North Bay Heritage Festival
1995 North Bay Heritage Festival Brochure
In the 1980s North Bay held a “Mayor’s Kiddies Day” in the summer. In 1986, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs presented the Heritage Village concept to the City of North Bay for consideration as a way to expand on the existing event. The City of North Bay passed a Resolution, approving the hosting of the first Gateway Heritage Festival and appointed a committee to plan the event.
After only three months of planning, over 10,000 people turned out for the First Annual Gateway Heritage Festival in 1986.
The festival was promoted as a community based, family oriented event that featured something for everyone. The festival grew to include an international airshow, pro beach volleyball, a firefighter combat challenge, musical entertainment and parades and a heritage village highlighting components of North Bay’s heritage.
In 1994, the festival name was changed to the North Bay Heritage Festival & Airshow with a shift in focus to move towards tourism development.
The 2005 Heritage Festival welcomed 23,362 paid attendees. According to a Blue Sky Festival Report, 60% of attendees lived within 25 km of North Bay while a further 20% lived between 25 and 150 km from North Bay. In 2007, the festival plan was scaled back after it turned out that the headliner (Meatloaf) was not actually booked to play in North Bay.
Soon after, the festival was rebranded “Summer in the Park”. The Summer in the Park festival ran until 2018. Beginning in 2019, city funding was created to support several local, grassroots festivals rather than one large summer festival.
Gateway Heritage Festival Poster 1989
This poster was signed by artist Kevin Hoffman who created the promotional materials for the festival which featured the town crier who was part of the festival.
Poster and Baton from United States Army Parachute Team 1999
This poster was signed by the members of the Golden Knights United States Army Parachute Team who took part in the North Bay Heritage Festival. The baton was passed in mid air as part of the display.
North Bay Airshow Poster 1994
This poster features a design by Lynn Johnston, creator of the For Better or Worse comic strip. The poster was signed and personalized for Cathy Seguin, who played a leading role in organizing the Heritage Festival from 1986 to 2002.
Parade of Lights Poster 1999
This poster includes images of various floats created for the Fantasy of Lights Parade and the names of the parade committee and crew. The parade idea was conceived by Carol Brisson who visited Disney World with Cathy Seguin to learn about how to create a parade of lights. City staff and volunteers worked together with Carol Brisson and Tony Saini to make the parade a reality.
Celebrations in the Sky 1999
Naomi Sanderson
ARTIST STATEMENT
This quilted coat was made as a challenge competition with the North Bay Quilters Guild in 1999. I decided to make mine reversible and all about the Heritage Festival and Air Show. One side shows the daytime with the air show, bike path and people watching the Snowbirds (visible in the display case). The other side shows the same area during the night time fun of fireworks.
The coat was signed by city dignitaries including Mayor Jack Burrows, pilots, and firemen. Children who were in North Bay from Chernobyl also signed the coat. The coat won first place locally and received an honourable mention at a fashion show at the International Quilters Society in Houston, Texas.
Dreamscapes 1997
Doris Sanderson
This wall hanging was hand appliquéd and quilted using cotton and silk. Thread Painting was created using heat away and water solvent.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Dreamscapes was inspired by a Northern Lights Quilters Guild Challenge in 1997. Members were challenged to use a blue water fabric and asked to depict what they liked about North Bay and area.
For me it was hard to choose. The motto, “Just North Enough to be Perfect” gave possibilities to all four seasons. The scenes I chose to create included fall fairs, the Chief Commanda, Duchesnay Falls, winter sports, the North Bay Theatre and Arts Community Centre logo, and the North Bay Heritage Festival.