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On Walton Street, Port Hope’s historic downtown thoroughfare, Canadian flags hang from brick facades, embodying the sense of order that once defined small-town Ontario. Look closer, though, and the ubiquitous red balloons in shop windows tell a tale more suited to our chaotic times. The calling card of Pennywise, the murderous clown from “It” — the bestselling 1986 Stephen King novel turned blockbuster screen franchise — those balloons symbolize the union between this town of 16,000 and a horror juggernaut that has made Port Hope a destination for fans around the world. That union began when the producers of 2017’s “It” film, chose Port Hope to stand in for Derry, the fictional Maine town haunted by Pennywise. Hollywood stars, including Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader and Bill Skarsgård, descended on Port Hope for the shoot. That movie went on to gross more than US$700 million; the 2019 sequel, “It Chapter Two” earned almost half a billion. On Sunday night, Port Hope will appear on screen again in “It: Welcome to Derry,” the hotly anticipated HBO prequel miniseries. Set in 1962, the show draws upon the mythos laid out in Stephen King’s voluminous novel, with its lengthy flashbacks to Pennywise’s past manifestations in Derry’s haunted history. Central to the new miniseries are Charlotte and Leroy Hanlon, the grandparents of Mike Hanlon, one of the Losers Club of tween misfits who battled Pennywise in the first “It” film. It’s not hard to see why the producers cast Port Hope as Derry. Port Hope’s mid-19th-century buildings would not look out of place in any New England mill town from the last 150 years, and like those communities, Port Hope is built along a waterway (the Ganaraska River doubles for Derry’s Kenduskeag Stream). The orderly quaintness of the municipality, an 80-minute drive east of Toronto, and its tree-lined residential streets also cry out for a good haunting. If there is a negative side to Port Hope and Derry’s supernatural twinning, Mayor Olena Hankivsky doesn’t see it. “Everyone, from local business owners to residents, takes so much pride in our participation in the films and the TV series,” she told the Star. “They’re proud to see their town on screen.” The spending bump is significant, too. Economic data released by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) showed that “It Chapter Two” generated more than $56 million for Ontario, including construction, catering and location fees. For “Welcome to Derry,” the Port Hope town council estimates that location shooting poured more than $1.5 million into the municipality and local businesses, a figure that doesn’t include money spent by the small army of cast and crew members. This local investment is part of a much larger national trend: foreign location shooting, largely Hollywood-backed, accounted for more than $6.86 billion in production volume across Canada in the 2022-23 fiscal year, cementing the country’s role as a global production hub. The biggest boon for the town, said Hankivsky, is the growing number of tourists who come to Port Hope to see the Derry landmarks made famous by the novel and films. Those sites include the bandshell where Pennywise terrifies the grown-up Losers Club in “It Chapter Two”; the Derry Public Library (Port Hope’s Town Hall); and the Capitol Theatre, a major — and grisly — setting in “It: Welcome to Derry.” Chris Jiggins, the co-owner of Furby House Books, first encountered “It” through the 1990 TV miniseries, when he was traumatized at a sleepover party by Tim Curry’s portrayal of Pennywise. He loved seeing the re-creation of Derry on the streets of his hometown in the 2017 film. “Seeing the kids from the Losers Club riding their bikes down the same streets that my friends and I rode down was wild,” he said. “We also used to play in an area just like the Barrens where the Losers Club hang out. There were forts and older kids and bullies there — the same kind of thing King writes about and that first film captures.” These experiences help make Jiggins, who has a cameo as a bookstore owner in “It: Welcome to Derry,” the ideal guide for the “It” pilgrims who’ve made Furby House an unofficial gathering spot. “We’ve had people come in from as far away as Colorado and Italy,” he said. “They come to talk horror and check out the deep-cut items related to the franchise.” Along with official “It” merch, like Pennywise socks, Jiggins and his partners offer red balloon bags, faux vintage postcards depicting the movie sets, and a popular Derry tourist button, all crafted in-house. A half-block up from Furby House, the proprietors of On 2nd Thought, a vintage shop, offer toques, shirts and vests customized with red balloon patches, as well as Pennywise-themed bags. And if you’re thirsty, the Thirsty Goose pub, the Beamish House and the Hotel Carlyle — which is featured prominently in the second movie — all offer “It”-branded cocktails. The Ganaraska Brewing Company has crafted a Float Cream Ale, inspired by the Pennywise tag line “You’ll float too!” To direct visitors through Derry’s haunted streets, the Port Hope Tourism Office created a downloadable walking tour guide and an interactive Google map of filming locations. One of the most popular stops on the tour is the Schuuz shoe store, which appears in the franchise as Quality Meats, Derry’s favourite butcher shop. “The crew completely transformed the store,” owner Karyn Kennedy recalled. “They even put down a new floor because a butcher shop can’t have carpet.” She described the Port Hope-Derry phenomena as entirely positive, if occasionally confusing to visitors who stop by the store: “We’ve had a few folks who really thought this was a butcher shop: they wanted to come in to buy meat.” Next door at Queenies Bake Shop, owner Adam Pearson (also a town councillor) fondly recalled the many “It” shoots when his business was used as both a cast room and a dressing room for Bill Skarsgård (Pennywise in the movies and new show), who was kept isolated from the child actors to keep their frightened reactions authentic. “I even got to play a few oldies on the shop’s piano with (“It: Chapter Two”’s) Jessica Chastain and (director) Andy Muschietti,” said Pearson. Like his fellow business owners and councillors, Pearson has been working with Port Hope Tourism to promote “Spooky Season,” a playful campaign to enhance the town’s reputation as the region’s Halloween Funhouse. The activities culminate in a red-carpet screening of the first and second episodes of “It: Welcome to Derry” at the Capitol Theatre on Oct. 29. Rumours of at least two further “It” prequel miniseries haven’t been confirmed, but Hankivsky said that Port Hope will be ready to host Pennywise if called upon. The town’s heritage streetscape has also featured in period pieces like “Murdoch Mysteries” and “Anne of Green Gables” as well as holiday-themed romantic comedies. Behind the scenes, Hankivsky and her team are preparing for an official Film Policy Review to help strengthen permitting processes and streamline approvals for film and TV production companies. Not everyone in town is swept up by the excitement. Clay, a young bartender at the Hotel Carlyle, mused on the appeal of Pennywise as he prepared the establishment’s signature “It” cocktail, called I’ll Take It, admitting that he’s never seen the films or read the novel. “I just don’t find clowns scary,” he said.
