Tourism Winnipeg should sign them up

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/10/2011 (5127 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THEY came. They dined. They helped save the Nonsuch.

Pop idols Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez were treated to a private, candlelit dinner aboard the Manitoba Museum’s fur-trading ship Saturday night. While they were there, the duo signed Nonsuch prints and T-shirts that Manitoba Museum CEO Claudette Leclerc said will help raise money for the conservation of the replica 17th-century vessel that launched Manitoba’s fur trade.

The couple arrived at the museum about 5:15 p.m. and Leclerc took them on a brief tour of the exhibits. The bison diorama caused Bieber to exclaim: “This is just like Night at the Museum!” — the movie starring Ben Stiller.

The couple were particularly enchanted by the museum’s new ancient seas exhibit and Bieber peppered Leclerc and volunteer interpreters with questions about it and the Nonsuch.

Leclerc said the couple were “an absolute delight.”

“They were extremely polite, inquisitive, appreciative,” she said. “They’re obviously very much in love. They’re very sweet to one another.”

After the tour, the couple were left alone on the deck of the Nonsuch for dinner catered by the Fairmont Hotel, complete with faux candles to set the mood without risking a fire.

“It was a really special private dinner, which is so hard to do when you are a celebrity of that calibre,” said Leclerc.

The pair took a shortcut through the museum’s urban gallery, where they stopped to watch a Charlie Chaplin film before heading to the MTS Centre to watch the Winnipeg Jets play the Carolina Hurricanes.

Leclerc said the museum will figure out how best to use the signed prints and T-shirts to raise money for the 40-year-old Nonsuch, which is still in good shape but receives thousands of visits a year.

Much of the couple’s three-day itinerary was cooked up by Kenny Boyce, the city’s film and special events manager who often works with visiting celebrities. He pitched the idea of dinner aboard the Nonsuch, and Bieber bit.

Leclerc said she and her staff were forbidden to take photos and kept the visit hush-hush until it was over. Now that the word is out, Bieber’s visit will likely be a boon for the public profile of the museum and the Nonsuch.

Bieber fever

OTHER stops on Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez’s three-day trip to Winnipeg, which coincided with Gomez’s Friday-night concert at the MTS Centre.

— Thursday night, following an afternoon stroll at The Forks, the couple rented a theatre at Silver City Polo Park to enjoy a private screening of Real Steel.

— On Friday afternoon, Bieber and Gomez took in a few races at Speedworld Indoor Kart Track after renting the track for an hour.

— Also Friday, the couple popped by D’Arcy’s ARC, the city’s no-kill animal shelter. Gomez may have left with a puppy.

— Saturday afternoon, the Bieb stopped at the Booster Juice outlet at 584 Pembina Hwy. where he posed for photos.

“I actually went out and bought a life-size cutout so fans can pose for a photo with a fake Bieber in the same spot that the real Bieber posed with the staff,” owner Graham Taylor said Sunday.

— Bieber and Gomez on Saturday stopped at Gags Unlimited, where Bieber bought $100 zombie contact lenses and Gomez purchased $80 violet contact lenses.

— Saturday night the teen stars took in the Winnipeg Jets game against the Carolina Hurricanes. Afterward, they laced up their skates to hit the MTS Centre’s ice surface.

— Jets coach Claude Noel met with Bieber not long after Winnipeg’s 5-3 win over the Hurricanes. “He seems to be pretty cool to me,” Noel said.