Meet Gus Hillstrom, the man behind P.E.I.'s iconic commercial jingles

From Owls Hollow and Island Petroleum to the Frosty Treat and Doiron's Garden Centre, Gus Hillstrom has written dozens of familiar advertising jingles over his career.

As an Islander, you've likely heard a tune or two of his over the last few decades, but in case you haven'tthere's always his new show Gus and Good Company, featuring the iconic sing-a-long commercial tunes he's created over the years.

Nobody says "here's Gus Hillstrom, his new jingle"Gus Hillstrom

Gus and Good Companyruns Tuesday nights at 8 p.m at the Milton Community Hall until Dec. 26. Audience participation is not only permitted, it'sencouraged.

Keeping it 'like a nursery rhyme' does the trick

When it comes to piecing together a good jingle, Hillstrom says there's one hard and fast rule: "It has to be simple and singable."

"A lot of the jingles I've worked on, I would literally sing them thousands of times before we even got to the studio to record them so it made them very singable," he told Mainstreet P.E.I.

"Keeping them almost like a nursery rhyme is sort of the trick to it"

Hillstrom wrote some of his jingles while working in private radio but many were written while working in CBC P.E.I.'s advertisingdepartment.

One of his more famous tunes was madefor Doiron's Garden Centre in Charlottetown:

Beautiful flowers, shrubs and trees

Peat moss, fertilizer seeds

When you're thinking gardening

Doiron's Garden Centre!

He's always been the man behind the music, but when he tells people who he is,they lookconfused.

"Jingles are anonymous if Lennie Gallant plays a song on the radio, they announce 'here's LennieGallant playingPeter's Dream' but nobody says 'here's Gus Hillstrom, his new jingle,'" he laughed.

That's part of the reason he's started the show. It allows himto meet and sing with people who love the familiar tunes.

Admission to all his shows is free but food donations are encouraged.

• MORE P.E.I. NEWS |P.E.I. disabilities group to hold protest over parking space abuses
• MORE P.E.I. NEWS |Vintage Christmas ornaments and how to collect them