Tues Oct 14 – Local News, Views & Events This Week

Local news updates involving Owen Sound Attack, OSHaRE, Tom Thomson Art Gallery, City of Owen Sound, Meaford Hall, and more

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The Grey Gallery Garden, with a mural by local artist Raquell Yang, on 2nd Ave East in downtown Owen Sound, is a remarkable example of the kinds of private, citizen-led initiatives that Vision 2050 respondents said the municipality should better support. Photo credit: David Huntley

After nearly two years of consultation, reports, and debate, Owen Sound Council has officially approved its Vision 2050 Strategic Plan — a 25-year roadmap City Hall calls “historic.”

(ICYMI: This was the plan presented to Council last week, in addition to the linked report above.)

In a prepared media release, Mayor Ian Boddy promised, “Vision 2050 charts our City’s future at a time of unprecedented change, challenge and opportunity. It provides a compass bearing for current and future City Councils to set priorities and take action.”

City staff describe the process as one shaped by “robust public input and consultation that aimed to hear from a broad variety of voices.”

Over the past several weeks, Owen Sound Current has shared what residents actually said in that consultation — thousands of responses we obtained through a freedom-of-information request.

Now that Council has approved the final plan, we’d like to hear from you:

As always, if you’d like to expand on your response, we welcome letters to the editor of up to 600 words at owensoundcurrenteditor@gmail.com.

Public Notices

• Notice of 2026 Grey County Budget Meetings - Grey County has set the schedule for the 2026 budget discussions and budget approval. Learn more here.

• The City of Owen Sound’s Community Services Committee meets on Wednesday, October 13, at 5:30 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall. On their agenda: a wrap-up report on summer recreation programs, the presentation of a new External Relations and Investment Attraction action plan for 2025-2027, a report from the Manager of Planning and Heritage on Bill 5, and more. See the full agenda here.

Keep reading for local news, including a look at the City’s plans for its first external communications strategy — and resulting questions, our latest Vision 2050 response analysis (in case you missed it), a recap of a big weekend for the Attack, more opposition to Meaford’s energy project, and more.

Dig in and see what’s going on in and around Owen Sound this week.

~ Miranda Miller, Editor

Local News