Museum honours iconic show Corner Gas

With its talented cast and quirky Canadian humour, Corner Gas became an unexpected cult hit during the sitcom's six-season run.

Created by comedian Brent Butt and set in the fictional town of Dog River, Saskatchewan, the action revolved around the town's only gas station for 60 kilometres and the nearby coffee shop where the show's colourful cast of characters would gather.

In its heyday, Corner Gas attracted a million viewers per episode and swept up six Gemini Awards. The series finale in 2009 marked the show's 107^th episode — an impressive achievement for any Canadian show, let alone a situational comedy.

Corner Gas still lives in frequent re-runs on CTV and The Comedy Network where it continues to rack up the views. And banking on its enduring popularity, an enterprising mind has decided to transform the former Rouleau, Sask. set into a tourist attraction.

As the Regina Leader-Post reports, Sylvain Senecal re-outfitted the empty building and turned it into a replica of the original haunts familiar to Corner Gas viewers.

In addition to the props he scooped up at an auction last March, Senecal set up signs on the walls, parked a Dog River police car out front and even managed to locate the Whac-a-Prairiedog game that debuted in the show's carnival episode.

For tourists looking to bring a bit of Dog River home, there's also a stash of Corner Gas T-shirts and merchandise for sale.

"This is a Canadian landmark, there are no ifs or buts about it," Senecal told the paper. "When we saw the building and they'd stopped filming, we thought maybe we could move here, because fans wanted to walk through the store and The Ruby and see how it was, so we approached the producers and they thought it was a good idea to do that."

Since the museum opened Saturday, Senecal said he's been thrilled with the "phenomenal" public response.

While the Corner Gas shrine may seem a bit unusual, Senecal's venture is merely the newest in an already strange collection of pop culture museums.

Beloved redheaded icon Anne of Green Gables attracts thousands of literature lovers to the Silver Bush, P.E.I. museum dedicated to her each year, while Molly's Reach has its own tribute to the Beachcombers at the Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives in Gibsons, B.C.

Toronto media icon Moses Znaimer's MZTV Museum of Television honours all things small screen and features a collection of 10,000 objects from the invention's nine decades of commercial availability.