The People’s Place

For almost a hundred years, Chippewa Park has been the “go-to” place for Thunder Bay residents seeking fun and relaxation. The park’s regular attractions – the beach, a zoo, amusement rides, and picnic grounds – were always enough to attract and entertain people for a full day’s outing.

Sundays in June, July and the first half of August were always the busiest. Streetcars, and later buses, disgorged people every half-hour. Families, teens, and seniors, all came to be where the public gathered to enjoy summertime together.

Old men in particular bespoke the value of the park in people’s lives. They’d come off the bus, retired bush workers or other labourers, alone in the world, no family to share the day with, but they'd wear their best (only?) suit and come out and sit on a bench for the day, to be in the midst of the only family they had - the public itself.

In addition to its regular attractions, Chippewa hosted a multitude of special events each summer that brought the public out in even greater numbers.

The biggest, of course, was July 1st, when upwards of 10,000 people crowded the beach to watch the annual fireworks display and starting in 1967 a major stage show. The sounds and lights of the rides filled the air until midnight, adding to the festive mood.

The park’s recreation fields provided a venue for annual picnics hosted by schools, churches, companies, unions, and ethnic communities. The two biggest, by far, were by Can-Car and Great Lakes Paper, with each attracting upwards of 5,000 employees and their families. Kids got free tickets for the usual picnic fare, i.e., hot dogs, pop, and Dixie cups of ice cream, as well as for the rides. These big company events were so significant in the life of the community that they were written up in the local newspaper. Even the names of the kids who placed in all the races were listed. 

Music was always one of the main attractions that brought people to the park. From the 1930’s until the early 1970’s, the pavilion’s dance hall was busy as often as three times a week with the sounds of the Orchestras of Ted Goodsell, Ernie Valley and Roy Coran or Donny B and the Bonnvilles, and the Thorns. For many years, the Fort William City Band played popular tunes for the crowds on the beach from a bandshell built out in the lake. This musical tradition continues to this day with the Sunday in the Park concert series and the Tuesday night Jam Sessions.

Chippewa also was the base for many sporting events. The 8:00 A.M.. start of the Lake Superior Fishing Derby each July saw the shore lined with boats, their owners eager to set out to catch the big one. The Fort William Yacht Club built its own dock and chalet inside the breakwater. And Chippewa was the home field for the Fort William First Nation fastball team when they played in local leagues.

The list of other special events and attractions that have drawn citizens to the park over the years is a long one. It includes Moonlight Melodrama (and its successor, the Rob McLeod’s Capital Players), the Last Spike Coffee house, Thundering Women Concerts, the annual Kite Festival, the week-long Square Dance Rendezvous, Boy Scout and Girl Guide weekends, Classic Car shows, Dog events, and the Bill Beavis Family Fun Day.

Whatever the event, whatever the era, Chippewa Park has been, and remains, the Thunder Bay’s “people place.”