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Happy Wednesday, Thunder Bay! Cloudy, a 60 per cent chance of showers and a high of 25°C. In today's issue: Confederation College suspends three more programs, engine failure puts a small plane down on Highway 587, the city hands newcomers a welcome guide, and six new names go into the Sports Hall of Fame.
In this Harbour Beat Issue…
Trivia: The Moon is slowly drifting away from Earth. About how far does it move each year — four millimetres, four centimetres, or four metres? (Answer at the bottom!)
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Thunder Bay Events
This is the last big weekend of the summer. The concert series signs off tonight and tomorrow at Marina Park, Ribfest and Harbourfest both open Thursday, Tumblestone takes over Gorham, and Shuniah starts a new monthly market on Sunday. ✅ Showers are in the forecast Wednesday and again Saturday night — check with the organizer before you head out.
Wednesday, August 26
AUG 26 · Live on the Waterfront — Summer Send-Off, night one — 6–9 p.m. · 📍 Festival Area, Marina Park · Free · The first of two nights closing out the season on the water. Bring a lawn chair and a jacket for the wind · 📅 Add to Calendar
AUG 26 · Thunder City Speedway Race Night — 6:30–10:30 p.m. · 📍 3250 Highway 130 · Weekly WISSOTA classes — modifieds, super stocks, midwest modifieds and street stocks · 📅 Add to Calendar
Thursday, August 27
AUG 27 · Ribfest 2026 opens — 11 a.m.–9 p.m., through Sunday · 📍 Thunder City Speedway, Lucy Drive · Four days of ribs, live bands and beer gardens, with a classic car show Saturday 11 a.m.–4 p.m. · 📅 Add to Calendar
AUG 27 · Harbourfest — 4–11 p.m. · 📍 Red River Road, Waterfront District · The 90s street festival is back, hosted by the Waterfront District BIA — vendor space sold out this year · 📅 Add to Calendar
Friday, August 28
AUG 28 · Tumblestone Music and Art Festival — from noon, through Saturday · 📍 Gorham · The volunteer-run festival that started as a backyard pig roast in 2011 and turned into one of the region's biggest music-and-art weekends · 📅 Add to Calendar
Saturday, August 29
AUG 29 · Model Trains at Oliver Paipoonge Heritage Park — 12–4:30 p.m. · 📍 3190 Highway 61 · Layouts set up across the park, plus the Duke Hunt Museum, Heritage Village, the Brill buses and Russ's Garage · 📅 Add to Calendar
AUG 29 · Great North Wrestling — 6 p.m. · 📍 Fort William Gardens, 901 Miles St. · Thunder Bay's own Vampiro headlines against Chris Masters, with Charlie Haas on the card · 📅 Add to Calendar
Sunday, August 30
AUG 30 · The Market — 9 a.m.–1 p.m. · 📍 MacGregor Recreation Centre, Lakeshore Drive, Shuniah · A brand-new monthly market running the last Sunday of every month — this is the first one · 📅 Add to Calendar
Over to you, Thunder Bay
Every street has one. The person who does the whole block with the snowblower and won't take gas money. Who notices the flyers piling up and knocks on the door. Who shows up with a boost at six in the morning, then waves it off like it was nothing.
Who's the good neighbour on your street? Tell us what they did and roughly what part of town they're in. Just hit reply — we'll share a few in an upcoming issue, first names only and only with their okay.
✅ NO WEATHER ALERTS IN EFFECT
Environment Canada had no watches or warnings posted for Thunder Bay as of Tuesday evening. Wind swings around to the northwest late Wednesday morning and gusts to 40 km/h, so secure anything light if you are down at the waterfront. Latest alerts at Environment Canada.
🌧️ Wednesday, August 26 — Thunder Bay
25°C
Overnight low 13°C
Cloudy · 60% chance of showers · NW wind 20 km/h gusting to 40 · Humidex 30
Warm and grey. Wednesday runs cloudy with a 60 per cent chance of showers and a high of 25°C — three degrees above the seasonal normal — with a humidex of 30 making the afternoon feel closer to thirty. The wind turns northwest at 20 km/h late in the morning and gusts to 40, which is the detail to plan around if you are heading to the waterfront send-off. The shower chance eases to 40 per cent in the evening and the overnight low is 13°C. It improves quickly from there: Thursday is 22°C with a mix of sun and cloud, and Friday is sunny and 22°C — the pick of the week. Full forecast and any new alerts at Environment Canada.
Confederation College suspends three more programs
Three more programs are gone heading into the fall term, all suspended back in June: information communications technology solutions for business, engineering, business and safety management, and digital marketing and marketing analytics. Rebecca Ward, president of the OPSEU local representing college faculty, counts that as 16 programs effectively disappearing in a year and a half. College president Michelle Salo says these three were largely filled by international students who are no longer coming to Canada, and that Confederation is still down roughly 1,000 students from a few years ago. Two full-time faculty were laid off; about a dozen more people are being worked through the collective agreement to see if they can be placed elsewhere. Ward is not arguing the programs should have survived — “we recognize they are in a situation that requires fiscal responsibility,” she said — but that the cost keeps landing on academic workers. Faculty numbers are down to 143 from roughly 240 over about four decades. Salo says administrative head count has fallen in lockstep, and points ahead to programs proposed for fall 2027: electrical techniques, heating, refrigeration and air conditioning, plumbing techniques, and a computer systems technician stream in cyber security.
🗳️ Your call: Sixteen programs in eighteen months, and enrolment is only part of the story. If the college has to keep choosing, what should it protect first?
Confederation College has now suspended 16 programs in a year and a half. What should the college protect first?
Engine failure puts a plane down on Highway 587
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has confirmed that Monday afternoon's emergency landing on Highway 587 at Pass Lake, about 55 kilometres northeast of the city, was caused by an engine failure. The aircraft was a privately registered Cessna 182P that “declared an emergency and conducted a forced landing,” TSB spokesperson Liam MacDonald told CBC. Three people were on board and nobody was hurt. OPP North West Region took the call around 2:45 p.m.; regional co-ordinator Erin McCrea said the pilot put it down safely, the highway was only partially closed, and the plane was cleared shortly after. The Pass Lake Volunteer Fire Protection Team was toned out but not needed. The TSB is gathering information and has not deployed investigators.
A welcome guide for the city's newcomers
“Welcome Home: A Guide to Thunder Bay Living” landed Monday — the CEDC's first, put together with the city and the Thunder Bay Multicultural Association after this year's Welcoming Communities Analysis. It runs four sections — a city overview, city and services, shopping, and arts and culture — and it is free online and in print through the CEDC. Chief executive Jamie Taylor says employers kept asking for something they could hand to someone they were recruiting. TBMA local immigration partnership co-ordinator Tej Shah says focus groups with international students, work permit holders and refugees kept surfacing the same gaps: figuring out the buses, and figuring out which municipal service to call. Outgoing mayor Ken Boshcoff leans on the job market and the twenty-minute drive to the airport. The guide does not pretend the city has no problems — council declared homelessness a humanitarian crisis in February, and the district still carries the province's highest opioid death rate.
Six new names for the Sports Hall of Fame
The Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame has named its 43rd class. Three athletes go in: Thunder Bay goaltender Carter Hutton, two decades of junior, university and NHL hockey; wrestler Justin BeauParlant, who represented the city nationally and internationally through the 1990s; and Dryden's Ron Stansfield, a five-pin bowling champion at the provincial, national and world level from the 1960s into the 2000s. Two builders join them — Norm Bevilacqua, a hockey coach and backer of local athletes going back to the 1960s, and Bill McDonald, whose five decades in the game covered amateur, university and pro. The 2005 Thunder Bay Bombers go in as a full team, Allan Cup and all, all 27 names on the roster. “We are proud to announce the addition of these outstanding athletes and sports builders,” said executive director Diane Imrie. The induction dinner is Sept. 26 at the Valhalla; tickets are $125, by phone at 807-622-2852 or at the hall at 219 May St. S.
Meme of the Day
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Trivia answer: About four centimetres — 3.8 cm a year. We know the number that precisely because the Apollo crews left mirrored reflectors on the surface, and observatories still bounce lasers off them to measure the distance.
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