A supermarket checkout clerk and local beauty pageant winner, LeBlanc decided to enter Canadian Idol after the St. Anne-Nackawic pulp mill was abandoned by its owners in late 2004. Her father, who had just recently landed a job at the plant after trying for nearly 20 years, was among the 406 people in the region who suddenly found themselves out of work.
With her beleaguered town’s story reading like lyrics to a sad country song, LeBlanc, a devotee of the late Patsy Cline, began her quest to become the next Canadian Idol.
She quickly became a heroine to the folks back home in Nackawic, who rallied behind her and jammed phone lines every time she sang on the show.
Residents posted signs supporting her in their front yards, hung her picture in their business and living-room windows and bought bracelets to raise money to help cover the cost of her campaign.
Although all of Casey’s living expenses were paid for by CTV once she reached the top 10, her mother’s expenses weren’t. Connie LeBlanc gave up a position as a school bus driver and a part-time job as a summer tour guide at King’s Landing Historical Settlement, one of New Brunswick’s most popular attractions, to go to Toronto and act as her daughter’s chaperone. (Canadian Idol rules require that a minor be accompanied by a parent or guardian.)
“The mood in town was probably at about its lowest point when Casey went to Canadian Idol’s auditions,” said Paul MacInnis, owner of the Save-Easy grocery in Nackawic where Ms. LeBlanc once toiled behind a cash register. “It was a pretty black time.
“But then Casey was suddenly on the way to Toronto, a buzz was starting and things started happening. Once she made the top 10, all hell broke loose.”
Residents of that town of the small town in the St. John River Valley purchased 15,000 bracelets at a few dollars a piece at Mr. MacInnis's market to help support LeBlanc’s effort and to raise funds for a homecoming celebration once her tour with Canadian Idol was over.
In addition, Mr. MacInnis dressed his employees in Canadian Idol T-shirts on show performance days, and had clerks stuff a flier in each shopper’s bag to remind them to vote for the hometown hero that night.
“As a father to two young girls, I came to appreciate Casey as a role model,” MacInnis said. “On show nights, my daughters would dress like her and dance like her around the house.
“Her success was a great example, especially to kids in small towns. It showed them that you can do it, that something like this can happen to anyone, that everyone has to have dreams.”
Everyone from kids and town officials in Nackawic to men who wouldn’t have previously been caught dead watching a pop idol program got swept up in Caseymania.
“When I think about everything that was going on in Nackawic, I have to say that Casey’s Canadian Idol campaign was a wonderful distraction to everything else we had to deal with,” said Craig Melanson, who works in economic development at the town office. “She brought pride to a community at a time when we were all feeling pretty down and out.”
With her beleaguered town’s story reading like lyrics to a sad country song, LeBlanc, a devotee of the late Patsy Cline, began her quest to become the next Canadian Idol.
She quickly became a heroine to the folks back home in Nackawic, who rallied behind her and jammed phone lines every time she sang on the show.
Residents posted signs supporting her in their front yards, hung her picture in their business and living-room windows and bought bracelets to raise money to help cover the cost of her campaign.
Although all of Casey’s living expenses were paid for by CTV once she reached the top 10, her mother’s expenses weren’t. Connie LeBlanc gave up a position as a school bus driver and a part-time job as a summer tour guide at King’s Landing Historical Settlement, one of New Brunswick’s most popular attractions, to go to Toronto and act as her daughter’s chaperone. (Canadian Idol rules require that a minor be accompanied by a parent or guardian.)
“The mood in town was probably at about its lowest point when Casey went to Canadian Idol’s auditions,” said Paul MacInnis, owner of the Save-Easy grocery in Nackawic where Ms. LeBlanc once toiled behind a cash register. “It was a pretty black time.
“But then Casey was suddenly on the way to Toronto, a buzz was starting and things started happening. Once she made the top 10, all hell broke loose.”
Residents of that town of the small town in the St. John River Valley purchased 15,000 bracelets at a few dollars a piece at Mr. MacInnis's market to help support LeBlanc’s effort and to raise funds for a homecoming celebration once her tour with Canadian Idol was over.
In addition, Mr. MacInnis dressed his employees in Canadian Idol T-shirts on show performance days, and had clerks stuff a flier in each shopper’s bag to remind them to vote for the hometown hero that night.
“As a father to two young girls, I came to appreciate Casey as a role model,” MacInnis said. “On show nights, my daughters would dress like her and dance like her around the house.
“Her success was a great example, especially to kids in small towns. It showed them that you can do it, that something like this can happen to anyone, that everyone has to have dreams.”
Everyone from kids and town officials in Nackawic to men who wouldn’t have previously been caught dead watching a pop idol program got swept up in Caseymania.
“When I think about everything that was going on in Nackawic, I have to say that Casey’s Canadian Idol campaign was a wonderful distraction to everything else we had to deal with,” said Craig Melanson, who works in economic development at the town office. “She brought pride to a community at a time when we were all feeling pretty down and out.”
On Sept. 25, the folks back home in Nackawic recognized her success by naming a section of Route 105 that runs near the town Casey Way. On that day, she was honoured at a celebration in a park along the St. John River. She arrived by helicopter and sang three songs, including her signature theme, “Bring It On Home.”
To the folks of Nackawic, New Brunswick and a vast number of other places, that is just what she did on Canadian Idol.
To the folks of Nackawic, New Brunswick and a vast number of other places, that is just what she did on Canadian Idol.
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