Mayor Of First Lady’s European Hometown: ‘Melania Put Us On The World Map’

MelaniaPutsSevnicaOnMap
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

First Lady Melania Trump’s small hometown in central Slovenia is booming with business thanks to her ascendance to power and fame in the United States, according to the town’s mayor.

In Sevnica, Slovenia, Melania Trump was born Melanija Knavs before she came to the U.S., eventually marrying future U.S. President Donald Trump. Now, Sevnica, with a population of about 5,000 people, is enjoying its position of having a connection to one of the world’s most famous women.

“Melania put us on the world map,” Sevnica Mayor Srecko Ocvirk told NPR in an interview.

“A lot of people are coming from Europe, Japan, China and the U.S.,” Ocvirk said in the interview. “From an anonymous little town, we are now on the world tourist map.”

Now, tourists to Sevnica can visit Melania’s hometown elementary school and apartment building, and can take a five-hour walking tour of the neighborhood in which she grew up, for just $90. The all-about-Melania tour is just one of many that tourists can choose from in the tiny town.

Also, the Kruhek bakery in Sevnica now offers a Melania-themed apple pie, known officially as the “First Lady Apple Pie.” The bakery also offers a Melania-themed sweet cake.

“We wanted to do something that is a mix of America and Sevnica,” Maja Kozole Popadic, whose family owns the bakery, told NPR.

Additionally, the Kopitarna shoe store in Sevnica has gotten in on the Melania craze, creating “White House slippers” that retail for $60 a pair. The designer of the slipper, Maja Stamol, told NPR he has made 300 pairs and is almost sold out at this point.

Melania has not gone back to the region in more than a decade, though her parents reportedly still own a home in Sevnica.

 

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.

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