When moving to North Bay from London, Ontario, in 1957 one of the first places Dad took us to visit was the North Bay Airport. The Department of Transport had begun to construct it two decades earlier. Years later our own family always attended the air shows, along...
The robins are back, lured north early by a warm spell. It’s a welcome song to hear after a Covid winter. Simple things seem all the better when the weather has been foul. The first robin in my yard is always named Hilda, after my Grandma Dale. I wrote the piece below...
Once a year, I try to get my act together. Enough is enough. The centre cannot hold. Status quo is just not sustainable and serious thoughts need to be thunk, profound depths need to be explored. Life changes must happen before it’s too late. Yes, I try to clean up...
There were several main subjects I wanted to broach with North Bay Mayor Al McDonald during our Zoom interview April 7. It was a follow up to our April 2020 Skype interview, which took place as the COVID-19 pandemic and reality of lockdowns were still a novelty....
At one time, the Dionne Quintuplets were the most widely photographed girls in the world. From the time they were born, their fight for survival became a symbol of hope for those struggling to survive the Great Depression of the 1930s. The sight of the five identical...
East Ferris is cashing in on its extra gas tax funding to repave a longer section of Lake Nosbonsing Road this summer. But the addition of shoulder lanes for cyclists and pedestrians will have to come later when ‘active transportation’ funding becomes available – and...
North Bay has been entertained by the Gateway Theatre Guild since 1948. We have been delighted by plays, revues and musicals featuring casts of colourful characters with lots of drama on and off stage. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, the Guild was forced to cancel the...
Here we go. The long and winding trail of life has put another crossroad before me and I’m deking down the path less traveled. Again. As if life in a pandemic wasn’t exciting enough. The redesign of the Small Town Times website, turning my hobby platform into a...
Jake Thomas made the best possible use of his pandemic downtime this past winter. The 73-year-old bluesman fixed every little cracked wire and hum-creating loose connection suffered over half-a-century of road trips hauling around a truck-load of guitars, mics and...
Fairness in taxation is much like beauty, it's in the eye of the beholder. The concept attempts to balance the rights of the individual with the obligation to society and the success of that equalization is only evident in the lack of opposition to the tax. Property...