Martha brings snacks to North

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This article was published 08/11/2010 (5671 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

She came, she saw and, of course, she brought snacks.

Homemaker extraordinaire Martha Stewart wrapped up a three-day northern adventure in Churchill on Sunday with a ride-along with Manitoba Conservation’s Polar Bear Alert Program and a final spin on a tundra buggy.

In typical Martha style, the domestic mogul kept a “down-to-the-minute” organized schedule to squeeze in interviews with area biologists and film polar bears in action for one of her upcoming shows.

John Gunter, general manager of Frontier North Adventures, said Sunday afternoon it was a “tightly organized” trip and Stewart even planned for potential hunger pangs. Gunter was aboard a tundra buggy with Stewart when she whipped out an artisan loaf of bread from upstate New York, prosciutto and “fancy olives” to share with her film crew.

“It was without pretense,” Gunter said. “She just kind of had ham.”

Gunter said Stewart’s production company has been planning the visit for the last four months and was interested in polar bear conservation.

She arrived Friday, and during her stay had a helicopter tour of Wapusk National Park, saw a polar bear holding facility and watched bears in their natural environment.

There was some added excitement her first day. A polar bear landed in the town’s bear jail after making a nuisance of itself in town. It was tranquilized and airlifted out onto the tundra.

Stewart posted a photo of herself, with a fur-trim hat, standing in front of the bear jail, which is a large Quonset building. She also posted photos of the bear being raised by helicopter.

“Bear in net about to be airlifted back to the wild,” she tweeted. Over two million people follow Stewart on social networking site Twitter.

Gunter said Stewart was also fortunate to see a polar bear digging a tunnel and breaking ice as bears do when they hunt for seals in the wild.

Helicopter pilot Daryl Ressler said he wasn’t nervous to fly with Stewart, and that she was just like any other passenger once aboard. Ressler said Stewart was very enthusiastic about seeing polar bears, and even passed around snacks on board the chopper tour. “As soon as she brought out the snacks, I thought, that’s typical Martha Stewart,” he said. “She had a food container of dried plums.”

Churchill Mayor Mike Spence said Stewart’s visit created a buzz around town, and that residents respect who Martha is, what she’s done and the profile she brings to Churchill.

A popular stop for the television star was Gypsy Bakery, in part because it has the only espresso machine in town. Stewart apparently needs her cappuccino.

“It was so exciting,” said Helen Da Silva, who owns the bakery with husband, Tony.

“I knew she was in town. We are making her buggy lunches. But we didn’t know she was coming (Saturday) morning. She came in and said, ‘What’s for breakfast?’ ” said Da Silva. Tony Da Silva said Stewart took a call from a friend in New York at their restaurant. The friend wanted to know how Stewart was surviving the frigid North.

But the weather has been very mild — almost too mild, in fact. Temperatures have been reaching 2 C and melting the ice.

Stewart left Churchill around 2:30 p.m. Sunday in a private plane.

Helicopter pilot Andrew Thoma said Stewart enjoyed her visit so much, she told him she wants to come back to see the beluga whales and the tundra in summer.

jen.skerritt@freepress.mb.ca bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca