Medieval dinner theatre city's newest tourist attraction.

• Author: GOULIQUER, DIANNE
• Position: Northern Knights Feast, Thunder Bay - Brief Article

Modelled after a similar attraction in Toronto, Thunder Bay's Northern Knights Feast is the city's newest tourism draw, and officials say the medieval-style dinner theatre is already attracting between 200 and 300 guests per week.

Lawrence Badanai, manager of marketing and promotions for Northern Knights Feast, says the venture is the brainchild of owner Rob MacLeod who worked with the Toronto production for 1.2 years and thought it would be "perfect" for Thunder Bay. The two-hour show runs every Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening in the former Capitol movie theatre on the city's south side.

The two-theatre movie house closed down in 1999, just as the Famous Players SilverCity theatre opened its doors.

"The Capitol Theatre was selected because it's a historical building,"

Badani says. "It's also in downtown Fort William; it's a great place for an evening of entertainment. After you finish the show you can go over to (one of the nightclubs) in the area and socialize with your company."

The tongue-in-cheek dinner show has created between 30 and 40 part-time jobs in the community plus one full-time administrative position, Badanai says.

"A lot of(the employees) are drama students from Thunder Bay, and we had a couple that were university students from southern Ontario who were studying in northwestern Ontario. Those students who have gone back for the summer didn't want to go (because) they saw that there was something in the industry that interested them in Thunder Bay."

Northern Knights Feast is also pushing to forge partner ships with other businesses in...