THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay city hall will be the site of lunchtime entertainment every Thursday for the next month.
The sixth annual City Hall Sounds summer concert series launched on Thursday in McGillivray Square, featuring a performance by Robin Ranger along with local food trucks and information booths from community agencies and organizations.
Lee-Ann Chevrette, the coordinator of the city’s crime prevention council, said the number of participants continues to increase and more community partners want to be part of the event.
“It’s really great to see the community get behind this and support it. It’s an important initiative for our community and also for this neighbourhood,” Chevrette said.
“This neighbourhood needs a little extra love and so we’re doing a lot of programming and events in this neighbourhood to bring more people down to also support the Fort William business community.”
The concert series is an initiative of the crime prevention council’s strong neighbourhoods working group.
“We know an important determinant of safety and well-being is feeling like you belong somewhere. Having this event, that is open to the public free of charge, accessible by transit, it’s a really positive effort to bring people together,” Chevrette said.
“People aren’t getting together the way they used to in the past and we need to strengthen relationships between people, have events that are cohesive, make people feel like they belong.”
Chevrette said using McGillivray Square, the outdoor public space in front of city hall, can change how people view city hall.
“We know that having vibrant, accessible, safe public spaces is really critical to community safety and well-being. We do these types of events in neighbourhoods to animate spaces and to make these spaces feel a little more accessible for people in our community,” Chevrette said.
City Hall Sounds series:
Aug. 9: Carlo Cappello
Aug. 16: Morning Light
Aug. 23: Outside the Lines
Aug. 30: Sarah Kanutski
