News Release

05/10/2007
Smells Like Yukon bakes muffin for CBC's Seven Wonders of Canada project

WHITEHORSE (SLYwire) Unable to resist the relentless full-frontal multi-media assault of CBC's Seven Wonders of Canada project, Smells Like Yukon has nominated one of Yukon's most cherised landmarks for consideration.

The following is the complete text for the nomination:

By now, Yukoners have probably inundated your list with nominations for amazing natural features like Mount Logan, the Kluane Icefields, the Tombstone Mountains, and any number of rivers from the mighty Yukon to the remote Snake. You might have also received a slew of nominations for man-made features, among them the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway, the Alaska Highway, and the SS Klondike Historic Site.

Sure, these are all wonders of world (or at least a Canadian) class quality. But in our rush to celebrate the obvious, we shouldn’t overlook the dark horse entry that could well be the Yukon’s greatest wonder of all:

The Haines Junction Village Monument.

If you can imagine a twisted artistic menage a trois between Michelangelo, Betty Crocker, and a big game hunter (Hemingway, perhaps?), you might appreciate this roadside distraction in the scenic village of 750 people. There’s a reason Yukoners call this local monument “the muffin.” Clearly, someone’s recipe for community pride went something like this:

1. Get baked
2. Take 800,000 cups of plaster, add water
3. Sprinkle with chunks of representative Yukon wildlife
4. Stir vigorously
5. Mould mixture into shape with cylindrical base and rounded conical top
6. Garnish with some kind of hiker guy
7. Display for 300,000 highway visitors each year

If nothing else, this Franken-sculpture ensures that every tourist’s welcome to Kluane Country includes a good laugh at Yukoners’ expense.

But what, you ask, makes the Haines Junction Village Monument one of Canada’s great wonders? The answer has absolutely nothing to do with its actual features. No, the REAL wonder lies in how two or more people were ever able to agree that spending one dime on this abomination was a good idea.

"We're very hopeful about The Muffin's chances for inclusion in the final seven," Smells Like Yukon's Director of Pointless Exercises J.D. Sparkles says. "We urge all Yukoners and, indeed all Canadians, to turn out in force when voting begins on May 14. But don't do it for the sake of our cheap public relations ploy. Do it for the greater glory of the Yukon's fourth largest community."

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For more information, contact:

Media & Public Relations Officer
Smells Like Yukon
Whitehorse, Yukon