Your BBQ could cost more this summer, *tabarnak*!
Bonjour from the North — three cities, one corridor, and the stories that don't make it south of Barrie.
Okay, so I’m looking at the buzz around the Sault, and while the Tenaris expansion is huge news for the Steel Plant and for jobs, there’s something else that’s just… it’s just so *us*, eh? The news about your summer BBQ costing more because of tight cattle supply? *Man*, that hits different up here. We work hard, we play hard, and when the weather finally breaks, you bet your last dollar we're firing up the grill. This isn't just about a few extra bucks for a steak; it’s about a core part of our Northern Ontario summer ritual.
It’s not some fancy Toronto restaurant trying to pass off a $50 burger; it’s about the backyard cookouts in places like the P-Patch, or over on the east end near Bellevue Park, where families gather. It’s about grabbing a pack of Sault Ste. Marie's own Penokean Hills Farms beef from a local butcher. The cost of a good meal, a simple gathering with friends and family after a long winter, that’s a big deal. When prices go up on something as fundamental as a BBQ, you feel it right in your wallet and in your spirit. It’s a small thing, maybe, but it shows how much we rely on those simple pleasures, and how quickly economic shifts, even ones far away, ripple right up here to the St. Marys River.
### What This Means for Sault Ste. Marie
* **Community Impact:** People might be rethinking those big summer gatherings, or maybe opting for more chicken and less beef. Every dollar counts, especially when you’re dealing with the higher cost of living up here.
* **Local Businesses:** Our local grocery stores and butchers, who work hard to get us good quality meat, will be navigating these price changes too. They’re the backbone of our community, and they'll feel the pinch as much as we do.
* **The Northern Summer:** Summer up here is precious. It’s when we truly live. Anything that impacts our ability to enjoy it, even something as simple as a pricier burger, hits a nerve.
So yeah, while the big headlines are about steel and job growth, don't sleep on the little things, like the price of your burgers and sausages. It’s a signal of what’s happening in the wider world, and it always finds its way back to us, here in the Sault.
Marc-André Desjardins, for the MiTL Sports Desk, signing off.
My buddies on the morning show are probably already arguing about what kind of sausage is best for a budget BBQ — catch their take live at mornings.live.