Thieving fans of rapper Lil Nas X's song “Old Town Road” may have inadvertently led to a West Coast community stumbling onto a cash cow.
Two “Old Town Road” signs were stolen recently in Sicamous, B.C., so the community’s municipal staff decided to begin selling the signs to curtail the thefts
The signs are sold in-town and online at $25 a pop, and it turns out they’re practically flying off the shelf with people from Alaska, Las Vegas and as far away as Belize purchasing them.
“it’s actually quite amazing,” Sicamous operations manager Joe McCulloch told CTV News Channel on Tuesday, adding that the district has sold 90 signs in the past two days alone/.
The tourist spot is popular with houseboaters during the summer when the population swells from 2,600 to 10,000. So with the influx of so many people, McCulloch said “it wasn’t that much of a surprise that someone was going to steal this sign eventually.“
They started out by having 50 signs in stock but they’re likely to increase their supply to meet growing demand. Sicamous Mayor Terry Rysz even joined in on the fun, decking himself out in classic cowboy attire to advertise the signs.
The idea was welcome to McCulloch, who moved to Sicamous from the U.K. three years ago because he wanted a more creative, fun job.
The song featuring “Achy Breaky Heart” singer Billy Ray Cyrus has dominated pop culture for most of the summer.
The rapper’s country trap single has ruled the top of Billboard music charts for 18 weeks, crowding the airwaves and been at the centre of several remixes and memes on Twitter and popular Chinese short-music video app Tik Tok.
As for the cost of the thefts, Passmore said it wasn’t significant to the district, and staff likely won't be getting the RCMP involved.
Anyone curious to buy the signs can check of the Sicamous and District Chamber of Commerce website.
With files from CTV News Vancouver
