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Welcome to the once-a-week email newsletter offering a quick snapshot of North Bay and area’s newest story-telling platform.

Feed the bees! It’s the right thing to do … and nice to have an excuse not to cut the grass, use chemicals or pull out dandelions by the roots. The so-called ‘weed’ also makes a nutritious salad and good medicine. Send your thoughts and recipes to: editor@smalltowntimes.ca

On the Podium This Week

Premature shad-ulation? We have our first sighting …

On Saturday, May 22, Carla Ammerata spotted a shadfly near Olmsted Beach, Trout Lake. Admittedly, that’s a considerable distance from Lake Nipissing, which is famous for its annual late-June, early July shadfly infestation. This shadfly doesn’t quite look like the same kind that come out of Nipissing, but that’s close enough for Back in the Bay Magazine to announce its shadfly photo contest. To enter a June 20 draw offering free magazine subscriptions, business card ads, hats and T-shirts, email your best shadfly photo from any year to shadfly@backinthebay.ca

Photos and shadfly tales will be featured at www.smalltowntimes.ca and promoted through social media accounts. You probably noticed we have a thing about shadflies. Read the background story HERE.

While you’re at the SmallTownTimes.ca website, check out the work of six columnists and send them a note about what they write or give them an idea for a future piece. They like that. Additional story tellers welcome. NOTE: Submissions filtered for taste and tone. editor@smalltowntimes.ca magazine@backinthebay.ca

This photo of the North Bay Knights Cycle Club was published in The North Bay Independent in the fall of 1989. On Monday (Victoria Day), the Cycling Advocates of Nipissing and those interested are meeting at Lee Park for a 2 p.m. departure for a leisure-level ‘urban ride.’ The event kicks off the North Bay Commuter Challenge set for May 30 to June 5. See their Facebook page HERE or the Discovery Routes website post HERE for more info. There’s also a BayToday story about Bike Boxes HERE.

Brad Dale has been preparing all his life for the pandemic-infused inflation and material shortages Ontario residents are experiencing this year. Read his latest Thought du Jour piece: ‘Waste knot, want knot’ HERE. His column starts off with a declaration that he’s not a hoarder but you’ll find there’s some border-line ‘hoarder-bias’ built into his claims.

LEARNING NEW TRICKS: Stories like the one about Alfred Lee, published in the North Bay Independent in 1989, provide inspiration to embrace life-long learning. Do you know someone doing something similar that would make a great story in Back in the Bay Magazine? Email editor@backinthebay.ca (By the way, does anyone know if Mr. Lee, since deceased, ever wrote his autobiography?)

Pam Handley’s ‘Pandemic isolation brings back war memories’ is a timely read. Initially published in print last summer, it’s been updated and put online for the first time because … to be honest, not much has changed over the past 12 months. See the column HERE.

Back in the Bay swag has been picked up from King Sportswear.
T-shirts and hats are available for $25 with proceeds going to the magazine. Contact swag@backinthebay.ca

Back in the Bay Magazine's Spring 2021 edition is available for $5 at the North Bay Regional Health Centre Gift Shop. For delivery to a patient following safety protocols, call 705-474-8600 ext. 3141. Darkhorse Comics, beside Beatty Printing on Cassells Street, has also stepped up to be a key retail sales location in central North Bay. It’s curbside service if you knock on the window and point to the magazine or call 705-474-7111. East End Variety on Hardy, 176 Lakeshore, Callander Bay Museum, Backwoods Outdoors Live Bait on Highway 17 and Gerry’s Auto in Corbeil have the publication for sale as well. Want one mailed somewhere or delivered by hand in North Bay? Call Dave Dale 705-498-2050 or email magazine@backinthebay.ca

Two to four FREE charity ads are gifted to local groups each edition of the Back in the Bay Magazine. Clean, Green and Beautiful and Nipissing Rotary received free ads in the Spring 2021 edition. Want to get in on the action? Contact Dave Dale email: editor@backinthebay.ca for details (quarter page sizing, scheduling and specifications for providing print-quality artwork). Deadline for the Summer Edition is June 20.

Tourism North Bay published its Spring 2021 newsletter as the centre spread in the Back in the Bay Magazine and paid for an extra 1,000 copies to be printed and circulated, making the total print run 6,000. The four-page product showcases local and nearby opportunities for guests and local residents to enjoy. See www.tourismnorthbay.com for all kinds of interesting things (the birding feature can be read HERE) or click the sample page or HERE to see the PDF newsletter. More good news: Tourism North Bay will have its Summer Newsletter published in the July edition of Back in the Bay Magazine.

More stories and columns will appear on the Small Town Times website each week. This free newsletter will be emailed to subscribers on Sunday afternoon to highlight what is being posted. To support the website and receive the print magazine, subscribe to receive the next three editions for $30 (HST & delivery included). E-transfer to: davedale@backinthebay.ca and send your mailing address to the same place. Mail cheques to: Back in the Bay, 176 Lakeshore Dr., Suite 3, North Bay, Ontario P1A 2A8. Please unsubscribe below if you’d rather not receive EZ Read Sunday Newsletter by email.