Sadly, Corner Gas is winding down. They’ve announced that this is their last season, they had a farewell tour of the sets, and so on.
And, in true Saskatchewan fashion, what do you do when you’re moving on and have a lot of stuff you don’t think you’ll need? You have a Garage Sale. Yesterday was the first day of the Corner Gas Garage Sale. Mrs. Piper and I went to it.
The odd thing was, it felt very much like a garage sale. They’ve spent the last six or seven years accumulating stuff that they needed to make the sets look like your typical home or store in small town Saskatchewan. They must have been scouring the garage sales themselves, because most of it looked like stuff that you could see in your typical garage sale - nothing high end, a lot of it a bit worn, but nothing that would have looked out of place in small town Saskatchewan. Now, with all that being released back onto the garage sale market, there’s going to be a glut of afghans and old recliners.
Ditto for the “costumes”. Their clothing has always been what you would see people wearing at the corner store, so not much that really said “Corner Gas.” I mean, Hank only wore Roughrider t-shirts for six years. I’ve got lots of Rider gear already.
So I was just browsing, thinking I wouldn’t buy anything, waiting for Mrs Piper, until suddenly, on the rack of Brent’s stuff, I saw it. A light fabric, tartan shirt, primarily red and white with a touch of blue - dress Stewart. Could it be? I pulled it out - yes! the buttons are on the wrong side - it’s a blouse, not a shirt! It’s the Shirt Powers Shirt, from Season 1, Episode 3! I said to Mrs Piper - “It’s the Shirt Powers Shirt!” The sales attendant said “we wondered if someone would recognize it.”
So, for $20, I now have the Shirt Powers Shirt, complete with a certificate of authenticity. (Well, a receipt that says “Brent’s shirt”. Laconic, but I’m sure it will be sufficient to establish provenance in a few years at Sothebys.)
In a fit of generosity, I also picked up one of Brent’s bar tabs from the Dog River Hotel, for $213. It’s thirsty work, running a gas station.
That shirt was the main plot of the episode. You lucky bastard! Plus, you have the great story to go along with it. Good eye picking that out!
