June 6, 2017 - The City of Thunder Bay is delighted to announce 2017 City Events season highlights including awards, featured talent, major sponsors and funders.

The City's events team is ramping up for another season of high quality events, two of which garnered provincial awards in last year. Festival & Events Ontario (FEO) has awarded Live on the Waterfront 2016 with Sponsor of the Year recognition and SnowDay 2017 as a Top 100 Festivals and Events in Ontario. These awards build on previous FEO recognition of City events including Best Youth Initiative for Food Frenzy and numerous Top 100 Festivals and Events recognitions for various City events.

"The City is proud to produce award winning events which are free to our residents and visitors," said Mayor Keith Hobbs. "These events wouldn't be possible without the assistance of our great sponsors and dedicated volunteers."
Ontario Power Generation has been named as the first Presenting Sponsor for the City's full-year events series. Gold Level sponsors for the 2017 season include GoldCorp, Investors Group, CBC Thunder Bay, Magic 99 and Country 105, Rock 94 and CKPR, The Chronicle-Journal and Porter Airlines. Other notable sponsors are Ontario Lottery & Gaming, Modo and the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium who provides high quality production for the City's events series.

In addition to private sector sponsorships, the City's 2017 events will also receive Federal and Provincial funding. Funding for Canada Day celebrations is provided by the Government of Canada and funding from the Government of Ontario is being received for the first time for the award-winning Live on the Waterfront series.

"The generous contributions of our sponsors and funders are enabling us to continue to elevate the quality of our events for the 2017 season," said Ash Young, Cultural Development & Events Supervisor. "We are very excited to be featuring the best of our local talent alongside a number of professional travelling performers and program elements this year."

"Ontario Power Generation has been part of the Thunder Bay community for over 100 years," said Tana-Leigh Harty, Corporate Relations & Communications Ontario Power Generation. "We're a proud member of this vibrant community and are excited to support the 2017 Thunder Bay Events season."

Highpoints of the events season will include:

  • Special Canada150 activities and programming
  • Canada Day main stage featuring Rock Steady, Nick Sherman and highlighted by Ten Strings and A Goat Skin - a 2017 Juno Nominee. 
  • Teddy Bears Picnic on July 11, featuring a meet and greet with popular children's television characters, PJ Masks.
  • Live on the Waterfront season opening show on July 12, with headliner The White Buffalo, who many will recognize from his work with the TV Shows Sons of Anarchy and Californication. The Live on The Waterfront line-up will also feature outstanding travelling and local talent throughout the season including: The Once, The Dead South, Nadjiwan, The Honest Heart Collective, Mary Walker and more.

Summer City events can be viewed at www.thunderbay.ca/events, or like the City of Thunder Bay Culture & Events Facebook page to stay up to date with events news: facebook.com/CultureandEventsThunderBay.

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Contact: Ash Young, Cultural Development & Events Supervisor, 625-2487 or ayoung@thunderbay.ca