The Shadfly House project aims to create a new ‘third space’ in downtown North Bay, bringing together arts, culture and community programming as the venue builds toward a full-time launch in the fall of 2026

Shadfly House is North Bay’s newest entertainment venue. The doors are opening this Friday for an all-ages punk and rock show, and there is so much more to come.

The new venue is still in the early stages of what Shadfly House is to become. Mike Savatovsky co-founded the venue along with Bob Wilson of Earl Wilson Electric. Wilson owns the building, and he and his family bought it with the goal of creating a type of community centre. Then the pandemic hit, and those plans were placed on hold for years.

Now, that dream of a community space is coming back, but it still needs a little time to fully realize. Savatovsky told BayToday, “It’s a process. We are definitely opening our doors on Friday, but this is the first phase of multiple phases to get us to the place where we want to be.”

“There’s a bit of an evolution that’s going to happen over the next few months,” Savatovsky said. Indeed, the full vision for Shadfly House is to create a new third space in downtown North Bay, with coworking desks, coffee, evening happy hours, and live music. The space aims to bring people and ideas together with a focus on fostering a new cultural hub for the city.

The venue is located at 151 Main Street East, in North Bay, across the street from the Capitol Centre. It used to be the Bay Theatre, and in more recent times, it housed Evolution and Hugo Crazy’s Nightclub. The venue holds about 400 people—a great size to attract many touring bands to North Bay.

Savatovsky explained that the goal is to open full-time this fall. However, there are many shows already lined up for this summer, so keep an eye on Shadfly House’s social media.

If the name seems familiar, Savatovsky was on the founding team of the One Red Maple app, a venture that was founded by Mark Sherry.  That app helped users to shop local. It later pivoted to Gofer.run, a free app that compares grocery and flyer prices from various sellers. “Sort of like the Trivago of groceries,” Savatovsky said.

See: App developed in North Bay uses AI to help shoppers compare grocery prices and cut bills

Over the past months, Savatovsky has been engaging with various stakeholders in the city, including arts and culture groups, the City of North Bay, and other businesses about the Shadfly House project. “We figured out that we would create this new arts and culture hub based on the community’s diverse needs for programming. We saw it as a third space. If you can imagine it as North Bay’s living room, it’s not your house, it’s not your workspace, but it is that old school place where people used to go that was more of a town centre.”

Shadfly House has applied to operate as a nonprofit, and eventually, the founders plan to apply for charitable status.

“It’s really a community project that will serve the community,” Savatovsky said. And the name? Savatovsky explained that the Shadfly provides a strong symbol for the new venture. “They come out in the trillions, just like people in North Bay, if they come out, we have so much to contribute to one another.”

“And what if we only had one day, as the shad fly? How would you use it? How would we connect with people? And that’s sort of the spirit of our space,” Savatovsky said.

See: Honeycomb Promotions Brings a New Era of Live Music to North Bay

As for Friday’s inaugural concert, North Bay’s Honeycomb Productions is producing the show. Five local and regional bands make up the roster: Ethos, Bad Ancestors, Saving Bambi, Among Legends, and Order of Ages. It’s an all-ages show.

Tickets are $25 at the door and $20 in advance. Doors open at 6 p.m.