By Brad Brown
Citizen Staff

The ongoing story of the little red paperclip continues to garner Kipling big headlines both nationally and abroad.

In 2007 alone, the story of Kyle MacDonald’s journey from one red paperclip to a house on Kipling’s Main Street has appeared in such publications as the New York Times, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Globe & Mail, National Post, Victoria Times-Colonist, Windsor Star, the Nova Scotian, West Jet’s UP! magazine, and a full-page colour spread in Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.

Most recently, the Canadian Automobile Association has expressed interest in doing a feature on it for an upcoming issue of its Westworld publication.

“That’s major bucks for advertising if you have to pay for all that,” said town administrator Gail Dakue. “I think maybe people were maybe worried that their tax dollars weren’t being well spent… but people know where Kipling, Saskatchewan is now and it’s generated a lot of tourism.

“We’ve had people here from Prince Edward Island to Vancouver getting their pictures taken in front of it… and when people are in town they buy gas here, they stop for supper here, they do a bit of shopping here. It’s very good for the economy.”

All that, not to mention the promotional tour MacDonald embarked on for his book “One Red Paperclip” that details the saga. Each one of those pit stops invariably mentions Kipling in some form or another.

“It’s been like one big commercial for our town, and it’s different,” said Dakue. “People like different.”

The fame train is showing no signs of slowing down either, according to Kipling’s community development officer who says she is getting at least one request a month from afar for newsworthy information on the paperclip.

“Every time we think it’s quieting down someone else calls to see what’s happening now with the paperclip and our annual festival,” she said. “Lots of this has been self-generating so far but now it’s up to us to figure out how to continue promoting it ourselves.”