Blues great Taj Mahal will perform at the Thunder Bay Blues Fest.

The first celebration of the month is Canada Day, July 1, and Marina Park is the place to be. There is live music on two stages, lots of family activities, food and fireworks start at 11 p.m. Events run from 5:30 -11:30 p.m. Shuttle buses run from the parking lots at the Community Auditorium, the Intercity Shopping Center and the 55-Plus Center. Maple leaf attire is welcomed.

The Thunder Bay Blues Festival is held in Marina Park July 9-11. Headliners include Taj Mahal, Robert Randolph and the Blues Traveler -- there are 20 acts in all, including Minnesota’s own Big Walter Smith. The Blues Festival is a great summer tradition in Thunder Bay, and this one looks like it’s going to be especially good. For tickets, call (800) 463-6807 or online at www.tbayblues.ca/.

The Great Canadian Rendezvous at the Fort William Historical Park start the July 9 weekend, too, and continues for 10 days. Not only can families see costumed characters in 1815 living their daily lives during the fur trade era, they can also see mini-dramas, taste samples from the historic kitchen, take paddle rides and learn-how in hands-on workshops. There’s also a restaurant featuring authentic fur-trade-era cuisine.

And every evening there are concerts starting at 5 p.m., featuring everything from bluegrass, Celtic, classic rock and jazz. This year, 20 bands are scheduled to play. The Rendezvous also features family fun activities at night as well as campsites for RVs and tent campers.

Daily tickets are $10 adults, $7.50, youth 61-2 and $5 children 2-5. Multi-day tickets are also available. For details, visit www.fwhp.ca/.

Another great festival is the Dragon Boat Race Festival July 16-17. As in Dragon Boat Festivals around the world, the event is a fundraiser for three nonprofit organizations in the community. The charities are the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Catholic Family Development Centre and St. Joseph’s Foundation of Thunder Bay. Over the past 10 years of Thunder Bay’s Dragon Boat Festival, more than $800,000 has been raised for the organizations.

The festival, which is held at Boulevard Lake on the east side of Thunder Bay, always has a large area for concessions as well as arts and craft booths. In past years, more than 50 boats have competed, so there’s lots of race action on both days. For more information and directions, visit www.thunderbaydragonboat.com/.

Passports Required

Americans are now required to have a current passport and/or passport card to re-enter the United States from Canada. Minnesota will be offering an enhanced driver’s license in the future, which can be used as identification to cross the border, but it probably won’t be available until 2013.

Passport cards, less expensive than a passport book, allow you to enter the United States at land border crossings or sea ports-of-entry, but not by air travel.

The Grand Marais Post Office and the Cook County Recorder’s office process applications for passport cards and passport books. An authentic birth certificate and/or proof of citizenship is required. If an individual doesn’t have a birth certificate and was born in Minnesota, the Recorder’s office can issue one immediately for $16.

For adults, passport books cost $115, and passport cards cost $60, which includes the processing fee and photo. For children age 15 and younger, passport books cost $100 and passport cards are $50, including fees and photo.

It is less expensive to apply for a passport and a passport card at the same time. If current passport holders wish to obtain a passport card, they may do so when they renew their passport book, and they are not charged a processing fee.

For more information, visit the U.S. State Department’s website:www.travel.state.gov or call the Post Office at 387-1020 or the Recorder’s office at 387-3000.