Located about four hours north of Toronto, and a short distance from Manitoulin Island, Killarney Provincial Park, and Temagami, the city of Sudbury, Ontario is perhaps best known as the home of the world's biggest nickel, as well as Science North, and Alex Trebek.
But it is also a popular filming destination with unique geological wonders—and its own song!
Read on for more unique tidbits about Sudbury.
Sudbury has provincial parks and lush greenspaces, but it wasn’t always that way. At one time, the terrain was largely barren, an effect of heavy mining and smelting. (Also, a good number of Sudbury's trees were used to rebuild the city of Chicago after The Great Chicago Fire in 1871). In 1978, Sudbury began a municipal regreening program to restore the landscape.
Since then, it has planted over 10 million trees – largely of the coniferous variety, and was recognized as a “reason for hope” in the 2023 IMAX film “Jane Goodall – Reasons for Hope.” A round of applause for Sudbury—the city landscape has been totally revitalized thanks to this epic regreening project.
Sudbury’s local dish, porketta – inspired by, but not to be confused with, the Italian “porchetta” – is a pork shoulder roast seasoned heavily with dill and garlic.
The local treat is so beloved that it is the coveted prize at multiple regular charity BINGO tournaments around the city.
Foodies have even made pilgrimages to Sudbury to try the authentic dish and share the experience with their social media followers.
Sudbury is the hometown of the iconic Jeopardy host, and the city has some beautiful tributes to Alex Trebek, such as a giant mural on the side of Sudbury Secondary School – Trebek’s alma mater.
Fans who have a Trebek-shaped hole in their hearts can tour some of the childhood haunts he mentioned in his 2020 memoir “The Answer Is . . .: Reflections on My Life,” such as his former schools, and the site of the former hotel where he worked his first job.
One of the most famous songs by Canadian folk icon Stompin’ Tom Connors was “Sudbury Saturday Night,” an ode to the city, its nickel miners, and BINGO.
In return, Sudburians expressed their love for Connors by raising funds to commission a life-sized bronze statue of the musician, which stands at the Sudbury Community Arena downtown.
Stompin' Tom wrote a lot about Northern Ontario—check out these 7 songs set in the province.
In the 1950s, two rival high schools – Sheridan Technical and Sudbury Secondary – each purchased an A.Y. Jackson painting to honour teachers at their respective schools.
When the schools amalgamated in 1974, both paintings, “Spring on the Onaping River,” and “A Windy Day — Lake Superior,” were moved from the walls of their respective schools to the administrative office at Sudbury Secondary, and then they vanished.
A Sudbury Star article said police received several tips over the years, but to this day, the paintings haven’t been recovered.
Learn more about this unsolved Group of Seven art heist here.
For visitors who want to see “Spring on the Onaping River” in real life, the A.Y. Jackson Lookout offers a scenic view of the 55-metre High Falls on the Onaping River. Take a day and explore one of Sudbury's most scenic spots—there's a visitor’s centre, 1 km riverside trail, and 2 km loop of the forests.
To many people, Sudbury is synonymous with nickel, but it might surprise some that scientists believe that the chemical element is the result of a meteorite strike over a billion years ago.
Around 1970, geologists confirmed that the Sudbury Basin—an area spanning over 60 km long, 30 km wide and 15 km deep—was created from the impact of a meteor. Not too far away, Lake Wanapitei–the world’s largest lake contained within the boundaries of a single city – was created more recently (but still millions of years ago) in the same manner. Local favourite Stack Brewing even has a beer called Impact in honour of the infamous meteor.
According to Statistics Canada’s 2021 census, 36.6% of Greater Sudbury’s population speaks English and French, with 22.6% of Sudburians listing it as their mother tongue. Because of this, the city offers a variety of bilingual activities and programs – including at Laurentian, which became the first bilingual university in Ontario recognized under the French Language Services Act, according to their website.
With growing popularity as a filming location, Sudbury has seen its share of celebrities, but perhaps one of the more surprising famous connections is Thomas Edison, who kept an office in the city for two years. According to Sudbury.com, he was prospecting for nickel for an electric car battery he invented.
SNOLAB, an underground lab inside an old nickel and copper mine, opened in 2012. Its goal was to study “extremely rare physical interactions,” with an emphasis on astroparticle physics, specifically neutrino and dark matter studies, according to the SNOLAB website.
For the approximately 50 underground workers, arriving at “the office” involves a 5-10 minute ride underground in a mine cage, a 1.5 km walk through the mine, and a shower, before they can begin their work.
At least 65 NHL players have connections to Sudbury, including Ryan Johnston (Montreal Canadiens), Randy Carlyle (Anaheim Ducks) and Tyler Bertuzzi (Toronto Maple Leafs), according to QuantHockey.
Shoresy, the hockey-focused spinoff of Letterkenny also films in the city, with many notable locations appearing in the show, including the Sudbury Community Arena, where real-life OHL team the Sudbury Wolves play. The team even has its own celebratory wolf that appears whenever they score a goal.
Looking for more unusual details about Sudbury? Check out these hidden gems, learn how long it takes to clean the famed Big Nickel, or read about the local scientific lab that’s 2000 metres below ground.
