Door Closes, Window Opens Doors Open Ontario Set for Virtual Heritage Tours in 2020
The half-century celebration of Thunder Bay’s official name change has not come without its restrictions. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has made some festivals and traditions an impossibility, the local heritage community has found a way to safely retool its favourite event.
The city takes part in Doors Open Ontario, a heritage building tour, every two years; it gives locals a six-hour window to visit historical venues across the city. It’s holding virtual tours this year, the first time since its inception in 2003 that the event is changing course. Laurie Abthorpe, a heritage researcher with the City of Thunder Bay and the Doors Open Ontario co-ordinator, says the virtual version will feature landmark structures that have come to define Thunder Bay throughout its history.
“It’s just a great chance to kind of explore the city and open some doors you generally would not see with different buildings,” she says. Between the throwback to the fur trade-era at Fort William Historical Park and the modern architecture of Thunder Bay city hall, the local virtual tour will feature 11 sites. “This year it really is an opportunity to experience some of the buildings and some of the stories, just from a computer,” Abthorpe says. Each of the venues will feature video vignettes produced by Epica Pictures, as well as additional information about the historical relevance of each site.
Abthorpe is hopeful for those who are interested in the city’s history to use the virtual tours as background information for sites they can check out during their spare time. “There’s no reason why you can’t learn about these buildings online and then go check them out in person,” she says, adding that this year also presents an opportunity to virtually visit other heritage buildings across the province. The website at Doors Open Ontario will include Thunder Bay among 32 other cities and communities with virtual heritage displays online.
The event is free of charge, and will be live on doorsopenontario. on.ca from September 1 through November 30.