Northern BC writers prepare for inaugural, month-long, festival - July 1st, 2026

The inaugural Northern BC Writers Festival launches Thursday July 2nd and runs until the end of the month at various Prince George–Lheidli T’enneh venues. CFURadio spoke with the association’s President Amber Ingham about the excitement of drawing authors together into a stronger community of creatives. Photo Credit - Amber Ingham

July 1, 2026

Kicking off July 2nd, writers of Northern BC will emerge from their ink wells and gather through the month of July in Prince George–Lheidli T’enneh for the Northern BC Writers Festival across many venues & events. Northern BC Writers Association (NBCWA) President, Amber Ingham is excited to bring together local creatives to network, promote northern literature, and strengthen community. Among a number of goals, Ingham stated the event aims to, “connect with writers across genres and across disciplines, but also give you a chance to connect with writers that are within the same ones.”

The festival offers four streams of affordable events for participants to explore: presentations, mixers, workshops, and writing salons. Challenging the idea that a writer must toil in solitude with a tiny lamp, Ingham declares, “Writing is community.” Emphasizing the importance of people further, the festival’s presenters have signed an AI Policy to ensure that content shared at the festival is human generated.

With published works coming out of the community for decades, and Ingham having hosted a writing club locally for about 10 years, events like this have been few and far between. To get this one off the ground, it took a couple years of networking between Ingham, local author Devon Flynn, then Raegan Cote to express their common desire for a festival, acknowledge they couldn’t do it on their own, then finally, “now we had enough people, to convince other people, to join the writing conference.” Seven total founding members now have their pencil tips sharpened as they invite creatives across the region to get writing and bring more Northern BC perspectives to readers everywhere with the motto, “Write the North.”


- Ian Gregg, CFURadio 88.7FM, Due North News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter


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A Hiatus for the Little Prince – Part 2: End of the Line? - July 1st, 2026

While the Little Prince has been the cute cherry-on-top of Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park for decades, the investment it requires to extend its timeline brings gravity to its whimsical ambience as its hiatus sheds light on the historical role the locomotive played in developing the community as we know it.. CFURadio looks at whether the sister miniature rail operation at the Central BC Railway & Forestry Museum can capture stranded passengers, and seeks to understand what the big obstacles are for the Little Prince in the meantime. Photo Credit - Ian Gregg

July 1, 2026

While many local park goers have noted the small steam powered locomotive at Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park known as The Little Prince, not as many are familiar with the complexity of its current existence: maintaining a 100+ year old high pressure iron steam engine, navigating municipal ownership, non-profit operation, provincial oversight, and archaeological processes required ahead of any serious track repairs to name a few.

It may appear to be a fun novelty, but as a licensed Canadian railway engine that needs to meet national standards, time has not been kind to the machine and the track it rolls on. The steel rail road in the park may appear to be stationary, and good luck to anyone trying to move it, but after 50 years of expansion and contraction it has moved an inch too far, leaving Chief Engineer Sean Allen to slow the boil, while Executive Director of the Exploration Place Museum & Science Centre, Alissa Leier advocates for investment and coordinates the archaeological, construction, and compliance requirements required to get the Little Prince rolling into the future.

In the meantime two other, smaller-scale miniature locomotives, operate on electricity at the Central BC Railway & Forestry Museum, along with two other gasoline driven engines. CFURadio asks that museum’s team if it is their day to shine, as the Little Prince hides in the shade of the dilapidated culvert that serves as its storage shed.

  • - Ian Gregg, CFURadio 88.7FM, Due North News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

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Due North

A Hiatus for the Little Prince – Part 1: A Moving Story - July 1st, 2026

The Little Prince has been the cute cherry-on-top of Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park for decades, but its historical value brings more to the table than meets the eye. With operational costs looming, and repairs causing a hiatus of its typical summer schedule, CFURadio dives into what makes this little engine special, beyond its endearing size. Photo Credit - Exploration Place Museum & Science Centre

While many local park goers have noted the small steam powered locomotive at Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park known as The Little Prince, not as many are familiar with its hundred year past, and involvement building the full size rail infrastructure across BC’s north. Fewer still have considered the complexity of its current existence: navigating municipal ownership, non-profit operation, provincial oversight, and archaeological processes required ahead of any currently required track repairs to name a few. While the Fort George Railway must take a break to lay new track, we examine the hyper-local tourist transportation economy.

In Part One of this program, CFURadio explores the Little Prince’s big role in local railway history, with Executive Direct Alissa Leier of the Exploration Place Museum & Science Centre, which oversees the locomotive on behalf of the City of Prince George. We also got into the nuts and bolts, with Fort George Railway’s Chief Engineer Sean Allen who operates the Little Prince, on the unlikely steps that prevented the mighty machine from getting scrapped alongside another five identical miniature counterparts into a historical dump.

  • - Ian Gregg, CFURadio 88.7FM, Due North News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

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Due North

Caterpillars crawl into Prince George–Lheidli T’enneh, but set to fly off by month’s end - June 18, 2026

June 18, 2026

Forest tent caterpillars, or “t’angoo dughai” have been spotted massing on deciduous trees locally, and across the west of Canada this summer, returning after an approximately 10 year cycle. If you find them yucky, luckily this year’s cycle will soon be over, but next year could support them in larger numbers. Photo Credit - Ian Gregg

Caterpillars have inspired many-legged creativity from children’s books, famous literary characters, theories involving government intervention, culinary exploits, to the Stranger’s rockabilly hit The Caterpillar Crawl. Perhaps more commonly, forest tent caterpillars inspire revulsion in those who happen upon a writhing infestation of them roughly every ten years. Locally, they’re doing just that as their blue-striped presence has re-emerged. They’re even making appearances as far away as Chetwynd, Calgary & Edmonton this June 2026. While it’s evident that many people find forest tent caterpillars yucky, CFURadio wondered if they pose any serious threat to people, the environment, or the plants they actively munch on.

Dr. Dezene Huber, an entomologist in the University of Northern British Columbia’s Ecosystem Science and Management Program spoke with us to essentially say, “No.” While their presence may be alarming, they do have a number of natural enemies which eventually bring their numbers down, all are an integral part of the ecosystem, and the critters have been present long enough locally to earn the Lheidli Dakelh name “t’angoo dughai.” While the forest tent caterpillar can cause allergic reactions in some people, and stress the trees after repeated outbreaks, ultimately, “a lot of forest insects, things we call pests, things like the mountain pine beetle,” said Huber, “they’re just here in low levels doing their thing. You’d have to go look hard for them to find them nine years out of ten, but then suddenly they show up and everyone is like, ‘Where did they come from?’ Well they were here. They just haven’t… they haven’t left.”

Meanwhile these arthropods will continue to munch until they mature into moths later this month. At which point they will lay their eggs, locally, and we will get to see if our environment can support their numbers next spring or not. Have a listen for lore, curiosity, and hopeless prevention tips.

  • - Ian Gregg, CFURadio 88.7FM, Due North News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

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Northern Static Series - Big Fancy S2 Ep5

We were so excited to have the man, the mystery, the legend, old-timey, western swingin’, honky-tonk, two-steppin son of a gun in CFUR Studios. Performing under the name Big Fancy, we are honoured to welcome Blake Bamford to our airwaves for this episode of the Northern Static Series! 

Catch new episodes of the Northern Static Series on CFUR 88.7FM every Wednesday at 7pm, re-broadcasted on Sundays at 10am. All episodes will be posted on our website, mixcloud, youtube, and can be found on podcast platforms “Northern Static Series”! 

Support Big Fancy here: https://bigfancy.bandcamp.com/album/the-legendary-loser-wins-again

Produced, recorded, interviewed and edited by Genevieve Tucker in CFUR Studios

Performance edited by Connor Pritchard 

Audio mixed and mastered by Connor Pritchard 

This initiative is made possible by the Community Radio Fund of Canada

Northern Static Series - Bug Riot S2 Ep4

Bug Riot is an absolute force who blends punk, folk, and metal with raw and honest emotions. Bug brings life’s chaos and challenges into their music, offering a relatable human experience.

Catch new episodes of the Northern Static Series on CFUR 88.7FM every Wednesday at 7pm, re-broadcasted on Sundays at 10am. All episodes will be posted on our website, mixcloud, youtube, and can be found on podcast platforms “Northern Static Series”! 

Produced, recorded, edited by Genevieve Tucker in CFUR Studios

Interviewed by Grace Hoksbergen

Performance edited by Connor Pritchard 

Audio mixed and mastered by Connor Pritchard 

This initiative is made possible by the Community Radio Fund of Canada

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