BEST OF TBAY 2025
130. Best festival: Wake the Giant. Photo by Anna Buske.
The Best of Thunder Bay 2025 Readers’ Choice Survey
The Walleye’s annual “Best of” list has it all: suspense, friendly rivalry, surprising upsets, and most importantly, heart-warming community pride and affection for all the local entrepreneurs, artists, and organizations that make TBay a great place to live. From the multi-way ties (Best soup! Best local athlete!) to the top new restaurants, events, and businesses that caught our city’s attention in 2025, this issue is truly a celebration of professionalism and innovation. Congrats to all the winners and nominees…and be sure to check them out yourself in 2026.
-Bonnie Schiedel
ALL WINNERS VOTED BY THE WALLEYE READERS
*Click each header for a full list of results from each department
And the Winner is…
That’s a wrap on The Walleye’s 14th annual Best of Thunder Bay Readers’ Choice Survey! This year’s survey featured 132 questions covering everything there is to love about living here, and with the announcement of the results in this issue, there are now 132 businesses, artists, people, places, musicians, and events that can now claim the title of “The Best” our city has to offer as voted by The Walleye readers. But there’s still one last lucky winner to announce on top of it all.
Every person who took the time to complete the survey was entered in a draw for a chance to win a $2,500 curated getaway prize package to experience the best the city has to offer through every season, courtesy of Tourism Thunder Bay, and this year’s lucky winner is Bailey Berube. Congrats!
Berube was born in Calgary but raised in Thunder Bay and considers it her home. She works as a dental hygienist at Grandview Family Dental, and outside the office she enjoys cooking, walking her dogs Maisie and Rosie, and exploring both the outdoors and the city’s local retailers—especially at the Craft Revival.
“I was genuinely thrilled—and shocked—to learn that I was the winner. My husband and I were recently married in August, and this package is filled with such thoughtful and fun date nights for us to enjoy as newlyweds,” Berube says. “Each year, I look forward to the Best of Thunder Bay [survey]. [It] always introduces me to new local favourites and gems I may not have discovered on my own.”
Berube will enjoy four local hotel stays, dinners, outdoor adventures, and cultural experiences thanks to the generous prize provided by Tourism Thunder Bay. We extend our thanks to the staff at Tourism Thunder Bay, each of you who took the time to participate this year, and all the fantastic restaurants, artists, businesses, musicians, performers, and events that make this survey so fun each year.