A Small Canadian Town Is Now the Home of a 17-foot-tall Cheeto Statue
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Cheadle, a town of around 100 people, sits about 30 miles east of Calgary in south-central Alberta, Canada. Nearby Langdon has a Tim Hortons and a KFC, and Strathmore has a McDonald's and a brewery, but tiny Cheadle has something that's possibly even more exciting: a 17-foot tall statue of a set of Cheeto-dusted fingertips, reaching out of the earth to grab a single orange Cheeto Puff.
The surprisingly large monument was placed by PepsiCo Canada earlier this week. So why Cheadle? Because according to the company, the official brand name for the brightly colored powder that coats your fingers while you're eating Cheetos is… Cheetle.
"Cheetos fans have always known that the delicious, cheesy dust on their fingertips is an unmistakably delicious part of the Cheetos experience, but now it officially has a name: Cheetle," Lisa Allie, the Senior Marketing Director for PepsiCo Foods Canada, said in a statement. "We're excited to be celebrating Cheetle and Canadians' cheesy, Cheetle-dusted fingertips on such a grand scale and in such a uniquely mischievous way."
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If you live in or around Cheadle — or feel like making a road trip — the Cheetle Hand Statue will be on display at 400 Railway Avenue from now through Friday, November 4. Visitors are encouraged to take a lot of photos, to tag the @cheetoscanada Instagram account, and liberally use the hashtags #CheetleinCheadle and #ItsaCheetosThing. (Do not tag actor Don Cheadle; he has nothing to do with any of this.)
According to Global News, word of Cheadle's new attraction has spread fast. "I got two messages on my phone: one from my friend who is also a Cheeto fanatic and one from my husband who said 'you won't believe this, there's a giant Cheeto in Cheadle Alberta which is 30 minutes from Calgary,'" one visitor told the outlet. "So I jumped in my car and came to see it myself."
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Cheadle officials also seem to be pleased with their new — if temporary — attraction. "Cheadle is proud to be home to the Cheetle Hand Statue. Where else could the Cheetos brand honour the iconic Cheetle, if not here," James Gosteli, the Cheadle Community Club President said. "While our residents will be the first to see the unique monument, we can't wait for the rest of Canada to see it for themselves!"
While the statue is new, the concept of Cheetle has been around since the 1980s when the word — originally spelled as "cheedle" — was coined and defined by comedian Rich Hall. Somewhere along the line, the Cheetos brand spell-checked and capitalized the term, and the rest is cheesy history.
