Baseball fever has reached the Arctic.
In Canada's northernmost city, fans gather at the Storehouse Bar and Grill in Iqaluit to cheer on the Toronto Blue Jays' playoff and World Series championship.
Valerie Hill, the bar's general store manager, said the fan turnout was unlike anything she's seen in her two years at the establishment.
Located in Canada's northernmost city, Storehouse Bar & Grill has been welcoming fans who have been cheering on the Toronto Blue Jays since the team made it to the World Series. The cheers are as loud as ever, despite being more than 2,000 kilometers from the team's hometown. edit).
CANADIAN PRESS/Handout – The Storehouse Grill & Bar
“Our bar seats 215 people, but in Game 7 (ALCS vs. Seattle Mariners) it was standing room only,” Hill said. “I think our counter lost count after 180 people.”
She said tourists would come in and ask if the bar had heard of the Blue Jays and if they could show the game on their TVs, as if, more than 2,000 kilometers from Toronto, they knew nothing about the team.
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To them she says, “Look around you! We love the Blue Jays,” she said with a laugh. The bar has eight television screens, each of which is regularly used to broadcast sporting events.
The warehouse, which first opened its doors 22 years ago, typically resembles a shack. It is decorated with polar bear skins, heads of musk oxen and caribou.
Now it's transformed into a baseball paradise with plenty of blue and white balloons, Blue Jays posters and even a newly revamped Jays-themed food and drink menu.
“It’s funny being here, though, because we don’t have overnight service,” she said. “So once they got into the playoffs, believe me, Amazon had to fight to get the goods here.”
She said the bar also ordered Blue Jays T-shirts, which will unofficially become staff uniforms this week as the team competes in the World Series against the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
When the Blue Jays clinched their spot in the World Series, Hill said the celebration at the bar was so lively it could have been mistaken for a celebration in downtown Toronto.
“You would have thought we actually won the World Series,” Hill said. “Big guys, little guys, picking each other up, hugging each other. I think I saw tears. I personally shed a few.”
Hill said she is a longtime sports fan and her family has always been a Toronto fan. Now she feels the Blue Jays' success is uniting the small Arctic community.
“Sometimes we feel like we’re alone here,” she said. “So to be recognized outside of Nunavut is amazing for us.”
As the World Series continues, Iqaluit is hoping the Jays can win the best-of-seven showdown and give fans another reason to celebrate.
“Come on, Jace. Let's bring home the W. This whole place would be wild,” Hill said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
