Your Weekly Pop Culture Throwdown
Story by Mikael Mintenko, Photos by Scott Hobbs
Since its inception in September, local entertainment hub The Foundry has become the place to be on Wednesday nights for a fun-filled evening of trivia, designer cocktails, and poutine specials. This free event, sponsored by Sleeping Giant Brewing Company, is guaranteed to be a good time whether you swing by as a single player or with a larger team.
Topics so far have included Thunder Bay history, Star Wars, 90s music, The Simpsons, and Harry Potter, with the latter boasting the biggest turnout yet at 150 people. Prizes for the event have included a Spice World poster with the themed prize pack for 90s music trivia, and a Quidditch set, Deathly Hallows pocket watch, and a Hogwarts banner for Harry Potter trivia. If you come in last you can still go home with the GAH! prize, such as a child’s Spider-Man costume with “Spider-Man” crossed out and “Harry Potter” in it’s place. As host Chris Barstow puts it, “it’s all part of the fun and about keeping people entertained.”
Barstow, a wedding MC and DJ for the last 12 years, is the event’s host, fancying himself a connoisseur of gaudy Saul Goodman suit combinations. Along with his girlfriend Kim McKenzie, they continue to come up with themes and questions to keep the momentum going. When talking about future plans for the weekly event, Barstow says, “For the future we’ve got Seinfeld, Friends, hockey, Game Of Thrones, Lord Of The Rings, Christmas, and so on. We’re going to play it by ear and see which ones really grab a crowd and do encore nights, so if anyone was unable to make it to trivia (a handful of people said they couldn’t get out of work for Simpsons trivia), we’ll be giving them another shot at it… bigger prizes based on crowd size, lightning rounds for bonus prizes, and some other ideas we’re keeping secret while we tweak them a bit.”
Check out The Foundry on Facebook or stop by for some grub and suds. The event runs every Wednesday with registration at 7:30 pm, game begins at 8 pm.
