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
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
Expansion joints, pictured here, offer relief from contraction & swelling of the rail track in the cold & heat it is subjected to. These features have limitations though, and over time expansion and contraction can split the wooden railroad ties apart.
One might think a train track would be stationary, but natural forces have pushed the track around laterally over time. The heel of a boot can fit into a gap recently created by such forces.
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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
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
In the collection of photos above, a stand of aspen trees has been eaten by forest tent caterpillars on the east side of Tyner Blvd near the University Heights neighborhood in Prince George—Lheidli T’enneh. One of these trees is featured in the photo collection. Another photo shows the pedestrian path on the East side of Tyner Blvd, which is littered with the desiccated remains of thousands of forest tent caterpillars.
Photo Credit - Ian Gregg
A mass of forest tent caterpillars is pictured. They tend to gather on hammock like structures of their own design, spun from the silk they can produce and dangle from.
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Looking at the next seven days in Prince George–Lheidli T’enneh, the weather forecast contains a bit of welcome precipitation, and a mix of sun & clouds. In the newsroom, here is what we’ve picked up on:
A city council meeting occurred Monday June 8th on the second floor of City Hall. Items on the agenda included a report on downtown fires, a zoning amendment for high density housing on 2000 Central St. East, an economic development strategy was approved, and a number of expenses totalling roughly 19 million dollars were ultimately approved the following day after an April 2026 Alternative Approval Process ran its course.
Prices at the pump dropped from last week, with highs of ¢176.9/L and lows of ¢157.8/L for gasoline reported.
There are three active fires in the Prince George fire district.
June marks Pride Month in Canada, with a Mayoral Proclamation kicking off Pride Week events June 26th at City Hall. The week includes a drag show on the 27th, followed by a dance, featuring a theme of queer history through the 20th century.
June 16th, 8pm @ Omineca Arts Centre BA Johnston entertains with Crones. $20 at the door.
June 20th, 8pm @ Prince George Legion 43, Master of Justice: A Metallica Tribute performs. $30 presales, $35 at the door (19+).
June 27th, 7pm @ Omineca Arts Centre Heatseeker & Vagabond play. $15 presales $20 at the door.
Beading workshops occur Wednesdays at Omineca Arts Centre, 6:30-9:00pm, hosted by Lynn Biles. Swing on by with a couple bucks for beading supplies.
- Ian Gregg, CFURadio 88.7FM, Due North News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Boomhauer has hot info for you
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Performing Arts BC’s (PABC) Festival made its way to Prince George–Lheidli T’enneh this June 1st to 5th, not just awarding the finest performances in the province, but sharing resounding tales of resilience through decades of unstable provincial support.
Photo Credit - Ian Gregg
Affecting the residents of Prince George-Lheidli T’enneh & surrounding region, both the City of Prince George and the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George have officially adopted policies that strengthen local food sovereignty. Representatives from both entities spoke to CFURadio to lay out what their perceived roles are in the regional food system.
Photo Credit - Everyone At The Table Prince George
GoByBike Week attempts to measure the amount of alternative transportation, primarily on two wheels, occurring in communities across the province at a given time. This spring 2026, it runs May 31st to June 5th. The GoByBike BC Society then shares the collected data with levels of government.
Photo Credit - Dale Huzar PG Cycling Club
