Which is why he stands on the intersection of Route 6 and Route 20 in New London, two days a week, with his big red hair, beat-up overalls, giant sunflower and sandwhich board.
He waves at the lines of passing traffic and they honk their horns and scramble for their cell phones to snap pictures.
His sign reads ‘Sou'west Bar and Grill,’ and has an arrow pointing towards Route 20. A surprising amount of cars take the sign’s suggestion and make the turn to check out the eatery.
“I like to tug on Superman’s cape a little bit,” said Charlie, who’s real last name is Roach.
“When people say you can’t do it, you kind of got to go around them and think of something else.”
Roach recently retired, moved to the New London area from Ontario, and became a part owner of the Sou'west Bar and Grill.
When the establishment ran into some trouble with the provincial government’s off premises sign law, he decided to have some fun with it.
The restaurant has previously put up a sandwich board, basically identical to the one Charlie wears, at the same intersection several times this season. However, on nine different occasions the signs have been removed by the province for breaching the off premises sign law. The law is almost 20 years old and was intended to protect the Island’s pastoral landscape from gaudy signage.
Alan Brennan, the restaurant’s general manager and a co-owner, said he understands the purpose of the sign laws, but said, they figured their little sandwich board wasn’t hurting anything, and business jumped considerably while it was up, so they kept replacing it.
“As soon as we put it up our sales just skyrocketed,” said Brennan.
However, after the ninth sign was taken the province sent a cease and desist order, threatening a hefty fine.
That was the end of it for Brennan.
But Roach had other ideas.
He took an old Halloween wig and created Charlie the Clown. As far as he’s aware, there’s nothing in the legislation covering someone wearing a costume and sign.
The response from visitors and the community has been really great, said Brennan, so Charlie the Clown will be a regular visitor on Thursdays and Fridays for the foreseeable future.
However, in the long-term, Roach and Brennan would like to see the province revisit the signage legislation and allow for small off property signage.
“Maybe we don’t want big billboards, but a little, quality-made sandwich board, to give someone a little nudge to a great restaurant (is something to look at,)” said Brennan.
@JournalPMacLean
Which is why he stands on the intersection of Route 6 and Route 20 in New London, two days a week, with his big red hair, beat-up overalls, giant sunflower and sandwhich board.
He waves at the lines of passing traffic and they honk their horns and scramble for their cell phones to snap pictures.
His sign reads ‘Sou'west Bar and Grill,’ and has an arrow pointing towards Route 20. A surprising amount of cars take the sign’s suggestion and make the turn to check out the eatery.
“I like to tug on Superman’s cape a little bit,” said Charlie, who’s real last name is Roach.
“When people say you can’t do it, you kind of got to go around them and think of something else.”
Roach recently retired, moved to the New London area from Ontario, and became a part owner of the Sou'west Bar and Grill.
When the establishment ran into some trouble with the provincial government’s off premises sign law, he decided to have some fun with it.
The restaurant has previously put up a sandwich board, basically identical to the one Charlie wears, at the same intersection several times this season. However, on nine different occasions the signs have been removed by the province for breaching the off premises sign law. The law is almost 20 years old and was intended to protect the Island’s pastoral landscape from gaudy signage.
Alan Brennan, the restaurant’s general manager and a co-owner, said he understands the purpose of the sign laws, but said, they figured their little sandwich board wasn’t hurting anything, and business jumped considerably while it was up, so they kept replacing it.
“As soon as we put it up our sales just skyrocketed,” said Brennan.
However, after the ninth sign was taken the province sent a cease and desist order, threatening a hefty fine.
That was the end of it for Brennan.
But Roach had other ideas.
He took an old Halloween wig and created Charlie the Clown. As far as he’s aware, there’s nothing in the legislation covering someone wearing a costume and sign.
The response from visitors and the community has been really great, said Brennan, so Charlie the Clown will be a regular visitor on Thursdays and Fridays for the foreseeable future.
However, in the long-term, Roach and Brennan would like to see the province revisit the signage legislation and allow for small off property signage.
“Maybe we don’t want big billboards, but a little, quality-made sandwich board, to give someone a little nudge to a great restaurant (is something to look at,)” said Brennan.
@JournalPMacLean
