Fasten your seat belts for some great Canadian step dancing and more!

This fun filled live show explores great Canadian fiddling styles from Cape Breton and Scottish to Acadian and Irish, French Canadian, Metis and Eastern European.  And with great Canadian fiddling comes great Canadian step dancing so fasten your seat belts for a heary dose of this crowd favourite.

If you love old time fiddle music, sensational step dancing, family humor, trick fiddling, inspirational stories and quality entertainment that will get your toes tapping, you won’t want to miss it!

Where: Thunder Bay (at the CLE)

When: Thursday May 7th

Ticket only $25.00 and available at Music world or call 1-855-726-8896

Come out and enjoy an authentic live tribute to Don Messer’s Jubilee  on May 14 at 7pm. Known as one of the most popular TV shows in Canadian history.  The show reunites Grand Master Fiddle Champion Scott Woods (as Don Messer), Cape Breton Tenor Tommy Leadbeater (as Charlie Chamberlain) and East Coast Music Award Winner Bruce Timmins (as Cecil McEachern).

The show also features the Velvet Vocals of Lynda Lewis (as Marg Osborne) and Canadian Open Step Dance Champion Kyle Waymouth in this two-hour masterful performance honouring the days when Don Messer and his Islanders ruled the airwaves.

The fast paced, uplifting show delights audiences of all ages with old time fiddle music, sensational step dancing, trick fiddling, family humour and more. May 14th, at 7pm – CLE Heritage Building, Thunder Bay.

Tickets on sale now at Music World or call toll free 1-855-726-8896 to charge.

Adult $25; Child $10, Child 5 & under – free. Too good to miss!

their fifth studio album, Wild Life. Kicking off in Prince George. BC on February 14, the tour will be the band’s most extensive Canadian tour to date with more than 30 shows across the country. Joining Hedley on the first half of the tour until March 25 will be Danny Fernandes, JRDN and Alyssa Reid. Special guests for the second leg of the tour starting in Toronto on March 27 are Classified and USS.

Mark your calendars for Monday, March 31. Hedley is coming to perform at Fort William Gardens. Tickets are on sale at the Fort William Gardens and can be purchased in person or by phone. Cost of tickets are $70.00 and $55.00. There is seating on the floor and in the arena seats. Maximum 8 tickets per person. The concert starts at 7pm.

Hedley will also be offering several VIP packages including a meet and greet, exclusive merchandise items, and an exciting “Golden Ticket” opportunity. VIP packages will be on sale Thursday, November 7. Check www.hedleyvip.com for details.

Hedley frontman, Jacob Hoggard invites all fans to join the excitement, “We are going to a record-breaking amount of cities this year and we want to see all of your beautiful, shining faces there!”

With four consecutive multiplatinum albums behind them – Hedley (2005), Famous Last Words (2007), The Show Must Go (2009), Storms (2011) – and almost a million albums sold, Hedley continue along their path to pop music supremacy with the release of Wild Life, scheduled for release on November 11. The new album bridges classic Hedley pop anthems and ballads along with R&B infused tracks and electro-pop tunes, proving that Hedley are back and ready to once again conquer radio airwaves & arenas coast to coast. Wild Life’s first single, “Anything” is Hedley’s fastest selling single to date, already reaching platinum-selling status and currently Top 10 at Pop & Hot AC radio.

On Saturday, March 29th, at the Gillies Community Hall, South Gillies, corner of Hwy 595 and 608 from  1– 4pm there will be a seed and gardening swap. Bring seeds to share that you have saved from your garden and swap them for some varieties that have been saved locally and adapted to our growing conditions. Heritage seeds from several Northern companies will also be available for purchase.

There will also be displays from Seeds of Diversity Canada, Pollination Canada, Hymer’s Fair, Thunder Bay Bee Association, Ecosuperior, Old Fort William, and more….
Workshops:
• 1:15 – 2:00 Caring for Fruit Trees – Wendy O’Connor
• 2:15 – 3:00 Using Beneficial Insects to Help Save Your Harvest (and Your Seeds) – JoAnne Henderson
• 3:15 – 4:00 – Garden Talk – a group led discussion on trials and tribulations of gardening over the past year.

Garden Tool Swap Table – bring your gently used, unwanted, surplus garden tools, deco, books etc to the swap table!

Admission is a donation of $2.00
For more information or to book a table call Tina at 623-4778 or email to tinamarie.gibson@gmail.com

Come to the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition on Friday, March 28, at 6:30pm and enjoy an incredible evening with HGTV star, Paul Lafrance. This event in support of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation is guaranteed to inspire, motivate and educate attendees with the newest, latest and best in home design, renovations and landscaping.

The evening will involve a VIP reception with cocktails, refreshments and a chance for networking followed by a keynote by HGTV Star, Paul Lafrance. Brought to you by The CANADIAN LAKEHEAD EXHIBITION and SOROPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL.

This October 26th at 8pm catch the excitement! Delight your ears!  The Consortium Aurora Borealis proudly presents “The Glory of Trumpet and Organ.” A concert of appealing dance music from the Renaissance and Baroque by Susato and Praetorius. Throughout the night you will also enjoy works by Purcell, Jeremiah Clarke, Cazzati and Telemann.

Revel in the noble sounds of these two kingly instruments. Merrie Klazek  performs on various trumpets, and Elizabeth Ganiatsos plays the magnificent organ of St. Paul’s United Church, which is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its installation this season.

This concert takes place on Saturday, October 26, 2013, 8:00 p.m. at St. Paul`s United Church, 349 Waverley Street, Thunder Bay, with an informative pre-concert talk at 7:30 p.m. by Lise Vaugeois. Handicapped-accessible (elevator).

Admission
$15 adults
$10 seniors and students, at the door.

For more information please call 683-5673 or 577- 4928, or visit our website at, www.consortiumauroraborealis.org.

If you want to know how tough being a foster parent is, Jason and Suzanne Hart just might be the perfect couple to answer your questions.

A decade ago, the childless Harts were busy looking into adoption options here in Thunder Bay, particularly through the city’s Children’s Aid Society chapter.

After much consideration, the couple finally decided to take in a 7-year-old boy together with his 12 and 5-year-old sisters.

Fast forward to today, the big family is still living happily together. They’ve also been joined by two more members, namely the couple’s two birth children.

The road to being a happy family however, was never easy. At one point, their adopted son and youngest daughter were ordered by the court back to their original home, where they stayed for over a year. Despite the hardships, the Harts feel that all the trials just strengthened their bond with their kids.

The obstacles they’ve faced as foster parents have spurred them to be the face of Children’s Aid Society’s recruitment campaign for foster parents, labeled “We care, do you?” With more and more children in need of loving parents and families, the Society hopes that the Harts experience encourages other potential foster parents to open their hearts to less fortunate kids.

It looks like Thunder Bay Hydro has finally gotten its feet wet in the fight against climate change.

The public utility company opened its Mapleward Renewable Generating Station on Tuesday, a facility that cost some $9.6 million to build. The station will be responsible for removing over 263 million cubic feet of methane gas from the surrounding environment, turning it into clean energy that’s enough to power 3000 homes in the City of Thunder Bay each year,

According to Thunder Bay Hydro President Rob Mace, the development effectively allows the city to hit two birds with one stone. On one hand, the project is socially responsible; on the other, it’s also an attractive venture for other potential investors.

Most of all, the facility is another revenue generating project for its shareholder, Thunder Bay. While estimates of the investment have been conservative, experts project that the facility could net the city over $15 million in the course of 20 years.

The 20-year contract has the potential of being extended at that point, seeing as how the facility is designed to run for up to 4 decades.

Right now though, the City of Thunder Bay can enjoy having a new source of clean energy.

The City of Thunder Bay, nicknamed the “City with a Heart,” is facing a challenge to defend its moniker, as one group is urging city officials to lend a helping hand to those suffering from an autoimmune diseases called lupus.

Paula Courtney, who was diagnosed with lupus in 1993, was forced to stop working as a hairdresser because of the disease’s debilitating effects. The doctors’ prognosis was grim: she only had around 10 years to live.

Fortunately, however, Courtney fought back, and 17 years after being first diagnosed, she is busy as a group leader for the local arm of Lupus Ontario. The local support group recently held a fundraising program at the Metro grocery store here in Thunder Bay.

The campaign, which aimed to raise $25,000 at the end of the month for research on lupus at Toronto’s SickKids Hospital, was unfortunately not quite as successful as Courtney might’ve hoped. After a month of hard work, the group only managed to raise $3,000 in donations.

Courtney is calling on the city’s residents to pitch in and defend the Thunder Bay’s “City with a Heart” nickname. She pointed out that if each of the city’s residents gave 25 cents, they would easily meet their $25,000 goal.

One couple in Thunder Bay believes their dog may have been infected with Lyme Disease after going for a stroll at the city’s Chapples Park.

Chance, who is owned by Thunder Bay resident Tracie Smith, was diagnosed with the tick-borne disease by a local veterinarian on Friday morning. According to Tracie, she and her husband observed that Chance seemed to be suffering from stiffness and a sore shoulder after their trip to the park. A few days later, that discomfort moved to his rear leg, which the animal then stopped using altogether after only a few days due to the pain.

Those symptoms were compounded by a clear loss of appetite, prompting Tracie and her husband to look up the symptoms on the internet, which they later found fit the description of Lyme disease. While certainly not good news, the Smiths were still relieved, as the symptoms also matched those of a bone tumor, which would have been more disastrous for Chance.

The Smiths believe Chance picked up the disease in Chapples Park where they walked their two dogs a few weeks ago. After walking through a section of long grass, the couple found a tick on their Labrador, which has shorter hair, making it easier for ticks to be spotted.

Chance on the other hand, has long and thicker hair. The dog is currently being treated with antibiotics and pain meds for the discomfort.

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in the Northern Hemisphere, and is spread through tick bites on dogs and even humans.