You can explore the city’s heritage sites online for this year’s Doors Open Thunder Bay.
Normally, you’re able to enter buildings and facilities that aren’t usually open to the public. Organizer Andrew Cotter says because of the pandemic, they decided it wasn’t safe to do that.
Instead, they’ve created videos about eleven sites around the city explaining their history and giving you a look inside.
They include City Hall, the Thunder Bay Museum, Harry Kirk Archives and Records Centre, Sleeping Giant Brewing Company, Mary J. L. Black Library, the original Mary J. L. Black Library site, and the Masonic Hall, Shuniah Lodge No. 287 on Red River Road.
The sites were chosen with the city’s 50th anniversary in mind, reflecting the “past and progress” of Thunder Bay. That includes the period before Confederation and some of the area’s darker history, like the Saint Joseph’s Indian Residential School Memorial on Arthur Street.
“There’s some very moving videos on the website link, and I encourage people also to go live in person –socially distanced, of course– and see the memorial, it’s beautiful,” Cotter notes.
You can also download instructions for self-guided walking tours of a number of areas around the city.
“Last year, of course, we had brochures and papers, and this year it’s all digital and electronic,” Cotter says.
Cotter says after this year’s virtual Doors Open, they are considering using a mix of digital and live exhibits in future years.
Doors Open Thunder Bay launched on Tuesday, and runs until November 30th.
