How do you get people to come to your destination these days? Celebrity appeal. Or, better: appealing to celebrities. And even though we are north of Hollywood here in B.C., we aren’t immune to its powers, or the fact that we are the birthplace of many.
So when the Nanaimo bar — yes, that layered coconut-chocolate dessert — grabbed the North American spotlight earlier this summer courtesy a feature in the New York Times (and a mis-attribution as a cookie, ugh), the time seemed ripe for Nanaimo itself to cash in.
Tourism Nanaimo just released a new promo video starring locals and their local claim to fame, the eponymous bar. Eat it in a race-ready bathtub, dunk it in your craft beer, enjoy one on a hike, but never forget there is no Nanaimo bar without Nanaimo.
The video specifically wants two people to come to Nanaimo: Seth Rogen and Dan Levy (and if you come, too, and spend some of your tourism dollars there, well, thank you so much).
“The Nanaimo Bar (it’s not a cookie) has had a lot of attention lately! Whether you love it or not, you can’t deny it’s a must-try for visitors to the region. We’d love to invite Nanaimo Bar ambassadors Seth Rogen & Dan Levy to come try the real thing,” says Tourism Nanaimo.
The two actors are singled out because of their public love for the Nanaimo bar.
The evidence?
Consider this tweet from Vancouver’s Rogen, in response to the New York Times referring to Nanaimo bars as a “tremendously sweet, no-bake layered bar cookie from Canada”:
It’s actually from Nanaimo which is a town on Vancouver Island, which is where the ferry arrives when you leave Vancouver. This is a strange headline. But these things are fucking delicious. https://t.co/pP0YG2ifc6
— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) July 5, 2019
And this, from Levy, the Toronto-born star of Schitt’s Creek:
So glad the Nanaimo Bar hired a better publicist. She deserves this moment. https://t.co/nlJgm2pqkq
— dan levy (@danjlevy) July 5, 2019
The Nanaimo bar is having a big year. First came that New York Times shoutout. Then, in April, Canada Post unveiled a stamp featuring the sweet treat. The stamp prompted a bit of an outcry from fans of the bar, who felt the ratio of base to filling was off.
— With a file from the Times Colonist
