Why is there a giant purple elephant in a tiny N.B. village?

 It began with a verbal misunderstanding that led to the creation of a music. 

After which a music video.

And now a 16-foot-tall snow sculpture.

Marc LeBlanc, also referred to as Marc à Paul à Jos, stated he wrote the music, The Elephant from Neguac, after he visited the village in northeastern New Brunswick and ran right into a resident who acknowledged him.

Throughout their chat, “She really requested if I had gone to see Hays Island, or l’île-aux-foins,” he stated. 

However, LeBlanc thought he heard the French pronunciation of the phrase elephant — l’éléphant.

“My French accent is totally different from theirs so generally folks have issue understanding me, however I even have issue understanding others,” stated LeBlanc, who’s from Digby, Nova Scotia.   

LeBlanc stated he finally found out that there wasn’t really an elephant within the village, however he thought it was a comic story and determined to put in writing a music about it.

He launched a music video on Dec. 19, which follows LeBlanc on a comical search to search out this elephant.

Within the video, a purple elephant is seen taking a selfie in entrance of Neguac’s oyster sculpture, hiding behind the village’s lighthouse and consuming ice cream from the Neguac Dairy Bar. 

The video drew the eye of Neguac residents, in addition to from folks as far-off as France. 

“They simply completely like it, I’m stunned at how a lot they prefer it,” stated LeBlanc.

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Neguac Mayor Georges Savoie stated LeBlanc’s music rapidly caught on within the village. 

A restaurant, Chez Raymond, started promoting elephant ears in honour of the music, which is a dish of fried dough coated in cinnamon and sugar. 

“They’ve been promoting them for over two weeks now. They’re making over 100 per day and so they’re gone earlier than the top of the day,” stated Savoie. 

And that’s the place the ice elephant is available in.

The Village of Neguac got here up with the thought of getting an elephant sculpture made and getting LeBlanc to carry out in entrance of it.

Enter sculptor Jean-Pascal Brideau, of Caraquet, who created a 16-foot-tall purple elephant out of snow.

Brideau stated the sculpture took him about eight days to make.

He painted it purple to match the elephant in LeBlanc’s music video. 

Brideau stated it was a problem to sculpt within the midst of the latest rain after which freezing temperatures.

He ended up utilizing a chainsaw fairly than his normal shovel to form the snow, nevertheless it was effectively price it. 

“The previous couple of days particularly, it was superb to see folks taking footage and folks loved it extra day after day,” stated Brideau. 

And now, the elephant sculpture is drawing extra guests to Neguac. 

“It’s superb to see it,” stated Mayor Savoie, “the artist is absolutely actually good, there’s little question about it.” 

LeBlanc will carry out in entrance of the elephant sculpture at 11 a.m. on Feb. 4 and there’s little question it will likely be a giant night time within the small village.

There’s one remaining observe to this story.

Carole MacKnight, a resident of Neguac, stated the sculpture is spreading pleasure in the neighborhood throughout a time of frustration and disappointment after two long-term care houses have been abruptly compelled to shut. 

“The previous couple of weeks have been tremendous adverse for the village, it was actually darkish,” she stated. 

“[The sculpture] is superior, it’s actually massive and I discover it’s such a pleasant factor for the group to just do to convey folks collectively,” she stated.