North Bay
I
was once told by a facetious friend that North Bay is Cree for “a place
on the lake where the gas is cheaper.” While that's obviously a
joke, the general point about gas prices is true - sometimes as much as 15
cents cheaper than its more northern counterparts.
Although considered to be in northern Ontario, if you look at it North Bay really isn’t that far north. “Just north enough to be perfect” according to its slogan, North Bay is the second city of Ontario’s near north (after Sudbury.) Considering what southern Ontario considers to be ‘north’, maybe "just north enough to be perfect" should be Barrie’s slogan? Kidding...!
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Explored by Samuel de Champlain, North Bay wasn’t founded until 1891. Primarily a railway town, North Bay once harboured massive ambitions of being Canada’s Panama – there were plans for a canal stretching from the Ottawa River through the town to Lake Nipissing, which would have essentially been a massive shortcut for boats en route from Thunder Bay. This never materialized. North Bay did however play an important role during the silver rushes in Cobalt as it was the hub of both the CPR and the ONTC line up to northeastern Ontario. Today, North Bay is largely a university, military, and (most importantly) a transportation town.
I’ve driven through North Bay five times, and stopped
in a couple of other times for visits of a few hours. It has all the
amenities a trveller could need - from motels to real hotels, from diners
to chain restaurants, from no name doughnut stops to Tim Horton’s. North Bay
is essentially the last place to get a full range of big city shops, services,
and franchises before Timmins, or if you plan to stay solely on Highway 11, the
last place before Thunder
Bay.
North Bay is home to a really nice restored theatre - the Capitol Centre - that hosts plays and concerts. (I got dragged to an Anne of Green Gables play while we were there...and I can't beleive I'm admitting this but it was actually kind of good) Although the theatre doesn't immediately catch the eye (it's on Main St, or Oak St, I can't remember) the inside is really quite nice. There truly isn't a bad seat in the house.
North
Bay was home to Mike Harris, a two-term Ontario Premier during the late 1990s
in Ontario. He's famous for the coining the phrase "common sense
revolution." Oh, and the Dionne Quintuplets were born in nearby
Corbeil Callander. Their exploitation brought a fair amount of
money to North Bay during the depression. Kids in the Hall comedian
Scott Thompson was born in North Bay (I think he grew up in Scarborough though),
as is weatherperson Susan Hay and a band called High Holy Days.
North
Bay is also famous for being the hometown of Roy Thomson, the founder
of the Thomson media empire and the namesake of Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall,
one of Canada's premiere music venues. Roy Thomson started out selling radios
door-to-door in North Bay. This interest in radio led to him taking over the
local radio station, taking over or establishing more radio stations, then
expeanding into newspapers - eventually making him one of Canada's most successful
businessmen.
Tourist
activities include the Commanda boat tours on Lake Nipissing, and the beach,
walkways, and mini train ride at the city’s waterfront. There are plays
(Nipissing Stage Company) and festivals (The Heritage Festival every August
Civic holiday.) The Dream Catcher Express is a day-trip train
ride that runs to Temagami and offers a chance to view the leaves in the fall.
There is also the original Dionne House, where to Dionne quints were born
(as pictured at left), which has been moved into town and turned into a little
museum. The museum is open from Spring to late October, and entrance is about
3$ each, and is worth a visit if you're in town.
What else can I say about North Bay? You know, this site is kinda focused on the more northern towns, like Timmins, so I guess I'm not always puttting as much content up about places like Barrie or North Bay, etc. I guess since North Bay is a bit bigger than the average town on this site, there is less I have to tell you. North Bay is pretty nice, it seems like a good place to live and a great place to grow up - but this site is a bit more about the smaller, more remote towns to its north. (I got flack from a poster on the Huntsville page for this site's north-centric focus, I'm waiting for same flack to be posted on behalf of North Bay too...)
 |
||||
 |
-
NORTH BAY - |
 |
||
 |
||||
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Post your experiences in North Bay below.