringing you through. It is a browsing shop — the kind where you go in for one thing and leave forty minutes later with three.
Location & Contact
📍 26 Court St. S., Thunder Bay, ON P7B 2W5
📞 807-344-8774
Operating Hours
Monday to Wednesday: 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Thursday: 9:30 a.m. – 7 p.m. — the one late night of the week
Friday: 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday: closed
Hours as listed by the shop. Worth a quick call before a special trip.
Final Panel
If you are heading to ThunderCon on the weekend, note that Hill City is shut Saturday and Sunday — so today is your window, and it happens to be the night they stay open late. Visit Hill City Comics & Cards →
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: A Leslie speaker. Donald Leslie built the rotating-speaker cabinet in the early 1940s because he thought the Hammond organ sounded thin in a living room — spinning the sound around the room is what produces that shimmering wobble.
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