OTTAWA—The small Quebec town of North Hatley has long been a vacation enclave for the well-to-do. Wealthy families from the American south actually helped found the place and spent languid summers there in the 19th century. Celebrities and politicians have been known to visit in more recent years, including a former premier who is among the area’s many cottagers.

In keeping with that aura of exclusivity, the local car wash is trying out a new offer that’s targeted at one of the narrowest customer demographics imaginable.

“If you are a former secretary of state or a former president of the United States,” reads the placard presently outside JC Lave-Auto on Rue Mill, “please stop by for a free car wash.”

It’s not a complete shot in the dark.

The CBC reports that the Clinton family — former president Bill, former secretary of state (and presidential candidate) Hillary, their daughter Chelsea and grandchildren Aiden and Charlotte — is coming to town this weekend for an extended holiday in the lush, hilly Eastern Township. They’re expected to stay at the decidedly posh Manoir Hovey estate in North Hatley, which is nestled against the treed shoreline of seahorse-shaped Lake Massawippi.

“I’ve never had so many people taking a picture of my sign,” said Jay Caunter, the car wash proprietor, chuckling over the phone from the small town of 750.

“I don’t expect them to stop by, but I just thought it was funny – just for a joke,” he said.

Eowyn Cyr works at the marina next door to the car wash. She said it’s been a slow summer for tourism, blaming the ceaseless rain.

“I think people are just happy (to have) people talking about the town, more than anything,” she said, adding that she hasn’t noticed any preparations for the Clintons’ arrival, except for Caunter’s sign.

The Manoir Hovey is considered one of Canada’s fanciest hotels. A travel writer in the Star last year wrote that it was named Canada’s number one “resort or inn” by Travel + Leisure, while American publisher Condé Nast included it in its list of the world’s best hotels.

It was also included on a 2003 list of best places in eastern North America to “rekindle romance.”

The hotel’s website describes how the main building, with its white-columned veranda and wicker furniture, was built in 1900 and modelled on Mount Vernon, the plantation-style home of George Washington in Virginia. Its name comes from an American named Ebenezer Hovey, who came to the area with the wave of British loyalists fleeing the newly-independent United States after the Revolutionary War in 1776. The man who financed its construction, Henry Atkinson, was also American — one of the cadre of well-heeled vacationers who came to the area from the U.S. in the late 19th century.

Today, the hotel boasts nearly 40 rooms, including private suites that are separated from the main structure and endowed with names like “the Montcalm Suite” and “Dragonwatch Cottage.”

The hotel’s general manager did not return an interview request Wednesday, while the person working the front desk said nobody would discuss anything Clinton-related with the media.

Dominic Tremblay, a chef who runs the Café Massawippi in town, wasn’t riled up too much about the expected arrival of the Clinton family.

“I haven’t seen anything; it’s all very discrete,” he said when contacted Wednesday by the Star.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“It changes absolutely nothing except for journalists like you.”

With files from The Canadian Press

Read more about: