For $2, be ‘Anne of Green Gables’

It’s a cold and rainy Saturday afternoon on Prince Edward Island and tourists Hidemi Suyama and Min Yang have taken cover underneath straw hats and braided wigs. The friends, college students originally from Japan and China, are giggling at each other’s identical frumpy green dresses and marveling at their “transformation” into a Canadian icon.

This scene repeats itself hundreds of times each month at the Cavendish Figurines souvenir shop, where unsuspecting visitors are ushered in a back room and offered the chance to become “Anne of Green Gables,” the spunky children’s book character with a worldwide cult following.

“My parents are going to love these pictures,” says Suyama. “It’s a symbol of (Prince Edward Island) and this is the place they’ve always dreamed of.”