OPP officers were busy Tuesday morning setting out guide buoys off the waterfront in preparation for Wednesday's Armed Forces Day airshow.
The huge buoys are designed to provide a safe area below where the CF-18 demo team and the Skyhawks parachute team can show their skills.
"We're setting up a marker box that we try and keep people out of so they can fly the teams over safely in case there's an incident with an aircraft over the water," Constable Marvin Miller told BayToday."We'd like to make sure that everybody stays out of the designated area."
It also provides a safe area in case a wayward Skyhawk needs to be fished out of the water.
The markers are inflated by the city and brought down to the waterfront for the OPP to anchor in the waters of Lake Nipissing.
It took a couple of hours Tuesday morning to set up the markers, using three boats, in preparation for an evening practice.
The military provides the OPP with coordinates for the box setup
"We'll have four boats in the area while the show is going on to keep the boats out of the area," added Miller. "We'd like to make sure that everyone is aware that there is an annual air show and that everyone stays out of the area so we can have a safe event."
Miller is an old hand at preparing the area.
"I've been doing this for 10 years now...every year they've been having a military day here in North Bay."
See: Connecting with the military on Armed Forces Day
Be aware also that Memorial Drive, from after the train tracks to the Pedestrian Walkway will be closed from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The big show is at the North Bay waterfront from10:30 a.m to 1:30 p.m. with a twilight show 6 to 8:30 p.m.
The weather forecast calls for clouds in the morning with a few showers. Risk of a thunderstorm later in the morning and afternoon.
