The picturesque Ontario community Catherine O’Hara spent long days shooting in for her role as the eccentric and stylish matriarch in the sitcom “Schitt’s Creek” is fondly remembering the comedy legend.
The co-owner of a Goodwood, Ont., business that was a key set location in the hit CBC series says the show put his community on the map.
“It changed Goodwood forever,” said Jamie Leonard, who runs Goodwood Mercantile, in an interview Saturday from the community located a 45-minute drive north from Toronto.
“Goodwood is an extremely small, little hamlet. It’s basically an intersection. (When the show aired), all of a sudden, we had people coming from across the globe to see the site where this show was filmed…Catherine had characters you could relate to.”
O’Hara, known for roles in “Home Alone,” “Beetlejuice” and “SCTV,” died Friday in Los Angeles after a brief illness.
Friends and colleagues including Eugene Levy, Dan Levy, Macaulay Culkin, Meryl Streep and Mike Myers have praised her brilliance, kindness and influence on comedy over her approximately five-decade-long career.
But it was her role as Moira Rose in “Schitt’s Creek” that became a career-capping triumph and the perfect personification of her comic talents.
The six-season-long series created by Levy and his son, Dan, about a wealthy family forced to live in a tiny town dominated the Emmys in its final season.
It brought O’Hara, always a beloved figure, a new generation of fans and put her at the centre of cultural attention.
“The show has a very special place in my heart,” Leonard said.
“As Moira Rose, she took the line she was given and made something incredible, special and memorable. It was beyond comedy. She humanized the character and she was extremely important to a lot of people because of that.”
Leonard said a location scout for the show came to Goodwood months before shooting began and requested his mother, who owned his business at the time, to film there.
“Every June she would rent out the store to Schitt’s Creek. They would come in, empty out the story and stage it as the ‘Rose Apothecary’ while they filmed in Goodwood,” Leonard said, referencing the business Dan Levy’s character David Rose owned in the show.
“It was quite the production, trailers up and down the street. You would see bright lights when they’re filming at night.”
Leonard said locals were hesitant about welcoming the stars into their community at first but then they quickly grew on them.
“The cast and crew were really amazing, quite nice and involved with the local people. They would greet them, talk to them, sign autographs,” he said.
“They are the classic Canadian star. They’re nice people.”
As the show grew in popularity, Leonard said, so did the local economy.
“Almost every weekend, we had someone come from Australia, England or Scotland. We’ve had them from all around the world, all over U.S.,” he said.
He recalled the story of one woman who came all the way from the United States to his store after recovering from cancer.
“When she was declared cancer-free, the first thing she did was book a trip to Canada, go to Goodwood to visit the site where the show was filmed,” he said.
“”The characters in the show and the laughter from the show got her through that. So it means an awful lot to an awful lot of people.”
In a weekend statement, the mayor of Uxbridge, the township that Goodwood is located in, said the community is proud to be connected to “Schitt’s Creek” and “the extraordinary talent of Catherine O’Hara.”
“Residents of Goodwood are mourning her loss alongside the millions of fans around the world who will always remember her immense talent, warmth, and humour,” said Dave Barton.
Marco Cassano, who catered for the cast and crew in Goodwood during the shooting of Schitt’s Creek, says he and others still haven’t processed her death.
“It’s kind of a little shock because she’s always on TV and you always see her, right,” said the owner of Annina’s Bakeshop.
“Schitt’s Creek put Goodwood on the map.”
Leonard said parts of his store still have shelves and features the apothecary used in the show and he plans to erect a garden outside his business in honour of O’Hara.
The garden is also a reference to a moment in the show where Eugene Levy’s character makes errors in the sign for garden he erects for his wife, played by O’Hara.
The sign called, “The Moira’s Rose’s Garden,” accidentally includes last digits of Eugene Levy’s credit card number as well as an extra apostrophe.
“We actually have a little slate piece in our window right now with ‘The Moira’s Rose’s Garden 4856,” Leonard said.
In the garden scene, O’Hara’s character immediately recognizes the numbers in her classic line: “Those are the last four digits of your father’s credit card.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb 1. 2026.
With files from The Associated Press
Fakiha Baig and Kathryn Mannie, The Canadian Press
