When coming to Thunder Bay there are a few things that you should know about. To someone like me, who has lived their entire life in Thunder Bay, a lot of things are just the norm… and sometimes we forget that people from other areas don’t quite know what we are talking about! Here’s a couple of things that you will see and/or hear only in Thunder Bay!
Camp: You might refer to it as the cabin or the lake, but if you have a house away from home that you visit in the summer to go swimming, quadding, hiking, and the like, we call it “camp”!
Persian: Nope, not the people, the gulf, or the place. In Thunder Bay, a persian is a delicious cinnamon bun -like pastry with strawberry icing on the top. They are sold at specialty bakeries in town, but you can also get them at local grocery stores, and even in the cafeteria!
Sally Ann: Similarly, the Sally Ann is also a Thunder Bay dessert. Though they are a bit harder to find and less popular than the persian, Sally Ann’s are just as delicious! They consist of a vanilla/chocolate cake filled with buttercream icing, they smothered in chocolate icing. As I write this, I am starting to crave one… (PS – “Sally Ann” also sometimes refers to the Salvation Army thrift store)
Port Arthur and Fort William: Prior to 1970, Thunder Bay was comprised of two smaller cities called Port Arthur and Fort William. On January 1, 1970, the two cities became one – Thunder Bay. However, the northern side is still commonly referred to as Port Arthur, and the south Fort William (and Westfort). If you hear some friends talking about going to either area, now you know they aren’t talking about some far away land!
Pickerel: aka a Walleye, aka a small pike. The actual and correct term is under wide debate, but most people call this freshwater fish a Pickerel. Our cousins over the border in the US call it Walleye more often, which is probably where all the controversy comes from. (Yeah, controversy about a fish… welcome to Thunder Bay!)
Shag: I’ve never heard this term anywhere else but Thunder Bay. Essentially a shag is a big party thrown a few months before a couple gets married; they raffle off prizes, sell food and drinks, and celebrate with family and friends, using all the proceeds to help pay for their wedding. They are very popular here in Thunder Bay, and because they are almost always open to the public, a lot of students like to check them out! Our neighbors in the south like to call them a “stag and doe.”
I’m probably missing a ton of other terms, so don’t think this list is inclusive! Like I said, a lot of the Thunder Bay “lingo” is just normal to me, and I often don’t realize that others don’t always use the same terms we do!
Anyways, I hope you are loving Thunder Bay if you’re here for the 2016-17 year… and if you’re not here yet, I hope you’ll check us out soon!
Lakehead Saradise 