Newfoundland election poster travels 2000 miles to Ireland

A NEWFOUNDLAND election candidate has expressed her “delight” that one of her campaign posters has turned up 2000 miles from home, on Bushfoot Strand, having spent a year in the ocean.

“I can’t get over it”, Lisa Hart, candidate in the 2025 Flatrock town council election, told the Chronicle. “It absolutely made my day”, she said, that the poster had made such an “extraordinary journey.”

Flatrock is a town of 1700 people, mostly of Irish descent, about a half hour drive from the island's capital St John's on the east side of the island.

Though unsuccessful in the election, Lisa said that her poster's incredible journey, could be a sign that she should stand again.

The poster was discovered by our Chronicle reporter resting behind a log, last Wednesday, whilst out walking his dog on Bushfoot Strand.

Curious to find out where it had come from, he googled “Lisa Hart Flatrock” on his phone and was amazed to discover that it was in Newfoundland, Canada.

The poster had picked up passengers during the course of its 2000 mile journey in the form of “stalked barnacles.”

Other than that it is fully intact and in remarkably good condition, given its oceanic adventures over this past year.

Confirming the species of these “hitchhikers”, Queens University Zoology expert Dr. Annika Clements said that these barnacles attach themselves to detritus and are perfectly adapted to life on the open ocean.

Dr Clements said that the poster's journey illustrates the power of the North Atlantic Drift oceanic current.

Keen to follow the matter up, our reporter contacted Lisa Hart, via the Mayor of Flatrock, who forwarded the email.

Commenting, Lisa told The Chronicle, “Well, I have to say, your email absolutely made my day!

“My name is Lisa Hart, and yes, I’m the very same Lisa who ran for Town Council here in beautiful Flatrock, Newfoundland. Our municipal election was held on October 2, 2025.

“I may not have won the election, but apparently my campaign had bigger ambitions than I did, it decided to go international!

“I am absolutely fascinated that one of my election posters traveled all the way across the Atlantic Ocean and washed up on a beach in Northern Ireland. And to hear that it has shells growing on it? That’s just incredible!

“I would LOVE to see some photographs of the poster and hear more about exactly where and how you discovered it. I’m also very curious about its condition after such an extraordinary journey.

“I’m delighted that you reached out.

“And who knows? Maybe this is a sign that I should run again. After all, how many small-town council candidates can say their campaign reached another continent?

“I still can't get over the fact that my election poster ended up on Bushfoot Strand in Northern Ireland!"

Dr. Annika Clements, Lecturer in Marine Biology, Queen's University Belfast, predicts that occurrences like this might be more common, due to climate change.

Dr. Clements told The Chronicle, “This illustrates the power of the North Atlantic Drift ocean current and prevailing westerly winds to carry this sign around 2000 miles across the Atlantic in just one year, picking up species that are adapted to life on the open ocean such as the stalked barnacle or Lepas hillii, (a type of goose barnacle), which attach to floating debris and feed off tiny plankton and detritus using specialized feathery legs called ‘cirri’.

“With climate change leading to increasing storm events, we may well see more finds like this (and their hitchhikers) over the coming years."