Port Arthur Stadium in Thunder Bay, Ont., has been back in the international spotlight this month as the site of the 2024 Women’s Baseball World Cup finals, including today’s medal matches that involve Canada.
But hosting major events — baseball or otherwise — isn’t unfamiliar ground for the old building.
For years, the facility has hosted some of the biggest sporting moments in the northwestern Ontario city’s history.
“When it was built, it wasn’t just for baseball,” said Diane Imrie, executive director of the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. “There was football, there was soccer, there were track and field competitions held there.
“The Finnish community, too, actually held their festivals there as well,” she said. “The children’s festival was held there at one time as well, during the 1980s and early ’90s.”
Initial efforts to build a large stadium in the region stretch back to the 1930s before the cities of Port Arthur and …