Flin Flon and The Pas are racing to check out the most books in October

Two libraries in northern Manitoba are keeping score of every checkout this month, and the loser owes the winner pizza. CBC News reported on October 23, 2026, that Flin Flon Public Library and The Pas Regional Library started the contest on October 1, in time for Canadian Library Month. They will compare totals in early November. Items borrowed in person and on the Libby app both count.

Flin Flon administrator Lisa Slugoski revived a challenge the libraries used in the 2000s and later dropped. In The Pas, administrator Dawn-Maire Blanchette put a board about the race outside the library, which sits in the town's former powerhouse near the Saskatchewan River. Slugoski said The Pas had already talked about winning, and she posted the boast so her own town would answer it.

Neither side had released numbers. Both told CBC that more people were asking to take books out. Flin Flon's building had just come through years of repairs, including a redone children's section, new bathrooms and heating, and a space with a 3D printer. Most programs stopped during the closures except Read to Me. Blanchette said the library also copies, prints, rents an annex, runs programs, and gives historical tours, and that the checkout race is a way to get people through the door for any of that.