TERRACE BAY — An annual event that has been held since 2012 is returning to Terrace Bay.
The township will once again host the annual Lighthouse Festival on Aug. 16, starting at 1 p.m. and running until 2 a.m. in Simcoe Plaza.
Admission is free for everyone, thanks to local and regional sponsors.
Michelle Malashewski, Terrace Bay’s community development assistant, spoke with Dougall Media about the festival – now on year 12 – which began as a way to showcase the town’s revitalized downtown core.
“We just kept growing from there, and it’s become what it is now,” she said.
Malashewski said this year’s festival is set to feature a swathe of vendors from Terrace Bay and surrounding communities for a bustling artisan market, beer gardens for adults to enjoy.
With live music, face-painting and balloon-making with clowns Dottie & Lulu, inflatables (i.e. bouncy castles and water slides) from Fun-tastic Castles, a double-feature movie night in the park, there will also be a classic car Show & Shine, and a remote control car demo by Terrace Bay’s Radio Control Car Club.
“There’s a little bit of something for everybody this year – and we do it all in one day.
“Basically, it’s come and go throughout the day, so you can just enjoy things with your family. We get a lot of visitors that stop through; a lot of locals return who used to live here and treat it as a little homecoming to visit family and enjoy the festival.
“We’re trying to encourage out-of-town people – from the north shore, Thunder Bay, anyone who wants to come out,” she said.
She mentioned that Spadoni Motors is sponsoring a cash prize for the Show & Shine and that people who attend the festival can vote for their favourite car or truck.
There’s also going to be a cornhole tournament which people can register for when they arrive at the festival.
Those who excel at cornhole stand a chance to win cash prizes as well.
“We’re excited about the corn hole because we did it during Canada Day and it seemed to be a summer favourite for everybody,” Malashewski said.
In terms of music, local favourite the Curbside Cruisers (from Schreiber) and Thunder Bay’s own Throwback will be playing throughout the evening – in addition to music from Terrace Bay’s own DJ Double D all day long.
“Every year we try to bring in different bands – this year we’re excited we get Throwback. Last year, we had Back Forty . . . We’ve had many bands from Thunder Bay,” said Malashewski.
Malashewski added that residents of nearby Schreiber can take advantage of a shuttle service that will transport them to and from the festival in Terrace Bay – meaning those from Schreiber can still grab a nice, cold drink from Slate Island Brewery and make it home safely and responsibly.
She said it’s great to have an event like this so close to home.
“We tend to go to Thunder Bay for a lot of our entertainment or festivals, and it’s nice to be able to offer something here and, hopefully, people in Thunder Bay might say, ‘Oh, hey, we’re gonna come down and visit and check it out,'” she said.
“And it’s right in our downtown plaza — we close the street off. It’s perfect.”