Fri July 3: Top News & What's Happening This Weekend
News and updates from Owen Sound and Saugeen Shores Police, West Grey, Leith Summer Festival, Meaford Community Garden, Grey Sauble Conservation Authority, and more
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And just like that, the week is over again. Don’t they just fly by in summer? In case you missed a beat, here were your most-read stories from this (short) week — the first with updates following our questions to the City of Owen Sound:
Before we get to the news, a word about the state of the city on Canada Day.
EDITORIAL OPINION
We Know People Are Coming. Let's Be Ready & Put Our Best Foot Forward.
Before we get to today’s news, credit where it’s due: the City of Owen Sound put on an excellent Canada Day drone and fireworks show. They gave the community real reasons to come together at the water’s edge. Thousands did.
But gathering people is only half the job — you have to think about where they’re getting together, what happens when they do, and what that kind of experience says about our community.
On July 1, under a heat warning, it too often felt like whoever was in care and control had turned out the lights and locked the doors on their way out for the holiday.
Downtown, poorly communicated garbage pickup changes left bags stinking in low-30s heat, torn open by gulls. On its website, the City urged residents to escape the heat and use cooling centres — then kept them closed for the holiday.
Traffic pylons lay scattered across half a northbound lane of 9th St E just south of Tim Hortons early in the morning, and were still there at dusk. And guests who came to the Bayshore for the fireworks found even the outdoor public washrooms locked.
None of this was unpredictable. People make garbage. In sweltering heat, people need somewhere cool. Road safety matters, even (especially) on holidays. Thousands come to the east wall and shoreline each year for the fireworks, and bodies work the way bodies work.
All of it is foreseeable, and all of it is manageable.
What was missing here wasn't money or capacity — it was care. On a day meant to show off our city, we owe residents and guests better than locking the doors and leaving the rest to the gulls.
Miranda Miller
Editor
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Public Notices
Cooling Centres: Township of Georgian Bluffs, Town of Hanover, City of Owen Sound
Bruce County is hosting a Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event on July 11, 2026, at the Kincardine Public Works Yard, 140 Valentine Avenue in Kincardine from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
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