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Jul 05, 2024
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A Saskatchewan village is getting national attention after an attraction in the community became one of the faces of a candy bar road trip.
Montmartre’s Eiffel Tower is 1/38th the size of the real Eiffel Tower in Paris. The replica stands about 30 feet tall.
The mini-monument was selected for KitKat’s Road Trip Breaks campaign, which highlights six different fun summer destinations in Canada. Custom chocolate bars with the little Eiffel Tower were also made for the campaign.
Montmartre Mayor Robert Chittenden said it’s a win-win situation, with national publicity and a delicious candy bar to eat.
“The more foot traffic we can get into our little community looking at all the amenities and the nice stuff we have to offer is nothing but a true bonus for us as a village,” Chittenden said. “It’s all great. It’s all good stuff coming from that.”
Montmartre is about 90 kilometres southeast of Regina.
Chittenden and the rest of the village council only learned about the KitKat’s proposal in April or May, but were not given much other information.
A spokesperson from KitKat reached out to the village’s administrator, Dale Brenner, in September of 2021 and asked for a photo of the mini-monument. Brenner had to keep the inquiry a secret until about a month ago when it was announced to the public.
Now that the chocolate bars are on the shelves, Chittenden said stores can hardly keep the treats stocked in the community. The KitKats are available across Canada, but Chittenden has made sure to buy them while he can.
“We are putting them in our freezer for keepsakes for our kids to give to them,” he said.
Montmartre was named after Montmartre, France by settlers who came from overseas. Built in 2009, the Eiffel Tower replica was fabricated by Chittenden’s brother-in-law and then painted and finished by contractors from the community.
Since the monument was built, Chittenden sees people around the tower each day coming to visit on his daily commute. Often, he will even stop to take a photo of the visitors with the mini-monument.
Other destinations for the road trip that have been revealed are in Moonbeam, Ont., and Sainte-Flavie, Que.