The Talk

Suzanne Bourret
The Hamilton Spectator
(Aug 30, 2007)

It's the year of the teddy bear for Cassondra Paletta of Stoney Creek.

The 17-year-old recently won the Miss Teen Canada International 2008 title, defeating 21 contestants in the 13- to 17-year-old division.

As she travels across Canada during the next year, many of her companions will be teddy bears. Cassondra will be collecting bears for the Teddy Bears of Hope Campaign for children in Afghanistan. The campaign was launched in January 2005 for children affected by the tsunami in Thailand. By July of that year, more than 20,000 teddy bears were collected from fire halls, school boards, children's groups and private businesses across Canada. There was an overwhelming response, with eight countries requesting teddy bears. It gave the pageant a new mission.

Cassondra and her sister, Cristina, are donating their collection of 100 for the cause. Cassondra is a daughter of Frank and Maryann Paletta.

It was nerve-racking, she says of the pageant. "I was really nervous because it's (the title) something I really wanted," says the spirited Cardinal Newman Catholic Secondary School student, who is heading for Grade 12 next week.

She wants to be able to give back to young people. And she wants to change the perspective that some youth may have these days.

"I think that children need to know that going to jail and to drug rehab is not the appropriate role model to idolize," she says.

The goal is to collect 60,000 teddy bears, says Cassondra, who is looking for companies to donate warehouse space for teddy bears that will be collected and shipped to Afghanistan next spring. (To help, e-mail mailto:mscanada@bconnex.net.

Children are asked to donate a favourite teddy bear along with a toonie (to help with dry cleaning, packing and shipping) to be given to a child in Afghanistan.

For information, call 416-434-9839.

Get out your yellow shirts, shorts, pants and hats. It's Labour Day weekend and time to get yellow mustard on your face. This weekend is Hamilton's annual Mustard Festival, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Children will be a big focus this year at the festival sponsored by the International Village BIA.

There'll be good eats with mustard, corn on the cob, birthday cake, yellow cotton candy and cold apple cider. Children will be treated to their own carnival, with free entertainment, on Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 7 p.m., at Ferguson Pavilion (Ferguson Avenue and King Street East). It will feature BJ the Clown, a petting zoo from Twin Valley Farms, free balloons, face painting, horse-and-wagon rides through downtown streets. Every child wins a prize at the three games of chance -- tick-tack-toe, a dinosaur toss and the duck pond.

On Saturday, there will be interactive entertainment by Charlie on the mainstage at 2 p.m. On Sunday, Applefun Puppetry and their pals visit the mainstage at 2 p.m.

For older folks, on Saturday TV host and award-winning chef Ted Reader, known as the King of the Q, will be demonstrating his grilling skills at 5:30 and 7 p.m. MustART, with local artisans in conjunction with Arts Hamilton, will sell their creations all weekend.

New neighbours joining the party this year are brother and sister Reg and Deborah Beaudry, who recently opened the Three16 Lounge at 316 King E. They've named sandwiches after area street names. And if you hunger for true Montreal-style smoked meat sandwiches, you can find excellent ones at Maxims Deli Cafe at 202 King E. Dennis Georges, former owner-chef of the Lord Byron Restaurant in Waterdown, also offers his own baklava and gourmet coffees.

More than half of Mustard Festival participants come from outside Hamilton, says Mary Pocius, executive director of the International Village BIA.

Mustard Festival hours are tomorrow from 4 p.m. to midnight, Saturday and Sunday from 2 p.m. to midnight.

For information, go to mustardfestival.ca.

More Talk tomorrow