Parry Sound, Ontario

Demographics

{| class="wikitable"

! colspan="2" | Canada 2006 Census!! Population !! % of Total Population

| rowspan="7" | Visible minority group Source: || South Asian || 35 || 0.6

| Chinese || 40 || 0.7

| Black || 10 || 0.2

| Filipino || 0 || 0

| Latin American || 15 || 0.3

| Southeast Asian || 0 || 0

| Other visible minority || 15 || 0.3

| colspan="2" | Total visible minority population|| 115 || 2.1

| rowspan="3" | Aboriginal group Source:

|1871|1052

|1901|2884

|1911|3429

|1921|3546

|1931|3512

|1941|5765

|1951|5183

|1961|6004

|1971|5842

|1981|6124

|1991|6125

|1996|6326

|2001|6124

|2006|5818

|2011|6191

|2016|6408

|2021|6879

Culture

thumb|left|View of downtown Parry Sound near the intersection of Seguin and James Streets. A portion of the Sound and the CP railway trestle can be seen in the distance.

Parry Sound is the birthplace of hockey legend Bobby Orr, the namesake of the local community centre and the town's own Bobby Orr Hall of Fame. In Orr's best-selling autobiography, Orr: My Story, he speaks highly of Parry Sound, the friends and family who resided there and the happy childhood he had living in that part of Canada.

Canadian actor Don Harron's stage character Charlie Farquharson remains one of the town's most cherished personalities. Former Ontario premier Ernie Eves also called the town home for many years; he was the MPP for the Parry Sound—Muskoka riding from 1981 through 2001.

The town is home to several cultural festivals, including the Festival of the Sound classical music festival and a buskers' festival which takes place as part of the town's Canada Day festivities. The Charles W. Stockey Centre for the Performing Arts serves as the principal performance venue during the Festival of the Sound, and also hosts concerts, live theatre and other cultural events throughout the year.

Recreation and sports

There are several provincial parks in the Parry Sound area, including Oastler Lake, The Massasauga and Killbear, as well as numerous provincial conservation reserves, including the Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve, one of only 13 UNESCO sites in Canada. The eastern coast of Georgian Bay where Parry Sound is located is known as the "30,000 Islands" and is considered the world's largest freshwater archipelago. It covers 347,000 hectares of shoreline ecosystem, and over 100 species of animals and plants that are at risk in Canada and Ontario, including unique reptiles and amphibians. Parry Sound's Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary cares for injured and orphaned animals, and offers an informational and interpretive centre for wildlife education. A 230-kilometre recreational trail, the Park-to-Park Trail, connects Killbear with Algonquin Provincial Park in two locations, to the south at Dwight, and farther north, east of Kearney.

thumb|Departure point at the harbour, for the sightseeing tours of the 30,000 Islands

Parry Sound, and much of Central and Northern Ontario, are well known for their tourism businesses. Accommodation businesses range from hotels and full service resorts to lodges and camping grounds. Sightseeing tours of the 30,000 Islands are offered by Georgian Bay Airways, and the Island Queen and MV Chippawa cruise ships. kayak and canoe rentals and tours are available during the summer, as well as winter sporting gear rentals during the winter. The town is home to an annual ATV Jamboree, and guided ATV tours of the region's wilderness are available throughout the year. There are several golf courses located in and near Parry Sound; ice hockey, fishing, cross-country skiing, and softball are also popular recreational sports in the area. Cross-country skiing in the Parry Sound area is based out of Georgian Nordic Outdoor Activity Centre (GNOAC). Famous NHLer Bobby Orr played minor hockey for the Parry Sound Shamrocks. Another more recent professional hockey player who played for the Shamrocks is Aidan Dudas who plays for HC TPS of the Finnish SM-Liiga. Aidan was selected in the fourth round (113th overall) of the 2019 NHL Draft by the Los Angeles Kings. The town had a junior team also called the Shamrocks for a short period of time who reached the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey Association championship finals in 1998 and 1999 before the team folded in 2003.

Transportation

thumb|right|Harbour of Parry Sound

Parry Sound is located along a highway which currently bears the dual designation of Highway 69/Highway 400. From the opening of this freeway alignment in 2004 until October 26, 2010, a point one kilometre north of Parry Sound's Bowes Street/McDougall Road interchange was the terminus of Highway 400, but the freeway now begins 17 kilometres further north, at Highway 559 north of Nobel. The former alignment of Highway 69 from Parry Sound southerly to Holmur now has the street name Oastler Park Drive and serves as the main access road to Oastler Lake Provincial Park.

The western termini of Highway 124, which extends easterly to Sundridge, and Highway 518, which heads east to Kearney, are both located just outside Parry Sound's town limits.

Bus service from Toronto is available by Ontario Northland Motor Coach Services, the government-owned transportation company, and buses arrive daily en route to Sudbury. In addition, Via Rail's Canadian (Toronto – Vancouver) transcontinental passenger train serve Parry Sound railway stations twice a week both east- and westbound. Westbound passenger as well as Canadian Pacific Kansas City and Canadian National Railway freight trains are carried over the Seguin River by the Parry Sound CPR Trestle, a visible presence in the centre of town.

The town is served by the Parry Sound Area Municipal Airport and the Parry Sound Medical Heliport, as well as numerous small water aerodromes:

Parry Sound Harbour Water Aerodrome (CPS1)
Parry Sound/Deep Bay Water Aerodrome (CPT6)
Parry Sound/Derbyshire Island Water Aerodrome (CDS6)
Parry Sound/Frying Pan Island-Sans Souci Water Aerodrome (CPS9)
Parry Sound/Huron Island Water Aerodrome (CPS8)
Parry Sound/St. Waleran Island Water Aerodrome (CPD6)

The Big Sound Marina is a 120-serviced slip marina on Georgian Bay for transient vessels up to .

Canadian Coast Guard Parry Sound Base

Canadian Coast Guard has a base in Parry Sound at 28 Waubeek Street. The base has berthing and maintenance facilities for CCG vessels. CCGS Samuel Risley and CCGS Cove Isle are the current home ported vessels at the CCG base. There is an unregistered helipad at the base next to the Waubuno Beach boat launch and is the home base to two helicopters, a Bell 412 and a Bell 429.

The entrance to the station is a shack with lantern room from the historic Cape Robert Lighthouse formerly on Manitoulin Island.

Media

Radio

{|class="wikitable sortable"

!Frequency

!Call sign

!Branding

!Format

!Owner

!Notes

|FM 88.9

|CBPO-FM

|Weatheradio Canada

|Weather radio

|Meteorological Service of Canada

|Decision CRTC 95-708 CBPO-FM - fccdata.org

|FM 89.9

|CBLR-FM

|CBC Radio One

|Talk radio, public radio

|Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

|Rebroadcaster of CBLA-FM (Toronto)

|FM 91.3

|CHRZ-FM

|Rez 91

|First Nations community radio

|Wasauksing Communications Group

|Broadcasts in English and Ojibwe

|FM 103.3

|CKLP-FM

|Moose FM

|Adult hits

|Vista Broadcast Group

Radio notes

On April 30, 2026, Parry Sound Community Radio Association submitted an application to operate a new community FM radio station at Parry Sound on the frequency 97.9 MHz (channel 250B1) with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 7,750 watts (non-directional antenna with an effective height of antenna above average terrain [EHAAT] of 47.1 metres).

Television

{|class="wikitable sortable"

!OTA channel

!Call sign

!Network

!Notes

|7 (VHF)

|CIII-DT-7

|Global

|Rebroadcaster of CIII-DT (Toronto)

|12 (VHF)

|CKVR-TV-1

|CTV Two

|Rebroadcaster of CKVR-DT (Barrie)

|23 (UHF)

|CHCH-DT-3

|Independent

|Rebroadcaster of CHCH-DT (Hamilton)

Newspapers

North Star – The Parry Sound North Star

Notable people

List of notable people associated with Parry Sound:

Marty Adams, actor, writer and comedian
Samuel Armstrong (1844–1921), businessman and politician
James Arthurs (1866–1937), politician and senator
Bill Beagan (born 1937), National Hockey League referee and commissioner of four hockey leagues
William Rabb Beatty (1851–1905), businessman and politician
Neil Belland (born 1961), professional ice hockey player
Fred Bourdginon (1906–1995), professional ice hockey player
John Brackenborough (1897–1993), professional ice hockey player
Sully Burrows, country music singer and songwriter
Gerald Carson (1903–1956), professional ice hockey player
Wayne Clairmont (born 1943), professional ice hockey player
Terry Crisp (born 1943), professional ice hockey player and coach
Eleanor Joanne Daley (born 1955), composer and choir director
Douglas Durkin (1884–1967), novelist, short story writer and screenwriter
Ernie Eves (born 1946), lawyer, politician and 23rd Premier of Ontario
Donald Guloien, business executive
Mark Ideson (born 1976), Paralympic wheelchair curler
Allan Loney (1885–1965), hockey player charged with manslaughter
William Morgan (born 1975), Paralympic judoka
Megan Oldham (born 2001), freestyle skier, Olympic gold medalist
Bobby Orr (born 1948), professional ice hockey player and Hockey Hall of Fame inductee
James Sharpe (1846–1935), merchant and politician
Fred J. Stevenson (1895–1928), aviator and bush pilot
William Sutherland (1926/27–1998), politician