HAMILTON CITY Magazine - No. 20 - Summer 2026

N O. 2 0 - T H E M A D E I N H A M I LT O N I S S U E

hamiltoncitymagazine.ca

scan the qr code and let us help you find your next local activity. updated weekly!

SUMMER 2026

WE CELEBRATE THE ICONIC H AMILTON SUMMER MUSIC TRADITION FESTIVAL OF FRIENDS WITH A 5-PAGE DEEP DIVE INTO ITS HISTORY.

$7.95

Get ready! It’s time for

MUSIC ON THE ROOF!

It’s a Jackson Square summer from July 6–August 28!

Join us weekdays from 12–2 PM for live music in the heart of downtown, hosted by Big Time Productions.

Find the music outside on the exterior Plaza Level!

From the Food Court: Take the stairs across from Ardene.

Elevator:

Take the elevator beside Jackson Square Medical Centre, press PL, exit through the glass doors on your left.

Accessible Elevator:

Take the lobby elevator at 110 King St. W, press PL, follow the pathway through the double doors.

in THE HEART OF downtown hamilton Follow @jacksonsquarehamilton on Instagram for regular updates.

2 King Street West Hamilton L8P 1A1

MEREDITH M acLEOD

EDITOR CO-FOUNDER / CO-PUBLISHER

WILL VIPOND TAIT

C R E AT I V E D I R E C T O R CO-FOUNDER / CO-PUBLISHER

SALES

JESSICA POTTER MEREDITH MacLEOD WILL VIPOND TAIT JILL CUMMINGS JAMIE VIPOND TAIT FINANCE

BOB FERGUSON SUBSCRIPTIONS

JILL CUMMINGS JAMIE VIPOND TAIT C I R C U L AT I O N

JEREMY FREIBURGER PROOFREADERS

SHERRI TELENKO CHRISTINE MacLEOD JESSICA ROSE PRINTING

DOLLCO PRINT SOLUTIONS GROUP HAMILTON CITY Magazine (HCM) is published

by Hamilton City Publishing Inc. All rights reserved. Content may not be reprinted without written permission. ©2025 Hamilton City Publishing Inc.

HCM is a member of Magazines Canada.

HCM basic price: $35 (HST included five issues). Single copies: $7.95 (plus HST).

HCM (ISSN 2816-7449) is indexed in the Canadian Periodical Index. Printed in Canada

by Dollco Print Solutions Group. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement #44039515.

T

OUR COMMUNITY

wenty issues! It’s been both a challenge and a privilege to get here. We hope you’ve enjoyed the journey as much as we have.

Before we dive into the incredible stories and features in this MADE IN HAMILTON issue, we want to take a moment to reflect on the significance of our last edition — our annual Pride issue.

It can be easy to assume that in 2026, in Canada, the fight for acceptance and equality has been won. That there’s no longer a need to celebrate and highlight the experiences of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community because everyone is free to live authentically and safely.

Unfortunately, that isn’t the reality. In fact, the response to our Pride issue only reinforced why it remains so important.

While many readers embraced the issue, we also received negative feedback. Some told us they had “not consented” to receiving content they found offensive. Others said the issue did not align with their values. One person even filmed themselves throwing the magazine in the trash and stomping on it.

We share stories of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community to educate, enlighten, celebrate, and foster understanding. The fact that a cover featuring a group of well-dressed people standing together could provoke hostility demonstrates why these conversations are still necessary.

What’s striking is the effort some people chose to invest in expressing that hostility— writing complaint emails, recording videos, telling us to “shove it,” that we are “confused” and “stupid” — all because a FREE magazine arrived in their mailbox featuring people sharing their lived experiences and speaking their truth.

At a time when the world is becoming increasingly dangerous for many 2SLGBTQIA+ people, when hard-won rights are being removed, exclusionary laws are being passed, and individuals continue to face discrimination simply for existing, HCM is proud to stand with the community. Because we are part of that

community. And we will continue to amplify those voices. (Speaking of amplifying, make sure to check out hamiltoncitymagazine.ca for the first instalment of our new online advice column with local drag icon Kenadie St. James.

Send in your questions for a dash of “bad advice from a good drag queen” with a side of humour, heart, and sass.).

And speaking of community, this issue is filled with stories that showcase the people and organizations making Hamilton stronger.

Read about Ladybird Animal Sanctuary, where a dedicated group of women have built a remarkable community while rescuing nearly 1,900 animals.

Discover the history of Mabel’s Labels, where the vision and tenacity of four Hamilton moms created a brand that continues to serve communities across North America.

Meet Nancy McMillan, a breast cancer survivor and chair of the BRIGHT Run fundraiser, whose leadership has helped raise more than $6 million to support communities affected by cancer.

Hamilton’s music community continues to evolve. We spoke with several venue owners about the city’s eclectic mix of smaller stages and the creative spaces helping local music thrive.

And this year marks a major milestone for one of Hamilton’s most beloved community events: Festival of Friends turns 50. We celebrate with a look at its rich history and a glimpse to its future. Be sure to visit our website to explore an expanded gallery of archival photographs spanning five decades of the festival.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support. Quality journalism depends on engaged readers like you. By supporting independent reporting and local storytelling, you help ensure that important stories — including our Pride issue — continue to be told.

With gratitude, — Meredith MacLeod and Will Vipond Tait/ Co-publishers

Contact Us: 270 Sherman Ave. N, Studio 301 Hamilton, ON L8L 6N4 info@hamiltoncitymagazine.ca hamiltoncitymagazine.ca

@hamiltoncitymag

@HamiltonCityMagazine

@HamiltonCityMag

@hamilton-city-magazine

from award-winning writers to world-class photographers, hamilton city magazine is proud to support incredible local creative talent. scan the qr code to read about our amazing contributors.

2

HCM SUMMER 2026

SUMMER 2026 HCM

3

O N T H E C O V E R : PHOTOS BY: BRENT PERNIAC, BOB HATCHER, AND SUPPLIED BY THE FESTIVAL OF FRIENDS ARCHIVE

INSIDE THE HEADLINERS

NEVER STANDING STILL OVER ITS 71-YEAR HISTORY IN HAMILTON, WESLEY HAS GROWN FROM A CHURCH BASEMENT CHARITY TO ONE OF THE COUNTRY’S LARGEST AND MOST INNOVATIVE PROVIDERS OF SERVICES TACKLING POVERTY, MENTAL HEALTH, ADDICTIONS, AND HOMELESSNESS

pg13

8/ GETTING BACK ON THE VIA TRACK It’s been 18 years since VIA Rail committed to stopping again in Hamilton. It’s time that changes.

24/ RESCUING A DREAM After saving nearly 1,900 animals over 16 years, Hamilton-based Ladybird Animal Sanctuary is close to creating a farm that will be a refuge for animals in desperate need.

29/ MABEL’S LABELS STORY A frustrating parenting problem, a vision to solve it, and some tenacity helped a quartet of moms create an enduring brand.

32/ A CUSTOM SOLUTION Kat Scarrow launched The Hollow Co., an apparel printing business in Dundas, when she was consistently disappointed by the spirit wear offered at her kids’ school.

44/ MUSIC ON THE MOVE The ever-changing landscape of Hamilton’s music clubs has seen mainstays replaced with an eclectic mix of smaller venues, and shows staged in some interesting spaces.

58/ HISTORIC EATS ON PLAINS ROAD There are plenty of veteran and newcomer restaurants serving a diversity of cuisines along the Aldershot corridor.

4

HCM SUMMER 2026

PHOTO: WESLEY

HOUNDS OF HAMILTON check out cute reader submissions. and don’t forget to send in your pet pics!

pg12

MAIN ATTRACTIONS 7/ CITY LIFE 22/ MADE IN HAMILTON 43/ ARTS + CULTURE 50/ FOOD + DRINK

2026_PrintAd_Anchorball_HCM_HalfPage_7x4_Artwork.indd 1

The City of Hamilton is situated upon the traditional territories of the Erie, Neutral, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee and Mississaugas.

This land is covered by the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, which was an agreement between the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabek to share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes. We further acknowledge that this land is covered by the Between the Lakes Purchase, 1792, between the Crown and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.

Today, the City of Hamilton is home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island (North America) and we recognize that we must do more to learn about the rich history of this land so that we can better understand our roles as residents, neighbours, partners and caretakers.

REGULAR STOPS 10/ FOR THE LOVE OF HAMILTON 12/ HOUNDS OF HAMILTON 20/ LIFE IN THE CITY 46/ THE PLAYLIST 48/ HAMILTON READS 62/ CITY VIEW

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

PHOTO: GEOFF FITZGERALD

Both the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day take place on Sept. 30 and recognize that at least 150,000 Indigenous children from across the country were forcibly separated from their families and their communities.

2026-06-04 3:59:10 PM

SUMMER 2026 HCM

5

CITY LIFE IS SPONSORED BY CHCH – A CHANNEL ZERO COMPANY

Decolonizing, one book at a time DECOLONIAL LITTLE LIBRARY STARTED IN KIRKENDALL AND WILL BE EXPANDED ACROSS THE CITY STARTING LATER THIS YEAR.

L

ate in the summer of 2023, my partner Ryan and I Decolonial Little Library emptied and filled. Three years later, were in the midst of our walking craze that took hold we’ve had over 1,000 books circulate through the library. during my pregnancy and had us in a postpartum As the child of someone who was adopted out of their chokehold. We had a shared commitment to reach 10,000 community and had their language, family, culture and steps every day. We’d load up our teachings stolen from them, the son into his stroller and hit the work I do every day as a mother mean streets of Kirkendall. and business owner is rooted in During one of our midmy commitment to reclaiming all morning outings, we found that was stolen. ourselves across the Queen Building and caretaking the Street divide in Durand. On a Decolonial Little Library taught sleepy, summer street, a lovely me, through practice, about the Little Free Library was standing Dish With One Spoon Wampum. proudly on the edge of someone’s A Haudenosaunee teaching property. This wasn’t the first I was very familiar with as a time we’d seen one of these little concept, came to life through our acts of community and care. But library. It became something I something about this particular lived and witnessed. The shared Free Little Library tipped the responsibility to care for the scales in our minds. We spent world around us was alive in our the rest of our 9,000 daily steps community. dreaming up our own little Starting this fall and over the library. course of next year, we will be We wanted our library to expanding the Decolonial Little offer our neighbours strictly Library into community-hosted Indigenous stories. We called sites across Hamilton. it the Decolonial Little Library This family project, which before we even had the physical started on a walk, is now part library. of the work we are doing at our We filled our upcycled recently launched Indigenousnewspaper box with books by owned storytelling studio, Indian Indigenous authors. I thought I & Cowboy Creative. knew what it was: a community The spirit and intention that THE DECOLONIAL LITTLE LIBRARY WILL START TO EXPAND ACROSS THE CITY. project, a way for Ryan and me built the library are the same as to put Indigenous stories in the those that drive our studio. They hands of our neighbours. What I didn’t know at the time are both rooted in our belief that Indigenous stories belong was what our library project would teach me. everywhere. n People helped restock it without being asked; they returned their books, donated from their own collections, Madeline Wilson Shaw is president and CEO of Indian & and even dropped off $5 or $10 here and there to buy new Cowboy Creative, an integrated storytelling studio located books. In the evening, a parent and their pyjama-clad child in downtown Hamilton. She brings nearly 20 years of came by to borrow a book for their bedtime story. The experience as a music industry executive, senior political next day, they returned that book and found another. The advisor, and community strategist to her role.

SUMMER 2026 HCM

7

/CITY LIFE OUR NEIGHBOURHOODS

Getting back on the

VIA track

IT’S BEEN 18 YEARS SINCE VIA RAIL COMMITTED TO STOPPING AGAIN IN HAMILTON, SOMETHING THE CROWN CORPORATION HASN’T DONE SINCE 1992. THE WEST HARBOUR STATION WOULD ALLOW VIA TO DIRECTLY SERVE HAMILTONIANS, BUT THE TRAINS STILL JUST PASS THROUGH THE CITY. IT’S TIME THAT CHANGES. B y PA U L S H A K E R

I

f you find yourself in the Great Hall of Union Station in downtown Toronto, take a moment to gaze upwards. Aside from the beauty of the architecture, you’ll notice the names of Canadian cities engraved around the entire hall. Big and small, from east to west, all of Canada is immortalized in stone. These are the names of the cities that were connected by train – the rail network across the nation that built the Canada we know today. And up there, right where you would expect, is the city of Hamilton.

Now, if you were to try to go to the ticket kiosk and actually buy a VIA Rail ticket to Hamilton, you would be out of luck. Why? Because VIA Rail hasn’t stopped in Hamilton in almost 35 years. It’s not that the trains don’t still run from Toronto, around Lake Ontario to Niagara Falls. They do. Every day.

They just don’t stop in Hamilton.

That’s a long way from where passenger rail service began in Hamilton in 1853 with the Great Western Railway stopping at the west harbour. Service continued over the years with VIA Rail stopping at the old CN Station, now LIUNA Station, on James Street North until 1992 when, in a cost-cutting move, VIA decided to consolidate service at the Aldershot station. So what’s happened since?

As with many things in Hamilton, there is a history to this. A history of studies, political promises, citizen activism, and ultimately, a lingering opportunity.

Let’s start with the activism. Back in 2004, after more than a decade of no service, citizens brought forward, to both local and federal officials, the idea of reconnecting VIA rail to Hamilton. While VIA representatives,

VIA TRAINS PASS THROUGH HAMILTON. IT’S TIME THEY STOP AGAIN. PHOTO: VIA RAIL 8

HCM SUMMER 2026

many based out of the Crown corporation’s headquarters in Quebec, responded with a mixture of indifference and confusion, some local officials picked up the torch and advanced the issue.

To help bolster the local case, the City commissioned a study in 2006 to look at the issue of a VIA reconnection to Hamilton.

After reviewing several factors such as demand, economic development impacts, access, infrastructure, and costs, it was recommended that the west harbour was the ideal location for VIA service. This location provided the highest station ridership potential, after factoring in impacts to nearby stations such as Aldershot and Grimsby. The plan would double the existing total annual VIA ridership for the area. The North End location was highlighted as being accessible by a variety of modes (driving, transit, walking) and it was the northern node for a planned inter-regional transit network.

The problem was, at the time, there was no station at the west harbour. The outcomes of this study were forwarded to VIA Rail but the Crown corporation had no plans, or budget, for a new station.

By 2008, there was a high-profile push to make a VIA Hamilton reconnection happen. While the new West Harbour GO Station wasn’t built yet, there was now a provincial promise to do so. With this new station infrastructure on the horizon, local leadership pressed VIA and the Crown corporation publicly committed to stop at the new station.

As the Hamilton Spectator reported at the time, “VIA says the Crown corporation’s trains will pull into the James Street North station when GO Transit builds the platform facility promised by Ontario. VIA has consistently said it will not spend any money on a James Street site, but if GO invests in a platform and supporting facilities, VIA will have trains that operate on the route stop there.”

That was 2008. It’s now 2026 and while passenger rail isn’t what it used to be in Canada, there is still a strong case to be made to reconnect VIA Rail to Hamilton.

First and foremost, it would mean more service. Specifically, two more trains stopping in Hamilton each day. One going east to Toronto and one going west to St. Catharines. This level of service may

THE BUILDING OF THE WEST HARBOUR GO STATION WAS SUPPOSED TO BRING VIA BACK TO HAMILTON. THAT HASN’T HAPPENED. PHOTO: ADAPTED FROM A GO IMAGE

increase over time as more investment is made, but creating a stop on the VIA network is the first step. Second, VIA Rail connects Hamilton to other regions beyond Toronto, to points further east (Ottawa, Montreal) and points further west (Niagara Falls, New York). Third, as mentioned before, the VIA train routes already exist, they just don’t stop at West Harbour. It’s low-hanging fruit that doesn’t need a new budget. In fact, VIA Rail would be accessing a market it is currently under serving.

Some might think Hamilton doesn’t need VIA service, given that we already have GO trains, but consider that GO is designed to serve a different market. A HamiltonToronto trip on GO is the proverbial milkrun stopping at every town along the way.

In total, it’s 10 stops with a trip time of about 1 hour and 20 minutes. It’s a commuter service and it shows. Now compare to VIA Rail, which would likely just have two stops, with a trip time of about 45-50 minutes. Add in the more comfortable seating compared to GO, and it’s a far more pleasant way to travel between major cities.

VIA Rail once understood this, even introducing VIA-GO ticket integration that sought to entice longer-range travellers

to its service, alleviating pressure on the GO network. That potential demand hasn’t gone away. If anything, it’s even greater now as a trip on the GO train to Toronto will demonstrate.

So to summarize, we have a newish station built on the west harbour, and we have a commitment still on the books from VIA Rail to use it, and we have a case for service that makes all sorts of sense.

This idea has taken on new meaning with the recent announcement of the high-speed rail project connecting Toronto to Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City. Central to the success of high-speed rail, is connecting other major cities to the hubs of the highspeed rail network. In that context, a Hamilton-Toronto VIA connection should be factored into the business case of the high-speed rail project, as it would make it stronger by expanding the potential market.

With all of that, we are left with a lingering opportunity. It’s time that VIA Rail finally honoured its commitment and reconnect to Hamilton by stopping its trains at the West Harbour GO Station. n Paul Shaker is a Hamilton-based urban planner and principal with Civicplan.

SUMMER 2026 HCM

9

/CITY LIFE

FOR THE LOVE OF HAMILTON THIS REGULAR FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS PEOPLE FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE WHO HAVE EMBRACED HAMILTON AS THEIR NEW HOME.

PRIYA MOHAN who she is:

Owner of sariKNOTsari, retired teacher interviewed by:

Meredith MacLeod photographed by

Jon Evans for HCM

scan the qr code: to read much more from priya mohan

10

HCM SUMMER 2026

PRIYA MOHAN is the founder of sariKNOTsari, a Hamilton-based fashion brand built around one-of-a-kind upcycled silk clothing, ethical production, and the belief that women deserve to feel both comfortable and fully themselves. Born in Ottawa and raised primarily in Brampton, Mohan spent 25 years as an educator and special education teacher before transitioning into entrepreneurship. Along the way, she attended law school, opened a vintage and antique furniture business, and helped create The Pale Blue Dot on James Street North in Hamilton.

She lives in Burlington with her husband Gord and is the mother of three daughters.

ETHICAL EXPRESSION What are the roots of sariKNOTsari?

I took a family trip to India. My kids had never been. I hadn’t been since I was 18. I fell in love with the fabrics again. I had been raised with these fabrics. I didn’t buy a sari, I mean, I know I have nowhere to wear one. So I went online, and that’s when I discovered that there was a whole market of vintage saris available, and I had no idea. So I started looking at these things, and I’m like, you know what, I want these fabrics in my life, but I am not going to wear a sari to Fortinos or to walk the dog. First of all, I’m not graceful enough, even though culturally I probably could. The chances of everything falling right off of me are so high that it just can’t be done, but it did get me thinking, because I was working with this sustainable idea, the idea of what can we do, what choices can we make to help the planet moving forward, and at the same time my body really started changing.

I get to 42 years old, nothing fits. And I’m looking in my closet, and I see a stack of white linen pants. Now, nobody needs a stack, so I’m looking at them, I’m like, why do I have so many? Then I realize I’ve bought each one for one season, and then I haven’t gotten rid of it. The next time that season came around, those ones didn’t fit but they’re such high quality, I can’t really throw them out.

What if they fit one day?

What inspired you to begin your business?

The problem is not me. The problem is that the people who make these clothes know my body’s going to change. And they want it to happen. And I thought if I were to ever create my own clothing line, I would want fabrics that I love, that bring me joy and it’s got to be able to adapt to my changing body, so that I get to decide when I’m done with my clothes. They don’t get to decide when they’re done with me. So I was thinking about sustainability and creating my own clothing line with these pure silk saris that will fit everybody over

time and are ethically made. The saris are still stunning. Each one represents an era.

What is your connection to Hamilton now? sariKNOTsari began in the basement of Pale Blue Dot in 2018.

Eventually, we needed more space, so sariKNOTsari moved to 231 James St. N. We were there for three years and then moved across the street to 228 James St. N. This year, we moved to 25 King William Street. We needed a bigger space and it’s right on the doorstep of James North.

I am a true Hamiltonian. I don’t live here yet, but I anticipate living here one day. We just bought a triplex for my youngest daughter in a lovely neighbourhood by Gage Park. And I’m thinking, why wouldn’t somebody want to live here? You’ve got the water right there; you’ve got the escarpment right there. It’s a nice neighbourhood. There’s a bit of pretension in Burlington. It’s not as bad as Oakville. Oakville is vocal pretension, Burlington is quiet about it.

I can’t imagine ever moving my store. The people here in Hamilton, they are loyal, and they are happy that you’re supporting their community and they will support you.

What does it take to be an entrepreneur?

Courage, grit, really hard work, a dream, because during those hard times you really need to believe in what you’re doing. In terms of Hamilton, I have always said the reason that there are so many exciting businesses here in Hamilton is that it is a place where, if you have $1 and a dream, you can see your dream come to life, whereas in a lot of cities you can’t. Hamilton’s a great place to give it a try. You don’t make a lot of money as a business owner. I tell my customers, prices are going up, but I promise you, I will never be able to buy a yacht. This is just the cost of doing business, unfortunately. n

IF YOU’D LIKE TO BE FEATURED IN FOR THE LOVE OF HAMILTON, PLEASE CONTACT meredith@hamiltoncitymagazine.ca

SUMMER 2026 HCM

11

/CITY LIFE

HOUNDS OF HAMILTON

HOUNDS OF HAMILTON IS OUR CELEBRATION OF LOCAL DOGS — AND HONORARY DOGS — IN PRINT AND ONLINE. HOUNDS OF HAMILTON (WE COULDN’T RESIST THE ALLITERATION) WILL BE THE PLACE TO FIND THE PETS IN OUR FAIR CITY JUST WAITING FOR THEIR BRUSH WITH FAME.

We know your phone is jammed with pet photos, so, if you live in Hamilton or Burlington, send your best canine (feline, avian, reptile – we don’t discriminate!) candids to hounds@ hamiltoncitymagazine.ca, along with your pet’s name, breed, age, neighbourhood, favourite hiking spots, some information about his/her personality traits, what they love, and any other fun facts we should know. We will feature all submissions online, but to make it into print, please send JPEGs, that are at least 1 MB in size.

WILLOW

F

Photos By FE TCHING STUDIOS

or the next several issues we will be profiling the dogs of Therapy Tails Ontario (TTO). Founded in Welland in 2010, the charity expanded into Hamilton in 2023.

More than 200 volunteers and their companion dogs make more than 280 monthly visits to long-term care homes, retirement homes, hospitals and other healthcare facilities, schools, libraries, and businesses. TTO even visits detention centres, works with patients at rehabilitation centres, and meets aircrews coming off airplanes. According to the TTO website: “We are a lively, visible, and varied group of people, so please say hello when you see us. Our dogs are not at all shy and love the attention that is showered upon them. Alas, as handlers we are fully aware that nobody will ever remember our names, and that we are merely there because most of our dogs are not tall enough to drive themselves to these events.” TTO is fully supported by donations and is always looking for volunteer visiting teams. In fact, they need about 200 more teams to meet demand in this area. therapytailsontario.ca

GUCCI

Chinese crested

LAYLA

GUS

LUCY

HENRY

Standard poodle

American bulldog TEDDY BEAR

PET BIOS! PERCY 12

HCM SUMMER 2026

scan the qr code to read each pet’s bio, and see MORE pet candids submitted by readers!

/CITY LIFE W E S L E Y I S A M A D E-I N-H A M I LT O N N O N-P R O F I T T H AT B E G A N I T S W O R K I N A C H U R C H B A S E M E N T 7 1 Y E A R S A G O. F O C U S E D O N P O V E RT Y, H O M E L E S S N E S S, A N D T H E C O M P L E X S O C I A L C H A L L E N G E S AT T H E R O O T O F T H O S E I S S U E S, W E S L E Y’S M O R E T H A N 3 0 0 S TA F F L E A D C R I T I C A L S O C I A L P R O G R A M S I N 1 7 LO C AT I O N S I N H A M I LT O N A N D B E Y O N D.

NEVER R STANDING STILL

By M E R E D IT H MacL E O D

RYAN S. IS A RESIDENT IN WESLEY’S SPECIAL CARE UNIT, WHERE HE HAS BEEN ABLE TO STABILIZE HIS LIFE AFTER YEARS OF VIOLENCE ON THE STREETS. ALL PHOTOS: WESLEY

yan S. was beaten up at least once a week and had 67 phones stolen while living on the streets. He’s spent many sleepless nights in shelters, worried about getting robbed. All of it, including his drug use, just makes his already debilitating anxiety and depression infinitely worse.

Ryan (HAMILTON CITY Magazine has chosen not to publish Ryan’s last name) is now stabilizing his life in Wesley’s special care unit, a managed addiction program. His story is but a sliver of the work the made-in-Hamilton non-profit has taken on for the last 71 years.

It will come as no surprise to anyone that demand for services aimed at Hamilton’s poverty and homelessness emergency has skyrocketed. A lack of supports for those with mental health issues and addictions, an opioid crisis, a housing affordability squeeze, and youth unemployment have combined to leave more 2,190 people “actively homeless,” according to City of Hamilton numbers from May. There are also barriers faced by those arriving in Canada as refugees and asylum seekers.

So, there is no standing still for Wesley. Its work, which has grown out of an afternoon tea started at Wesley United Church in 1955, is grounded in poverty, homelessness, and the complex social challenges at the root of those issues.

Wesley’s 300-plus staff operate more than 30 programs in 17 locations in Hamilton, Halton, and Brantford, including: licensed child care programs and EarlyON Child and Family Centres; family home visits; meal /continued on next page SUMMER 2026 HCM

13

/CITY LIFE services for those facing food insecurity; youth housing; provincial youth outreach; youth recreation centres; eviction prevention; transitional and supportive housing; intensive care for those with addictions; newcomer settlement and supports; employment services; and supports for seniors.

Denise Scott, senior director, children, youth & family services, has worked at Wesley in some capacity since a Grade 12 placement. She was on the frontlines in various programs while completing college and university, and she’s been on the Wesley leadership team for 25 years.

“It’s so interesting, the Wesley when I started and how far we’ve come. The only thing that is consistent at Wesley is change.”

Wesley is now the largest refugee-serving organization in the region and the fifth largest in Canada. It is also the only agency in the region providing case management for high-need newcomers.

Shirley Bainbridge, who is in the midst of her sixth term on the Wesley board, says the

CHEF ALAN KOBAYASHI, MANAGER OF FOOD SERVICES. READ ABOUT HIS WORK IN THE VERSION OF THIS STORY AT HAMILTONCITYMAGAZINE.CA.

Sonia, a 39-year-old human rights and LGBTQ activist from Iran, arrived at Wesley’s resettlement assistance program (RAP) with her two cats after she had to leave her home in Turkey. She is getting settled into her new life.

At the root of it all is Wesley’s philosophy to not govern the behaviour of those in its programs. Wesley is about providing dignity, independence, privacy, respect, and autonomy to clients, says CEO Rashed Afif.

“Their agency is respected. It’s a journey that we walk alongside them.”

Among the biggest misconceptions about their clients, say Wesley leaders, is that people want to be unhoused. That’s just not the case in the vast majority of cases. There are many pathways to landing on the streets and not nearly enough to turn things around.

Our homelessness crisis can be handled in a couple of ways. One is constantly putting out fires and slapping on bandaids. That relies on first responders taking people in crisis to emergency departments, shelters,

They see a need, they respond to the need. I think the vision i s s o f o r wa r d t h i n k i n g , a n d f o r wa r d l o o k i n g , w h i l e a l s o r e s p o n d i n g t o i m m e d i at e n e e d . ” organization leads with compassion.

“They see a need, they respond to the need, and so over the years we’ve seen programs come and go because they’ve met the need.

I think the vision is so forward thinking, and forward looking, while also responding to immediate need,” she says.

“I think we’re also a very humble organization. You know, we don’t go around boasting. We just get it done.”

Scroll through the Wesley website and there is a treasure trove of inspiring success stories. There is Michael who, not long ago, lived in the encampment behind Hamilton City Hall. Wesley’s housing team helped him find stable housing.

There is Sue who started using drugs with her mother when she was 10 years old. She’s now 60 and consumes safely. Parker, a child with autism, was consistently turned away from child care services until his parents contacted Wesley. He’s now thriving and learning every day.

14

HCM SUMMER 2026

Shirley Bainbridge, wesley board member or jails, and clearing people out of parks and other encampments.

The other way is to truly work to stabilize lives, so that vulnerable people aren’t lurching from one emergency to another, and can have the time and resources to address mental health and addiction crises. It’s about restoring the dignity that living on the streets strips away. It’s about listening, taking on the often complex root causes that have taken people to the brink, and finding ways to help them move forward in safe and humane housing.

The first approach changes nothing. The second changes everything.

LONG-TIME BOARD MEMBER SHIRLEY BAINBRIDGE SAYS IT IS A FORWARD-THINKING, BUT HUMBLE ORGANIZATION.

F I N A L LY, A P E R M A N E N T H O M E Earlier this year, after a lifetime of renting, Wesley finalized the purchase of a new central site, just east of the downtown. 467 Main St. E. is a former retirement home that is now the location of Wesley’s newcomer services, special care unit, central kitchen, and administrative services.

It’s the first time Wesley has owned its own home (it did own the Rebecca Street site of a drop-in centre in the 1980s and 1990s). For years, the organization has been at the mercy of landlords and shifting neighbourhoods, leading to three relocations over the last 15 years or so.

“So we were the victim of gentrification like our clients are,” says Afif. “So that’s where the team and the board, we decided enough is enough. Let’s look at how we can make it happen.”

As a non-profit, it’s not easy to purchase real estate but “very generous donors who trusted in Wesley’s leadership in the community” stepped up, says Afif.

The purchase gives long-term stability to the organization and will ultimately lead to more resources going directly to frontline programming. The plan is to fundraise to pay off the mortgage in the next year, says Afif.

The new building allows Wesley to divert asylum-seekers and substance users away from the general emergency shelter system. In the latter case, it also relieves a heavy burden on hospitals and first responders. The facility has also allowed for a rapid increase in meal production for clients (130,000 meals last year), many of whom might not eat otherwise.

“You can see that a building like this gives us that flexibility and privilege to create better services to the communities who need it the most,” says Afif.

More important than facilities is Wesley’s dedicated staff, he says. There are frontline employees and senior leaders who have been with the organization well over 30 years, while Wesley also works hard to recruit talent from diverse communities that reflect Hamilton.

Wesley has weathered hard times of its own, says former CEO Paul Johnson.

He led Wesley from 2000 to 2010 and when he took over, finances were in poor shape. But it didn’t take too long to right the ship and start to grow. Wesley invested in key areas, including affordable and supportive housing, such as the 120-unit Wesley Community Homes on Ferguson Avenue.

Wesley and other social service agencies were having good success with transitional and supportive housing programs through a collaborative called the Hostels to Home project, says Johnson. That demonstrates that there is a pathway back from homelessness for /continued on next page

RASHED AFIF, CEO OF WESLEY, IN FRONT OF ITS CENTRAL LOCATION ON MAIN EAST.

The CEO’s lived experience Rashed Afif is the CEO of Wesley but also an excellent example of the impact of the great work it does.

He joined Wesley as a youth worker on an 11-month contract in 2013. He had just graduated from York University, four years after his arrival in Canada as a refugee.

Afif was working as a physician in Afghanistan. During his time in medical school, he worked on initiatives with the United Nations and UNICEF to educate child labourers, and with grassroots women advocacy organizations. That work made him an enemy of the Taliban government and Afif was forced to flee.

He considered working to become a licensed physician in Canada but that journey is long and difficult. He did a degree in psychology instead.

Afif rapidly rose through the ranks at Wesley, moving from being a youth worker to a case manager, supervisor, manager, director, senior director, and then CEO in 2023.

“I’ve seen this organization from the inside, everything, all the programs. I had the privilege to work with the frontline leaders, learn with the clients, and then the board trusted and awarded me the CEO role.”

Afif says Wesley is an innovative, solutionsfocused organization. “[We] find ways to support people, regardless of the boxes, the bureaucratic boxes that are out there. So I think it has been a very amazing journey for myself and also

working with great leaders.”

When he arrived in Canada, he held down precarious jobs and lived in a basement apartment in order to get on his feet.

That life experience is invaluable in leading Wesley, he says.

“My personal experience helped me understand what the clients are telling us, understand what others, what other leaders are telling us, and be creative. Be innovative.

For example, at Wesley we create shelter beds based on not a one-size-fits-everybody. We create based on the needs of the clients. If you’re an asylum seeker, your journey toward housing is very different than someone on the special care unit or our youth in supportive housing. So that’s what we believe.”

Afif says his family was financially privileged and his father invested in his education. Afif taught himself English by reading dictionaries and watching YouTube.

“My story is the story of hundreds of people who are coming here, or millions of people who are in camps, refugee camps. We usually don’t know how privileged we are, until we see their journey. Something that we take for granted is having a status. We don’t know how valuable having a status is for a refugee who has to live in other countries and have to hide from the police, from the authorities, are not allowed to walk outside, not allowed to go to school.”

Afif was able to sponsor his brother and sister to come to Canada. His parents live in Germany.

SUMMER 2026 HCM

15

/CITY LIFE even the toughest of the tough cases, he says.

By the mid 2000s and beyond, Wesley embraced the City of Hamilton’s ambition to be the best place to raise a child. The agency grew its child and youth programs, opened Wesley youth housing, and became a service provider for EarlyON centres. That work is about breaking cycles of poverty.

Moving into newcomer services and expanding to Brantford and Halton, just illustrates that the agency’s story is one of constant reinvention, says Johnson, who is now city manager in Toronto.

“The thing that’s always inspired me about Wesley, and why I worked there for so long in my career, is that we were always open to shifting to things that made a lot of sense, and trying some things that maybe were a little different than others had. Whether it had been done somewhere else in the world, maybe, but we were going to bring it to little old Hamilton, right, and make it happen, and really lead the way.”

THE SPECIAL CARE UNIT The special care unit, housed at Wesley’s Main Street East headquarters, offers housing and supportive programs to those with addictions and/or mental health issues. Residents are often coming from encampments or the shelter system.

The SCU aims to stabilize lives and to get its clients ready for permanent housing. That may take a few months or a couple of years, but no one is required to move on from the program until they are ready to do so. While at the SCU, the clients live as residents in their own units, with lockable doors, and provided meals.

The special care unit (then called Claremont House) opened 20 years ago as a 10-bed managed alcohol program for those coming from shelters, hospitals, street living, or encampments.

“It started as a way to support folks who were drinking so much and drinking substances that were harming their health, but also getting in the way of being housed because you’re spending all your money on it, getting away of health really flourishing,” says Robyn Currie, director of housing and outreach services.

When the pandemic hit and people with COVID who were living in shelters had to be isolated, the program took on a new direction, says Currie.

16

HCM SUMMER 2026

“What we saw is that we were able to mimic what we were doing with the managed alcohol, but with managed opiates.”

Residents can use methadone or suboxone to help diminish cravings. Outside doctors also prescribe safer-supply drugs, such as hydromorphone, to replace dangerous fentanyl concoctions from the street.

The focus of the SCU is on teaching people how to manage their consumption so that they can still function.

“If people want to stop using, we would support that, but we’re not an abstinencebased program,” said Currie. “The focus is on helping them manage, stopping is their choice. Our focus is making sure they have a safe place.”

The program has grown to 30 beds. Each brightly lit unit has its own bathroom, a bed, table, and space for a TV. The rooms are outfitted with blankets knitted by church volunteers and stuffed animals on the bed. Perhaps most importantly, says Afif, residents are able to lock their door, perhaps for the first time in a long time.

Every year, costs go up and our funded budgets can’t keep up.”

Denise Scott, senior director, children, youth & family services

Residents get visits by doctors, who often have to treat things like wounds, undiagnosed diabetes, and poor dental health. A psychotherapist helps clients work through layers of trauma that has led to addiction, and case managers help them take the steps towards housing. In many cases, that means helping people get proper ID, file tax returns, and apply for social assistance.

Some clients want to reconnect with their families and some pursue employment.

While meals are provided, residents are expected to do their laundry in the free facilities. They are taught how to clean, do dishes, and generally manage living independently.

“It’s a strength-based approach,” says Afif. “You’re giving them every tool to be successful when they move out.”

For many coming into the special care unit, there is the luxury of a first bath in a long time, healthy and complete meals, long showers, and deep sleep. That’s when the “brain can come back online,” says Currie.

Residents stay as long as it takes to be ready to move on.

Currie says the success of the program is evident: no one has returned to the program after being housed, and no one has returned to the street or to shelter, either. In the last year, the special care unit has housed 55 people and transitioned 13 of them to permanent housing.

Being in the special care unit for the last year has allowed Ryan S. to re-establish routines, talk to people who care about him,

WESLEY OPERATES EARLYON LOCATIONS AS WELL AS CHILDCARE CENTRES ACROSS THE CITY.

and think about his future.

Ryan, 53, says he was beaten up for his money and belongings about once a week.

Mental health challenges, including anxiety, depression, and panic attacks, have made it difficult to hold down a job, so he is on disability assistance.

Ryan started drinking as a kid growing up in Bolton, Ont. Then he was a marijuana user but that made his anxiety worse. From there, he went to cocaine.

He moved to Hamilton about 20 years ago because his sister lives here and he felt it would be more affordable as a single person on assistance. His life was mostly stable while he had a good landlord. But options are limited in his budget. In one place on the Stoney Creek Mountain, a lack of heat meant he had to sleep in his winter clothes.

Eventually, Ryan found himself on the street and soon he was using fentanyl to cope.

Ryan says he feels safe at Wesley. He can sleep soundly. Staff, he says, are easy to talk to and helpful.

“They’re very welcoming and warm hearted. They help you with any issue you have, like with our taxes, or getting our ID.” Ryan takes part in fishing trips, barbecues, and art therapy. The SCU’s psychotherapist is helping Ryan with his mental health. He’s returned to his love of building and repairing bicycles.

The stabilizing of his life is allowing Ryan to look forward. He wants to find a place to live on the Mountain again.

He did a six-month rehab in Toronto and stopped using alcohol or any drugs for two years. But life on the street is hard.

“So I ended up falling back, and now it’s the fentanyl, one of the worst ones you could use, but at least I don’t use needles,” he says.

“Just living outside, like you see the worst of everything, and everyone’s doing it, so it’s hard not to get involved.”

Ryan doesn’t believe he can kick fentanyl until he’s in a place of his own.

He says after a year at Wesley, he feels ready for that. First, he’s got to get proper government ID again, then a new bank card.

That will make him “feel I’m back on my way to being a person again,” he says.

The other critical step is suitable housing.

Ryan says he just wants someplace safe and comfortable. But he’s been on the affordable housing waiting list for more than 12 years.

PROVINCIAL YOUTH OUTREACH WORKER RICK BAKSHI AND DENISE SCOTT, SENIOR DIRECTOR, CHILD, YOUTH & FAMILY SERVICES, ARE PART OF A TEAM THAT DIRECTLY ENGAGES WITH AT-RISK YOUTH.

GIVING YOUTH A HOME Wesley’s youth housing program had 52 referrals last year for a program that can accept 19. The folks at Wesley dream about getting the kind of funding that would allow them to roll out homelessness prevention and intervention programs at the scale they are needed.

Wesley youth housing serves a huge need among young people 16 to 21 who are homeless or are at imminent risk of homelessness, but hasn’t seen a funding increase in 17 years, says Denise Scott, senior director, children, youth & family services.

“That’s a regression, obviously. It’s very difficult to operate in that environment,” she says.

“Every year, costs go up and our funded budgets can’t keep up, so we have to rely on internal means and fundraising in order to offset our deficit.”

That includes donations from local foundations, along with fundraising events such as the Wesley golf tournament, which started about 30 years ago and raises about $80,000 a year.

Bob Lawrie, president and CEO of Lawrie Insurance Group, has been a leader with the golf tournament for more than a decade.

He is impressed with the non-profit’s core values, the passion and commitment of its employees, and strong track record of results.

“They do a lot of amazing work without taking a lot of accolades,” he said. “They’re passionate about making a difference, and so are we at the Lawrie Group.”

Recently, Wesley raised $300,000 for new flooring and paint, upgraded Wi-Fi, and

new furniture in common areas and in the 19 individual units on the first two floors of a CityHousing building on Main Street West between Hess and Caroline streets.

The goal is to make the place feel like a home and “the kind of place that will launch me into the next phase of life, not, oh my goodness, I’ve just ended up in a shelter,” says Scott.

Wesley youth housing is a two-stage program. Young people in stage one have their own individual locking bedroom and balcony, and share washrooms and lounges with clusters of units. They are surrounded by supports, such as school reintegration, mental health, and substance use programs, and there is a focus on developing life skills, along with social recreation, and communitybuilding. The goal is to get lives stabilized, build self-esteem and social skills, and stop destructive behaviours, says Scott.

When young people graduate to stage two, after a year of learning to cook, clean, grocery shop, and budget, they live in their own bachelor apartment unit with a balcony.

They are living more independently, though they still have 24/7 access to staff.

Residents can stay in each stage of the program for up to one year and they must be involved in some sort of education program.

Scott has been a key leader on the 25-yearold street youth planning collaborative and now serves as co-chair. The collaborative brings together senior leaders and frontline staff from local agencies, along with streetinvolved youth.

Wesley’s transitional youth housing program, the only one of its kind in Hamilton, /continued on next page SUMMER 2026 HCM

17

came out of the work of the collaborative, says Scott.

“So it was actually made for Hamilton

by Hamilton professionals and youth. And there’s no program like Wesley youth housing anywhere, because we developed it locally.”

Agencies from across Canada and internationally have studied the Wesley model and its success. Scott says about 85 per cent of youth who complete the program, numbering close to 400 since 2007, go on to stable housing.

A S PA C E T O G R O W U P Kevin Ngo’s life turned around at Wesley.

His home life was difficult and abusive, and at 17, he felt he had to leave home. He couchsurfed while he attended high school and tried to keep his marks up.

“I think there’s a specific kind of loneliness that comes with couch surfing that isn’t really mentioned a lot. It wasn’t dramatic in a way that most people imagined homelessness to be. It just felt quieter than that. It was like living day by day with no future and not really planning much, and your goal was to just survive and make it through the day.”

Ngo was always studious but he couldn’t focus and he worried that his dreams of going to university could be slipping away. It was the middle of the pandemic, his mental health was suffering, and Ngo was admitted to a facility.

That’s when a guidance counsellor at his school highlighted the Wesley youth housing program and helped Ngo fill out the application. It changed his life.

“That was what I needed; the stability to just move forward.”

From the moment he walked into the housing centre for his intake interview, Ngo says he felt safe.

Until Wesley, Ngo says he felt like a burden.

But staff listened and helped him see his worth. He made deep connections with other Wesley residents his own age who were confronting their own hardships.

He learned practical things, too, such as cooking, cleaning, and budgeting.

“For me, taking care of myself kind of felt like I was reclaiming pieces of me bit by bit” He learned what he was capable of and how his new life could unfold.

“When you’re in survival mode, and you’re just trying to live through the day, 18

HCM SUMMER 2026

scan the qr code to read about wesley’s history, impact, and growing food services. hamiltoncitymagazine.ca

every setback that happens to you just feels permanent, and every terrible moment just feels like it defines you, and it’s hard to see what’s in front of you and what the future could look like,” he says.

His time at Wesley allowed him to grow into an independent adult in a safe place.

“You start to realize that not every bad day means it’s a bad life, and I think that shift in perspective is what growing up feels like, and it’s just something that I learned at Wesley.”

He also found the confidence to embrace his sexuality. Not doing so until then made him deeply sad.

“I wasn’t like visibly falling apart, but it just felt like on the inside, it’s like you’re just slowly dimming away, you know?”

Ngo says he knew Wesley is a safe space for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. The courage to come out has led to meeting someone and recently buying a house together in Guelph, where Ngo works as a sonographer at Guelph General Hospital. He is a graduate of medical radiation sciences at McMaster University.

After Wesley, Ngo also found the courage to rebuild a relationship with his mother. Now they talk every day on the phone and have become best friends.

“That closeness means a lot to me now, because of everything that it cost to get here.”

PROVINCIAL YOUTH OUTREACH Wesley also manages a provincial youth outreach team that travels the city, engaging with at-risk youth ages 12 to 21 (though that can expand to ages six to 25 in certain situations) and their families, The outreach workers are a sounding board, a guiding hand, and a connector to community services in employment, recreation, addictions, mental health, or housing.

Scott, who manages the team, says its work is about increasing protective factors – education, strong family ties, safe housing, positive recreation, and friendship networks – and decreasing risk factors – drugs, gang affiliations, violence, and homelessness.

The team meets with youth in parks, community centres, schools, and malls and get referrals from concerned families, police, educators, social workers, neighbourhood organizers, and community centre staff.

The workers target priority neighbourhoods where youth criminal and drug activity is on the rise.

“Communities change and go through rough phases. So we kind of bounce around,”

WESLEY’S EARLYON AND CHILD CARE PROGRAMS HAD NEARLY 40,000 CHILD VISITS LAST YEAR.

says youth outreach worker Rick Bakshi.

He was once on a path to trouble himself and Wesley showed him another way. A young man being raised by a single mom, he was hanging out with the wrong crowd in his Queen Street North neighbourhood, and the fancy clothes and shoes that some kids flashed were appealing to him.

“I just think where I grew up, you know, we had kingpins coming down with limos.

And it wasn’t talked about but it was visible.

I knew that guy’s making money to have a limo pimped out in the ’90s.”

Bakshi credits summer camps and other programs at Wesley for altering his path.

Wesley summer camp meant days at the pool and trips to the zoo and to Wild Waterworks. He looked up to the tattooed motorcycle-rider who led the summer camp.

After four years, Bakshi was told he would be too old for the camp when he turned 13.

So he asked to volunteer with the program.

That occupied him for the year before he was old enough for the teen drop-in program.

“I needed that one year, because, if I didn’t go in, I’d have nothing to do for the summer.

Who knows what I’d be doing now? I would be a different Rick, maybe.”

Bakshi says the five years he took part in the teen drop-in program were the best of his life. It was all basketball, snacks, and movie nights on Friday.

Soon enough, Bakshi was faced with aging out of the teen program.

“I was scared again. I couldn’t lose the spot.

So I asked to apply for a job.”

He got hired as a relief worker at the youth centre and then was hired for the afterschool program. Eventually, he shifted to the youth outreach team.

It’s where he’s meant to be. He carries around all the staff who made an impact on him over the years and uses them as inspiration for his own work.

“I try to be a good role model, and give back to the community, just like they did.”

Basketball is a big unifying force but there are other ways the workers connect with youth, including music, movies, and art. One of Bakshi’s four colleagues in Hamilton even uses yoga to diffuse tension and help youth relax. He feels his own upbringing and his understanding of the struggles of at-risk youth make him relatable to them.

He also knows what to look for and how

KEVIN NGO CREDITS HIS TIME AT WESLEY YOUTH HOUSING FOR HELPING HIM CHART A NEW LIFE.

T h at wa s w h at I needed; the s ta b i l i t y t o j u s t m o v e f o r wa r d . ” Kevin Ngo to read kids, he says. “I know who’s making regular money, and I know who’s making hustling money.”

One member of the outreach team is an intensive case manager who can do shortterm counselling while youth are waiting to get into psychotherapy programs. Another specializes in engaging with Indigenous youth.

Each worker has a decade or close to it on the team, which is crucial to building trust with families and neighbourhoods.

“I think that’s the most value in our team,” says Scott. They are known in the community, and youth know they are not going anywhere and Wesley isn’t going anywhere.”

Bakshi says it’s about finding common interests with young people, and then just showing up consistently and listening.

“You might be one of the only role models that a young person relates to, right? Other people in their life don’t really get them.”

On the day we speak, Bakshi is about to head out with a co-worker to surprise a teen for his birthday with some pizza and a chat.

“His mom reached out and said he doesn’t have many friends, and could we spend some time with him?”

After that, he’ll play some hoops and follow up with some teens on what’s happening in their lives.

“You can’t just give them information.

Sometimes they need a little bit more push: ‘Hey, did you make that call? How did that phone call go? How did that appointment go?’”

There are kids he’s worked with who have gone on to be police officers, doctors, accomplished athletes, and social workers just like him.

The flip side is that there have been two shootings of youth in Hamilton this year and that always weighs heavily on the team, says Bakshi. In fact, one of those shootings happened right in the CityHousing building where Wesley’s youth housing is located.

Bakshi has known as many as 10 young people who have died by violence during his time with the outreach team.

That could get worse with the end of Wesley’s Community Outreach Response for Youth (COR) Program, a guns and gangs intervention project that was shut down when three years of federal funding ran out at the end of March, says Scott. It was one of nine such projects in the city. Wesley acted as the coordinating referral agency for all that work.

Scott says the COR team built relationships with highly at-risk youth – those on the precipice of being caught up in violence and gang activity. Over three years, COR served almost 1,000 youth who were acting aggressively, using drugs, or having multiple interactions with police.

The majority of programs, in many cases mandated by police, court or probation, work with youth who are already involved in crime. COR was an effective prevention program, Scott says. When COR engaged with youth, 69 per cent decreased risk factors, such as isolation, poverty, mental health, and lack of stable housing, and 95 per cent increased protective factors, including furthering education, employment, and positive recreational outlets.

Provincial youth outreach workers are working to fill the gap COR has left behind, says Scott, but capacity is limited. Just five workers cover the whole city and sometimes that means being pulled in every direction.

The nature of the job means Bakshi is never really off duty, but that’s OK with him.

“It’s non-stop, but I love it. I’m Hamilton.

It comes with the job. It’s cool.” n SUMMER 2026 HCM

19

/CITY LIFE

LIFE IN THE CITY

1

From festivals and films to galas, galleries, and gigs, Hamiltonians love to have a good time and these photos are definitely worth a thousand words. HAMILTON CITY Magazine was there – were you?

photos By brent perniac, Donna Waxman, and Bob Hatcher 1. Margot Burnell, Tom Wilson, and Shelley Falconer attend the AGH Gala Roaring Hamilton, May 23.

2

2. Steve Silver with partner Harvey Brownstone at the book launch of Harvey’s book Without Prejudice: My Life as a Gay Judge in St. Catharines, June 7.

Charity of Hope at Carmen’s Banquet Centre, April 17: 3. Daniele Dagenais, Moe Masoudi, Mark Shapiro, and Charlie Agro 4. Michelle Dagenais, Guy D’Alesio, Daniele Dagenais, and Dennis Concordia.

5. Dr. Angela Carol, Michelle Titian, Rachel Heart, and Julie Cassavia attend The Art of Recovery at the AGH, May 8.

6. The Guess Who perform at TD Coliseum, June 1.

7. Marc Jordan on his Rhythm of My Heart tour at the Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre, June 9.

8. Robin Dunne, Ann Pirvu, and Christopher Giroux attend the Bee My Love movie premiere at the Playhouse Cinema, May 15.

3

4

5

6

7

8

to check out more photos, scan the qr code 20

HCM SUMMER 2026

/CITY LIFE EVENTS

NOT TO BE MISSED From an education at the RBG Fishway to learning all about bees, and from pickleball to pizza tours, there are so many ways to enjoy city life in Hamilton and Burlington.

Here are a few of our favourite local happenings.

SOMETHING FISHY Nature is amazing, but sometimes a splash of human intervention goes a long way to make the greater good even greater. Visit the Fishway at the RBG this summer to watch its ecologists at work, assisting migrating fish to their spawning grounds in Cootes Paradise Marsh. The 30-minute operation keeps the scientists busy, and running March to August, the demonstrations are a testament to the lively ecosystem that lives in our local waterways. Check out the website for full details and especially directions – if the fish need help getting there, you might, too. July and August, M/W/F 2:30 rbg.ca

SWEET PICKLES While this is not the place to discuss the merits of tennis over pickleball, there is no arguing that the popularity of that noisy little sport continues to flourish. Perfect your dinking and figure out what the kitchen is for at the Gretzky Pickleball Club – the newest player in the game. Featuring six courts, prospective picklers and their friends are welcome to book a court for some fitness-forward fun – no membership required.

For more organized rallies, the club also offers clinics, lessons, and a community united by their passion for petite paddles. 180 Nebo Rd. gretzkypickleballclub.com

BEE CURIOUS

SLICE OF HAPPINESS Hamilton’s pizza culture runs deep, and the city is recognized as the place to go for some toptier slices. For those who have decision-making issues, a ticket for a Hamilton Pizza Tour takes out the guesswork by delivering the people to the pizza, rather than the other way around.

Organized by chef Clay Smith (@chefclaysmith) and Joseph DeBenedictis (@joseph_video), whose viral pizza videos will make you hungry with every watch, the party-bus powered tour provides tasty slices at three local spots, topped off with an additional secret stop along the way. Check out the organizers’ Instagram accounts for upcoming dates.

hamiltoncitymagazine.ca scan the qr code make our things to do section your go-to destination for city life and arts and culture events listings!

The bees that buzz about our gardens – the backbone of biodiversity wrapped up in a tiny package – are ecological superheroes, and a healthy bee population helps us all.

Beekeepers looking to learn all about their tiny charges will learn the tricks of the trade at Goldenwood Acres in Waterdown. There, beekeeper Daniel Kneblewski covers topics like bee biology, feeding and medicating your bees, monitoring for pests, and how to prepare for the winter. Apiarists of all levels – even wannabeekeepers – will benefit from learning what it means to be the caretaker of a hive through all four seasons. goldenwoodacres.com

BAYSIDE BITES Local foodies are welcomed to the waterfront for Lakeside a la Carte, a gourmet garden party that is a treat for both the taste buds and the community. Hosted by the Rotary Club of Burlington Central, the annual event has raised nearly $1 million to date for local charities and child-focused programs.

As their tents ripple in the afternoon breeze, local restaurants, wineries, and breweries roll out the red napkin for hungry guests to nibble and nosh their way through Spencer Smith Park – sampling, strolling, and supporting. Check the website for the full list of participating businesses, more information, and tickets. Aug. 9, Spencer Smith Park, lakesidealacarte.com SUMMER 2026 HCM

21

Full Noon Fest back this summer

F

FREE OUTDOOR INDIE ROCK MATINEES WILL HAPPEN ON SATURDAYS IN AUGUST AT FERGUSON STATION.

ull Noon Fest, a made-in-Hamilton music series in an memberships and talent development. underused downtown space, is back featuring local He also established music curation company Long Gone and regional independent musicians.

Songs to help musicians and artists carve out space and Its founder is Hamilton musician and composer Neil contribute to their local arts communities, through live Haverty, who kicked the series off last year as free presentation, recording, and publishing. lunchtime concerts on Wednesdays.

Haverty, who moved back to Hamilton with his wife Full Noon Fest returns this August on four Saturdays, just after the pandemic, has also returned to the stage, bringing eight indie rock, shoegaze, folk, exploratory guitar reuniting with seven friends from high school for Neil music, and experimental pop acts Ferguson Station at 244 Haverty & Timegun, which played Supercrawl and Full King St. E. for two one-hour shows starting at 12 p.m.

Noon Fest last year.

This year is a bigger Haverty says Full Noon lineup and the hope Fest was inspired by is that Saturdays will Sonic Unyon’s past shows draw bigger audiences. on the top of Jackson “We have eight really Square or the roof of great bands this year.

Dr. Disc.

I’m hoping that the “I’ve always really Saturday thing means loved those kinds of some families will outdoor things, and come and just people activating some of moving about the these spaces.” neighbourhood,” Last year’s says Haverty. performers included “My motives for doing AOIFE, Sarah Good & Full Noon Fest is really The Bads, and Danny just about connecting Miles. This year, the with my community, City of Hamilton’s having fun, and placemaking team in its presenting great music culture division asked that’s free and low if he’d like to run the barrier to enjoyment,” series again. says Haverty.

Haverty says he He grew up in appreciates that the Hamilton and went to community aspects of WALLGRIN PERFORMS AT LAST YEAR’S FULL NOON Westdale High School. live music are still alive FEST. PHOTO: NEIL HAVERTY He started booking in Hamilton, a contrast Scan the QR code to read more about Full Noon Fest and see the full lineup. shows at the Transit to Toronto’s music scene, Union Hall downtown, which is driven only by did a co-op at Sonic Unyon, and then moved to Toronto to ticket sales. He’s pleased that the International Village BIA pursue a career as a frontman for Bruce Peninsula. It was a and area businesses, including Girl on the Wing, Studio 205, touring life until Haverty became ill with leukemia at 28. and Into the Abyss have come on board as partners.

After his recovery, he decided he didn’t want to tour The lineup features a number of Hamilton bands, anymore. He started working in film composing and for including blosum, Sullen, slow reader, and Žuto, along with about 15 years, he’s worked for the Academy of Canadian some Toronto bands, including Potions and Burs, that he Cinema & Television, most recently as director of wants to introduce to Hamiltonians. n

22

HCM SUMMER 2026

/MADE IN HAMILTON

Made in Hamilton has always been more than a label

By GREG DUNNETT

M

ade in Hamilton: It has never simply been about where a product was manufactured, where a business was founded, or where an idea was born. In Hamilton, it represents something bigger. It reflects the work ethic, resilience, creativity, and pride that have shaped this community for generations.

Today, that identity matters more than ever.

Hamilton is entering a defining moment as a city. Across our community, there is visible momentum — major investments in infrastructure, healthcare, entertainment, housing, innovation, and downtown revitalization are reshaping Hamilton’s future in real time. From the transformation of TD Coliseum to the long-awaited advancement of LRT, from expanding healthcare and research leadership to new residential and commercial developments across the city, Hamilton is evolving rapidly.

But while cranes, construction projects, and headlines tell part of the story, the true strength of Hamilton continues to come from the people and businesses choosing to invest here every single day.

It comes from the manufacturer modernizing operations to compete globally while continuing to employ Hamilton workers. It comes from the family-owned restaurant that has become part of a

neighbourhood’s identity. It comes from the entrepreneur opening a first storefront, the tradesperson building our future infrastructure, the startup founder creating new opportunities, and the local business owner sponsoring community sports teams, charities, festivals, and events.

These businesses do more than create jobs.

They create community.

That is why supporting local matters.

Every time we choose to support a Hamilton business, we are contributing to something much larger than a single transaction. We are supporting local families, strengthening neighbourhoods, creating employment, and helping build a more resilient economy. Local businesses give Hamilton its character and energy.

In many ways, small businesses are the heartbeat of Hamilton.

At the same time, Hamilton’s industrial and manufacturing roots continue to provide the foundation for our economic strength. This city has long been one of Canada’s most important manufacturing communities, and today that legacy continues through advanced manufacturing, steel, food processing, logistics, life sciences, and clean technology. Hamilton companies are competing on a global stage while adapting to changing markets, emerging technologies, and increasing economic uncertainty.

That combination of innovation and grit

is part of what makes Hamilton unique.

This city understands how to adapt, how to rebuild, and how to move forward together.

But growth alone does not automatically create stronger communities. The real opportunity ahead is ensuring that the investment and momentum taking place translate into vibrant main streets, thriving local businesses, safer and more welcoming public spaces, and opportunities for residents across every part of the city.

That requires collaboration. It requires leadership. And it requires belief in Hamilton itself.

Too often, Hamilton has underestimated its own potential. Yet increasingly, people across the country are recognizing what those who live and work here have known for years: Hamilton is a city of possibility. We have world-class institutions, strategic geography, incredible talent, a strong entrepreneurial spirit, and a community that cares deeply about its future.

“Made in Hamilton” is more than a label.

It is a commitment to building a stronger city together — by investing locally, supporting each other, and believing in what Hamilton can become.

And if we continue to do that, Hamilton’s best chapter is still ahead of us. n Greg Dunnett is president and CEO of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce.

BECOME A MEMBER TODAY! Networking & events | Cost-saving benefits | Advocacy & policy support

hamiltonchamber.ca

SUMMER 2026 HCM

23

/MADE IN HAMILTON

RESCUING A DREAM A F T E R S AV I N G N E A R LY 1,9 0 0 A N I M A L S O V E R 1 6 Y E A R S, H A M I LT O NB A S E D L A DY B I R D A N I M A L S A N C T U A RY I S C LO S E T O C R E AT I N G A FA R M T H AT W I L L B E A R E F U G E F O R A N I M A L S I N D E S P E R AT E N E E D. I T A L L S TA RT E D W I T H T H R E E F R I E N D S W O R K I N G T O G E T H E R F O R O N E U N F O R G E T TA B L E C AT. B y M E R E D I T H M a c L E O D

THE LADYBIRDS ARE, FROM LEFT, MELISSA McCLELLAND, LISA WINN, AND JANINE STOLL. PHOTO: RAINA KIRN

S

weet Oliver the cat was the first in 2010 and since then, the success stories for the Hamilton-based Ladybird Animal Sanctuary number close to 1,900.

All those furried and feathered faces peak out from the rescue’s website, each with a tale of past abuse, neglect, or abandonment, along with their health and behaviour challenges, But then comes the story of their second chance, the bravery and resilience of

24

HCM SUMMER 2026

these cats, dogs, birds, bunnies, and rodents, the vets who pitched in, the loving notes from their fosters, and in the vast majority of cases, their adoption.

“Our mandate is to rescue from shelters, from city shelters, because that is the end of the line for these animals. They have no other options after that,” says Ladybird co-founder Lisa Winn, who worked for years in the shelter system.

“We're not bringing in animals from other

countries. We're not taking surrenders from people. We're not picking up strays off the street. We're simply rescuing from shelters.

That's how we have decided to be of service to these animals, to rescue the animals that are right here in our community that are being surrendered.”

Sometimes that means a dozen guinea pigs are up for adoption. In a pinch, they’ve taken in a tank of fish, a couple of snakes, some lizards and turtles. They’ve rescued goats, pigs, and chickens, along with hundreds of cats and dogs.

But the whole thing started with a loving but ailing black and white cat named Oliver who was found as a stray and living at the Oakville Humane Society. Oliver gave snuggles, face rubs, and hugs to anyone who would spend time with him. But his diagnosis of feline leukemia had landed him on the euthanasia list.

Winn was in love with Oliver, but feline leukemia can be contagious to other cats, and she already had her own cats at home. She solicited friends and family, but there were no takers.

She turned to good friends Melissa McClelland and Janine Stoll over a bottle of wine.

“One day, we were sitting out on Melissa's back deck and Lisa was telling us all about the plight of all these animals that were being euthanized needlessly at animal control because they didn't have a proper adoption program for them,” recalls Stoll.

“They were just culling all these animals that they didn't have room for and there was one in particular that Lisa was quite heartbroken about because it was a very sweet cat that was otherwise adoptable, and she said, well, maybe there's something that we can do.”

The problem was that only bona fide rescues could take animals out of animal services. So the trio decided to start their own rescue group. They did a fundraising concert and raised about $2,000 to get off the ground. They registered as a charity and Ladybird Animal Sanctuary was born.

Sixteen years later, and those nearly 1,900 souls later, the three friends are working to make the sanctuary in their name a physical reality.

Oliver, by the way, the cat who gave hugs, lived a long and happy life in his adopted home until his passing last year.

FROM LEFT: JANINE STOLL, MELISSA McCLELLAND AND LISA WINN. PHOTOS: RAINA KIRN

W e ’ r e s i m p ly r e s c u i n g f r o m s h e lt e r s .

T h at ’ s h o w w e h av e d e c i d e d t o b e o f service to these animals, to rescue the animals t h at a r e r i g h t h e r e i n o u r c o m m u n i t y t h at a r e being surrendered.”

Lisa Winn, Ladybird co-founder

B U I LT O N F R I E N D S H I P McClelland and Winn met “a million years ago, approximately” at an open mic night at the original La Luna on King Street West.

“I was 16 years old, and my parents would drive me there every Monday, and I'd play my new songs every week, and that's where I met Lisa, and then I met Janine at an open mic night in Toronto when we were 19,” says McClelland, who grew up in Burlington and has built a music career alongside her husband Luke Doucet as the band Whitehorse. The two of them also form Sarah McLachlan’s touring band.

The three bonded over music and formed a quartet called Ladybird Sideshow Project (with Erin Smith) that toured Canada. Stoll and McClelland were working as receptionists at the same magazine in Toronto.

“During our lunch hour, we'd go sit in the park and play music and scheme and come up with a plan, and we ended up planning a tour from Toronto to the East Coast, and that was my first time ever going out on the road as a musician,” McClelland says.

“We booked any club that would take us, and slept on couches, and drove a van to the East Coast, and had a blast together, and became best friends, and the rest is history.”

After touring, each Ladybird did some solo work, but remained close friends.

When they formed their animal rescue, the friends found that just like they had when singing three-part harmony, they worked together in tune, too, with each performing a specific part.

Stoll has web development and marketing and design experience. She handles the financial stuff, too. McClelland is wellconnected and suited to fundraising and event planning. Winn is the “animal whisperer” who manages the fostering and animal care. She liaises with the shelters, and creates the animal profiles that introduce them to potential adopters.

All three play a role in managing the insatiable beast that is social media.

The secret sauce of how this all works, they say, is in staying in their own lane and trusting the others to do their best in theirs.

G I V I N G T I M E A N D S PA C E As their charity has grown, the friends have brought many others into the trusted fold.

Ladybird averages about 30 active foster homes at any one time, and a database of 80 or so that have helped over the years. Some only want senior dogs or cats, others like working with kittens, and still others are geared to small animals such as hamsters and guinea pigs.

Some fosters are open to any animal in need. /continued on next page SUMMER 2026 HCM

25

/MADE IN HAMILTON “We love our foster homes, they're just amazing. There's a couple that have been with us almost since the very beginning, and to look back on it and think about all the animals they’ve fostered …” says Winn.

“It’s amazing that people are willing to open their homes to animals that they've never met before.”

Ladybird covers all costs for food, vet care and medicine, and actively promotes all the animals that are available for adoption.

“The only thing that we expect of the fosters is love and time, and maybe the occasional drive to the vet.”

Nadia Hornsveld has cared for 32 cats since she started fostering for Ladybird in 2017. The majority have been on the euthanasia list for medical or behavioural issues and all but one – a cat that died in her care – were adopted.

Stanley, the cat she’s caring for when we talk, was found with his deceased owner and ate plastics to try to stay alive. He was terrified in the shelter and also not social enough to be adopted. Fostering is about time and space, says Hornsveld.

“It’s just giving them a place to chill and decompress. And then they just eventually realize that people are cool,” she says.

“I've had cats where it takes them a month to come and even want to be near me.”

Hornsveld says there is great satisfaction in helping a cat come out of its shell. She describes it as an a-ha moment when an anxious cat wants to snuggle for the first time. Fostering is also a way to get cat cuddles without the high costs of having a pet.

She says Winn convinced her to take two kittens when Hornsveld, who is a beekeeper, went to check on bees getting into Winn’s house. Hornsveld felt her work hours made fostering impossible, but Winn was persuasive.

“Lisa has two full rooms dedicated to animals. Every time there's a guinea pig that comes up, it's at Lisa's house. Lisa has all the animals. So it's really hard to say no when she's doing so much. She’s not asking any more than what she's doing.”

A PROMISE TO ANIMALS From the beginning, a farm was part of the long-term vision. The friends dreamed about living out their senior years like the Golden Girls at a sanctuary, singing, laughing, rescuing animals, and building a community.

26

HCM SUMMER 2026

Actually, the last part is already in place.

There is a large team of supporters, fosters, vets, and a board of directors who contribute to Ladybird.

Among the success stories of animals who seemed too sick or too troubled to find a home is Lucy the cat, who was found as a skin-and-bones stray and was too weak to feed herself, even as she was nursing kittens.

She lived out her life as a chubby, shiny cat in a loving home. Mitsu the shih tzu was deaf, blind and senile. She was found as a stray in horrifying condition.

“That last year of her life she experienced so much love and comfort and safety and care, and you know, I just feel like it was so worth it, and every single Ladybird rescue has a story like that, and it just, it brings us so much joy to know that these animals are able to experience what that's like,” says McClelland, who cared for Mitsu.

The founding principle of Ladybird is that every life, whether it’s a guinea pig, goat, pig, duck, chicken or bunny, is worthy of respect, love, and care. Ladybird has rescued budgies,

ferrets, rats, hamsters, degus, and hedgehogs.

The animals’ stories document what they’ve been through, the challenges they face, but also the potential they offer as a wonderful companion if they get the second chance they deserve.

“I just feel like it's important to tell their story because they can't tell us,” says Winn.

“Every animal that comes into our care has been let down by someone, or more than one someone,” says Winn, whether that’s abuse, neglect or abandonment.

“When we rescue, it's almost like a little promise to that animal. When we take them in and we fix them up and do what needs to be done, and then they get adopted, we are promising them that they’ll never feel like that again.”

It has been a dire time for shelters and rescues. Pets acquired during the pandemic have been dropped off in record numbers by those who weren’t properly prepared to care for an animal. And a faltering economy always means more surrendered pets and slower adoptions.

RITA WAS FOUND WANDERING THE STREETS AS A STRAY. SHE BECAME LADYBIRD’S FIRST GOAT RESCUE AND SHE’S NOW A PERMANENT RESIDENT ON A LOCAL FARM. PHOTO: JANINE STOLL

How to give Ladybird Animal Sanctuary is always looking for donations, whether financial or animal supplies. Supporters can contribute through United Way paycheque deductions, donating Aeroplan points, or donating a car.

The sanctuary manages a number of funds for donations, including Buy A Brick for the farm project and the Gilbert Fund for special needs animals.

There is also a Partners for Paws program that offers different sponsorship tiers to local businesses.

And Ladybird offers memberships, for those who want to contribute a set amount each month. Members get insider benefits and discounts.

“That’s probably one of the biggest ways to support Ladybird, because it's predictable for us. We know if we have a certain number of members, and we have a certain number of member dollars coming in, we can afford to rescue this dog that we know is going to cost $12,000 in vet bills, because we can rely on our membership dollars helping to cover that. It just creates a base of operations for us.”

GRACIE WAS BORN IN THE CARE OF LADYBIRD AND WAS ADOPTED ALONG WITH HER SIBLINGS. PHOTO: LUCA SIMPSON

“There's a dog crisis happening everywhere, not just in Canada, but the States, too, and it's just crazy, because everybody wanted to get a dog during COVID, and now they're dumping them en masse,” says Winn.

“And everybody wanted to breed, because they realized they could make money during COVID, because there was a lack of dogs. And now all those breeders are dumping entire litters because they can't sell them.”

BUILDING TOWARDS A DREAM Ladybird rescues mostly from Hamilton, but also Halton, Niagara, the GTA, KitchenerWaterloo, Cambridge, and Quebec.

They take in the difficult cases: the seniors, the tough medical cases, the traumatized, the animals that have little or no chance of being adopted.

“The shelters know that the worse off the animal is, the quicker they call me to come and get it,” says Winn.

It means Ladybird frequently has animals in foster homes for a long time and can rack up high bills for treatment and rehab.

From Day 1, the trio says they dreamed of a physical space for Ladybird. But they were never in a rush.

“It's a huge undertaking to open a sanctuary, and we have been learning along the way. At every turn, here's a new learning curve,” says McClelland. “And so it's been good that we've had these years to really cultivate our charity, and figure out what works, what doesn't work, and to be really clear on our mandate and our vision and our values as a team.”

They concentrated on building their networks of fosters and donors, and focused on earning a reputation as a well-run and credible rescue. They kept coming back to the need for a sanctuary.

The "Help Build The Farm" campaign officially kicked off with a virtual concert in December 2020 that featured Bryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan, Jim Cuddy, Barenaked Ladies' Ed Robertson, Jann Arden, Joel Plaskett, Whitehorse, Sloan's Chris Murphy, and Terra Lightfoot.

And now, that dream is near to reality.

Ladybird has just concluded a large fundraising campaign backed by an angel donor, and they are hunting to find the perfect property. They are looking for about 20 acres within a 45-minute drive of Hamilton, ideally with a mix of cleared acreage and forest, and a residence and barn in decent shape.

“We need a municipality, too, that's sympathetic to the vision, that understands what we want to do, that will help us, rather than put up a lot of red tape for the types of programs that we want to run on site,” says Stoll.

The Ladybirds have done their research.

They’ve attended conferences, tours, and workshops, shadowed other sanctuaries, and sought out hands-on experience wherever they can find it.

“It’s so that we know what we're getting into, because I think that's a major pitfall,” says Stoll. “A lot of people love the idea of rescuing animals and helping animals, and maybe living on a rural property, but there's so many pieces involved, and if you're not taking care of all those pieces, the bottom can fall out really quickly.”

First and foremost is having the money to keep doing the work. /continued on next page SUMMER 2026 HCM

27

/MADE IN HAMILTON In their sanctuary, they see a home for farm animals, a hospice for animals of all sizes at the end of their lives, along with adoption events and fundraisers.

There will always be a need for fosters because many animals need one-on-one care in a private home.

“Since we're all artists, we'd love to see some cool art installations on site, and music will always be a part of the sanctuary,” says Stoll.

The friends joke (half-joke?) about their enduring Golden Girl dreams, complete with moomoos, slippers, and cheesecake.

From the early days, they came up with the tagline, “Look what love can do.”

That has certainly been the story so far and will undoubtedly guide the verses yet to be written.

ANGEL DONORS ARRIVE Michael and Carol Desnoyers have always been dog lovers. The Ancaster couple has always had one or two dogs throughout their 47-year marriage, and many have been rescues. Carol works with Animal Justice Canada to advocate for animal rights and animal welfare laws.

They knew of Ladybird and Desnoyers’ brother even adopted a dog named Monty from them who was found wandering in Gage Park.

Like many thousands of animal lovers, the Desnoyers were caught up in the story of golden retrievers Bunny and Brie.

They were found running down the street in Waterdown on New Year’s Day 2024. The pair, believed to be mother and daughter, were painfully thin, had matted coats, infections, and dental issues, and had obviously been used for breeding. They were taken in by animal services and from there, found their way to Ladybird, which paid for their spaying and dental surgeries.

But Brie was found to have a rare and

28

HCM SUMMER 2026

scan the qr code to see many more photos of wonderful animals saved by ladybird! hamiltoncitymagazine.ca progressive bone disorder and a large, inoperable cancerous tumour next to her bladder.

No suitable adopters were found. The Desnoyers reached out after following the dogs’ story on social media and offered to pay for their care for the rest of their lives. With that, Bunny and Brie became permanent residents of Ladybird, joining Rita the goat and Norman the cat.

“If we didn't have two dogs at the time, we probably would have taken them ourselves,” says Michael. The couple lost one of those dogs this winter and the other is 15. ”And I can almost guarantee you we will get another dog or other dogs, and they will be the ones that nobody else wants. The older dogs.”

The more the Desnoyers got to know Ladybird, the more impressed they were by the “sheer willpower” driving the work.

“When you know the whole story from inception to where they're at today and what their vision is for the future, and if you're an

animal lover, how can you not be inspired by that?” says Michael.

The couple was watching the rescue’s capital fundraising efforts and decided they could help to really move the needle. The Desnoyers offered to match donations, up to $200,000.

“I can't say enough about all of the people that have come to the table to help them out. I couldn't be happier for them,” says Michael.

McClelland says having champions like the Desnoyers has been a gamechanger.

“We reached [the matching] goal in an astonishing amount of time, which was just so incredible to see our community come together and be inspired by this opportunity, and give what they could. People gave huge amounts, and people gave small amounts, and everything in between, and it all contributed to us reaching this monetary goal, and really pushing us that much closer to us ultimately getting the farm and opening our Ladybird Animal Sanctuary headquarters.”

I ask the friends if they ever reflect on that first conversation that led to finding a place for Oliver.

“All the time,” says Winn. “We look at each other all the time, and say, ‘How did this happen? This is crazy.’ What a privilege to get to do this, especially to do this with your best friends. We consider ourselves very fortunate, because it's just great work.”

It’s been serendipitous how it’s all come together and how well the trio works together, says McClelland.

“There's so much love and respect and laughter and joy, and I think you know, aside from the actual work that we're doing, or the animals that are being saved, we do always step back and just acknowledge this bond that's been created between the three of us over these years, and you know, it's really a lifelong bond and friendship, and we get to live it out in this really beautiful, inspiring way.” n

/MADE IN HAMILTON

O The Mabel’s

Labels Story A F R U S T R AT I N G PA R E N T I N G P R O B L E M , A V I S I O N T O S O LV E I T, A N D S O M E T E N A C I T Y H E L P E D A Q U A RT E T O F M O M S C R E AT E A N E N D U R I N G B R A N D. B y J U L I E C O L E

ver 23 years ago, my sister and two friends, all of us former students at the University of Waterloo, sat down together and wrote a business plan. We were young moms with a good idea, a lot of ambition, and a desire to leave the traditional workforce to chase an entrepreneurial dream. What followed became one of Hamilton’s most beloved homegrown success stories.

The four of us, Julie Ellis, Cynthia Esp, Tricia Mumby, and myself, were frustrated by something every parent knows too well: kids’ belongings have a mysterious habit of vanishing. Water bottles, lunchboxes, jackets, shoes. They leave the house and simply never come back. At the time, the best solution most parents had was scribbling a name on masking tape. We knew we could do better. /continued on next page

JULIE COLE IS CO-FOUNDER OF MABEL’S LABELS IN HAMILTON AND MOM TO SIX KIDS. PHOTO: MARTA HEWSON

SUMMER 2026 HCM

29

/MADE IN HAMILTON

THE FOUNDERS OF MABEL’S LABELS, FROM LEFT: CYNTHIA ESP, TRICIA MUMBY, JULIE COLE, AND JULIE ELLIS ON THEIR COMPANY’S 10TH ANNIVERSARY.

The idea was a simple one: create personalized, durable labels that parents could put on their children’s belongings so they wouldn’t get lost. We started with a single product. Our first marketing effort was buying stamps, writing letters to everyone we knew, and asking them to visit our website and buy our labels. As moms, we understood our customer because we were our customer.

BORN IN A BASEMENT ON FLO RENCE STREE T People tend to romanticize entrepreneurship, envisioning a life of flexibility, riches, book deals, and international speaking engagements. The reality, especially in those early days, was somewhat different. Mabel’s Labels was born in my sister’s basement on Florence Street right here in Hamilton. We worked a few nights a week making labels, packaging them up, and getting orders out the door.

I remember being pregnant with the fourth of my eventual six children, working until 2 a.m. in that basement, then getting up with my young kids at 6 a.m. to take on my parenting duties. It meant emailing during naptime, doing business plans during play dates, and a distinct lack of holidays, money, and “me time.” The basement was so hot we’d leave the back door open for a breeze, which 30

HCM SUMMER 2026

had the side effect of neighbourhood cats wandering in off the alley. Someone always had to be assigned cat-chasing duty.

Our first website was designed by friends from university. We didn’t have any money, so their payment was a foosball table they’d been eyeing. We bootstrapped our business, so were scrappy in every sense of the word.

LOST BELONGINGS INSPIRED MABEL’S LABELS. PHOTO: MABEL’S LABELS

T h e i d e a wa s a simple one: c r e at e p e r s o n a l i z e d , d u r a b l e l a b e l s t h at pa r e n t s c o u l d p u t on their children’s belongings so they wouldn’t get lost.” julie cole

H A M I LT O N G R O W S W I T H U S The response we got from launching our simple, necessary product was extraordinary.

What started as a niche idea quickly became a loved brand and the sales began rolling in.

Online parenting communities took notice.

Gizmo, iParenting, and PTPA Media all named Mabel’s Labels a best product, and our profile grew fast.

Realizing we needed to hire team members, the hot basement with its feline visitors no longer felt adequate. Rather than taking the leap into a commercial location, we came up with a very practical solution: we suggested my sister buy a bigger house with a bigger basement. And she did. Our move to Aberdeen Street gave us the room to grow. And grow we did. We lasted just two years there before outgrowing it entirely.

That’s when we found our permanent home: our headquarters on Chatham Street, just off the 403, where we remain today in our newly renovated 20,000 square-foot

production facility and office. The building had previously been a well-known hat factory, and for the first few years the occasional elderly woman would wander in looking to buy a hat. There’s also the matter of the ghost. Our production team insists the old hat factory has one, and that it makes appearances during overnight shifts in our busy back-to-school label-making season.

FROM ONE LABEL TO A FULL FA M I LY B R A N D What began as a single dishwasher- and microwave-safe label has grown into a full suite of products for families. Today, Mabel’s Labels offers every kind of label a parent could want: clothing labels, shoe labels, allergy alerts, and countless combo packs designed for daycare, school, summer camp, and all the extracurriculars in between.

With our business being e-commerce, we’re proud to still manufacture right here in Hamilton, providing jobs and being involved in the community.

Our collaborations with content creators, community-building efforts, partnerships with other family brands, and the development of a fundraising program have all been part of a very deliberate growth strategy. Over the years, celebrity moms, including Jennifer Garner, Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon, Victoria Beckham, Hilary Duff, and Katherine Schwarzenegger have become fans of the brand. There was a recent sighting of our labels on an episode of The Real Housewives of Rhode Island. We have been featured on The Today Show, CNN, HLN, The View, Rachael Ray, Forbes, and Babylist, and named one of USA Today’s Most Trusted Parent Brands.

BALANCING BUSINESS A N D FA M I LY When my eldest son was diagnosed with autism at age three, I knew something had to change. Although a lawyer by profession, I understood the weight of that diagnosis and what it would require of me: consistent advocacy, coordinating therapy programs, and countless appointments. I hoped entrepreneurship would give me the flexibility to show up for him the way he needed, while still honouring my own professional ambitions.

It wasn’t a tidy solution. Building a business alongside raising a big family, with a child with complex needs, meant sleepless nights, caffeine-fuelled days, and a particular kind of worry that never fully goes away. But it also meant an enormous amount of joy.

Today, my kids range in age from 17 to 26.

Most are in university, one is finishing high school, and my son — the little boy whose diagnosis set so much in motion — graduated from the University of Guelph and just completed a two-year professional program at Humber College. The business and my kids grew up together, and honestly, they’ve made me equally proud. What I hope they took from watching it all unfold is this: a mom can be present and loving, and passionate about her work. Both things are true at once. From the very beginning, my dream was to build something that didn’t ask me to leave my life at the door, and that’s exactly what happened.

PROUD TO CALL H A M I LT O N H O M E Hamilton has been with us every step of the way. We were honoured to receive /continued on page 40

THE TEAM AT MABEL’S LABELS IN A PHOTO TAKEN IN 2015. PHOTO: MARTA HEWSON

Julie Cole’s six lessons learned Culture starts with you. Starting a business gives you the rare chance to build a work culture you genuinely love. Let your values lead. Hire great people. And don’t let the business swallow your life whole.

Noes are free, always ask. There’s no harm in asking. Be cheeky, be scrappy. Pick people’s brains, request favours, ask the question that feels too bold. The worst answer is a no, and those cost you nothing.

Find your people. Entrepreneurship can be a lonely road. Network, join a peer group, find a mentor or coach. Surround yourself with people who remind you that the voice saying you’ll fail is lying.

Manage your expectations and those of others. Don’t romanticize entrepreneurship.

It’s not all book deals, awards, and wealth.

The reality looks like long hours, deferred luxuries, and very little “me time.” Know what you’re signing up for.

You are more than your business. Don’t lose sight of your family, friends, and the things that light you up outside of work. If you ever step away from the business, you’ll need to know who you still are.

If you rest, you rust. Keep moving, mentally and physically. Learn, innovate, keep up.

Discomfort isn’t a warning sign; it’s the signal that you’re in the place where growth happens.

Julie Cole is a recovered lawyer, mom of six and co-founder and senior director of Mabel’s Labels. Julie is an award-winning entrepreneur, best-selling and awardwinning author and media personality.

Having appeared on NBC’s The Today Show, CNN, HLN’s Raising America, Breakfast Television, The Marilyn Denis Show, CP24, and CityLine, among many others. Her articles have appeared in The Huffington Post, Today’s Parent, The Globe and Mail, Profit Magazine, Working Mother Magazine, and numerous websites.

SUMMER 2026 HCM

31

/MADE IN HAMILTON

A custom solution K A T S C A R R O W L A U N C H E D T H E H O L L O W C O. , A N A P P A R E L P R I N T I N G B U S I N E S S I N D U N D A S , W H E N S H E W A S C O N S I S T E N T LY D I S A P P O I N T E D B Y T H E S P I R I T W E A R O F F E R E D AT H E R K I D S ’ S C H O O L .

KAT SCARROW IS FOUNDER OF THE HOLLOW CO. PHOTO: KAT SCARROW 32

HCM SUMMER 2026

By VANESSA GREEN

W

hen Kat Scarrow wasn’t happy with the options for spirit wear at her kids’ school, she didn’t complain.

She did something about it.

She started her own custom apparel business.

And now she's designing and printing custom merch for schools, local businesses, and community organizations throughout Dundas.

This side hustle is no small feat for a mom of four, who is currently on maternity leave and about to return to a senior role at The Globe and Mail’s brand content studio.

The business idea came to her while she was on the parent council, managing the school spirit wear program. She became frustrated with poor communication, slow turnaround times, high costs, and limited design options offered by vendors.

“My philosophy as a parent is that everyone at the school should be able to afford spirit wear,” says Scarrow. “Kids shouldn't be left out because their parents can't pay for it. I knew there must be a better way.”

Already managing most of the production process herself, Scarrow realized the only missing piece was the printing.

And when direct-to-film (DTF) printing came on the scene, it made small-batch apparel production easier and more accessible. Unlike traditional screen printing, DTF doesn't require minimum order quantities or high setup costs, making it practical for custom pieces.

Scarrow’s husband bought her a heat press, the device used to transfer DTF prints onto fabric, and encouraged her to do the work herself. She started designing and printing the school's spirit wear from home.

According to Scarrow, once she brought production in-house, turnaround time for spirit wear dropped from months to weeks.

By keeping her margins low, she estimates she was able to double the fundraising donation back to the school, from the industry standard of 10 per cent up to 20 per cent.

The success of her school spirit wear project was the proof of concept she needed to officially launch her business, The Hollow Co., in 2025.

THE HOLLOW CO., LAUNCHED IN 2025, PRODUCES CUSTOM-PRINTED APPAREL FOR A RANGE OF ORGANIZATIONS AND BUSINESSES IN DUNDAS. PHOTO: KAT SCARROW

Kids shouldn’t be left out because t h e i r pa r e n t s c a n ’ t pay f o r i t . I k n e w t h e r e m u s t b e a b e t t e r way . ” And her new venture wasn’t just about production. For Scarrow, the creative side was equally important.

"I've always been passionate about design, and I think I have a good sense of what people like,” she says. “I love a design challenge, especially when clients have a look they're trying to achieve. If the client isn't happy, then I've failed. I don't have an ego in it. I just do my best to bring their vision to life."

Kat Scarrow

Scarrow’s eye-catching designs do the selling for her. When her husband was having a drink at Barrel Heart Brewing in Dundas, the owner spotted his The Hollow Co.-branded bag, covered in fun, retro stickers. They started talking, which led to the Michelin Bib Gourmand brewery becoming one of Scarrow’s clients.

The Hollow Co. has grown entirely through /continued on next page SUMMER 2026 HCM

33

for the love of

HAMILTON SAVE $10 WHEN YOU SUBSCRIBE 1 YEAR OF HCM (5 PRINT ISSUES)

35

$

(INCLUDES HST) OFFER VALID ONLY IN CANADA

SCAN THE QR CODE TO SUBSCRIBE NOW MADE IN HAMILTON.

MADE FOR HAMILTON.

/MADE IN HAMILTON word of mouth, with almost no advertising.

As a marketing professional, Scarrow understands the value of this kind of thirdparty endorsement.

"This business has connected me with so many new people, and that's been so rewarding. It's made my world bigger," says Scarrow. "I'm pleasantly surprised at how quickly I was able to work with so many different organizations without advertising. I guess it speaks to the fact that I'm filling a gap."

Today, The Hollow Co.’s list of clients includes Dundas BIA, Dundas Farmers' Market, McMaster University, Dundas Little Theatre, and Dundas Minor Hockey Association. And Scarrow handles every order herself, from start to finish.

"It doesn't feel like work. I truly enjoy it,” she says. “And there's a real physical component to it: measuring, cutting, taping.

My day job is primarily digital. But there's something rewarding about packaging a product by hand, delivering it, and seeing people genuinely pumped to wear it."

For Scarrow, the learning curve of starting her own business was real: ruined blanks, heat-setting blunders, building a website, setting up Shopify, and registering with the CRA. But she was undeterred.

“As you get older, it's important to shift your mindset and look at new things and challenges as a positive,” says Scarrow.

“People think that entrepreneurs have

everything figured out, but ultimately, you figure it out as you go. The best way to learn is to learn by doing. You just have to try it.

You might be surprised.”

As for the name, according to the business’s website: “A hollow is a valley — not empty, but full. Full of history, stories and people who stick around. That’s Dundas Valley. That’s us. We’re rooted here and we’re building something that reflects this place: grounded and full of pride.

We’re not just making merch. We’re making belonging.”

The goal for Scarrow is to grow The Hollow Co. thoughtfully, eventually designing original apparel inspired by Dundas, but keeping the pace manageable as she balances everything else in her life.

“I want to protect that personal side of the business and do it at my own pace,” says Scarrow. “I don't need to scale it to a point where it becomes my sole focus. That's never been the point.”

And while building a bigger business isn't a huge motivator for Scarrow, showing her kids how to create something of their own definitely is.

“My kids are quite interested in what I'm doing, especially my 10-year-old, who's keen to earn some money,” says Scarrow. “I’m getting him involved in folding, packaging, helping out, and teaching him what it is to be an entrepreneur, and finding something that you like that doesn't feel like work.” n

THE HOLLOW CO.’S LIST OF CLIENTS INCLUDES LOCAL SCHOOLS, THE DUNDAS BIA, DUNDAS FARMERS’ MARKET, AND DUNDAS MINOR HOCKEY ASSOCIATION. PHOTO: KAT SCARROW 34

HCM SUMMER 2026

/MADE IN HAMILTON

THIS AERIAL VIEW OF FESTIVAL OF FRIENDS AT GAGE PARK WAS TAKEN AUG. 15, 1977. THIS YEAR MARKS THE EVENT’S GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY. PHOTO: FESTIVAL OF FRIENDS ARCHIVE

T H E I C O N I C F E S T I V A L O F F R I E N D S , A H A M I LT O N S U M M E R M U S I C T R A D I T I O N , C E L E B R AT E S A H A L F - C E N T U R Y O F H A R M O N I E S B Y LO O K I N G B A C K AT W H AT M A K E S A L A S T I N G A N D M U C H - L O V E D L E G A C Y. B y S T E P H E N N E A R

F

or the Festival of Friends, the magic is the moments. From unforgettable musical acts to iconic artists returning year after year, the Festival of Friends is a sacred Hamilton tradition. Whether trying to smash the record for number of guitarists strumming “Smoke on the Water” or inspiring 40,000 fans to dance out “Y-M-C-A” with the Village People, the milestones have left an indelible impression. And they all set the stage for this year’s 50th anniversary, as a chance to celebrate the festival and commemorate all those who have defined its history. /continued on next page SUMMER 2026 HCM

35

/MADE IN HAMILTON “The stories that come out of this event, that’s the key,” says festival director Rob Rakoczy. He recalls board members, volunteers, artists, and countless attendees whose first festival left them with lasting memories. “For some,” he says, “they had no money growing up, but their grandma took them to the festival when they were like four years old, and it was the greatest moment because it really put music into their brain.”

If Hamilton is a music city, then the Festival of Friends is its beating heart.

“We try to keep it about the music,” says Rakoczy. And those roots remain a core philosophy. “Our origin story is all about bringing the music to people for free.”

As origin heroes go, it’s hard to think of anyone more renowned than Festival of Friends founder Bill Powell. A prolific Hamilton artist and cultural icon, Powell managed a handful of musicians including Tom Wilson of Junkhouse and Blackie and the Rodeo Kings. His founding of the festival, said Wilson, “put the seed in Hamilton [and] we are all standing on his shoulders.” Powell's vision was all-Canadian. "We started looking at the top names," he told The Hamilton Spectator in 1976, "and came up with 85 acts that are just dynamite.”

That inaugural Festival of Friends was a roaring success … and it was free, as it has been ever since. Thousands came out to Gage Park to enjoy three days of country and folk music, despite tornado warnings and torrential rain. Featuring artists that included Sylvia Tyson, Willie P. Bennett, and Jesse Winchester, the festival hosted workshops, handcraft vendors, children's activities, theatre, and poetry. There were even impromptu jam sessions spilling into the now-defunct Delta Theatre once the festival closed for the night.

Retired Spectator music columnist Graham Rockingham remembers it like it was yesterday. “There were all these little stages around the park, and you just moved from stage to stage to see these musicians working together, passing the guitar. It was vibrant, lively, and fun.” Part of his love is rooted in the Gage Park venue. “The park was the vibe of the festival … it was part of the show.” Powell kept the festival there even as the event grew in size and status year after year.

The hometown appeal was also something that drew the many Hamilton artists who 36

HCM SUMMER 2026

DENNY BELL PICTURED AUG. 9, 1986. PHOTO: FESTIVAL OF FRIENDS ARCHIVE

We try to keep it about the music. Our origin story is all about bringing the m u s i c t o t h e p e o p l e f o r f r e e . ” rob Rakoczy

TOM WILSON. AUG. 9, 1993.

KATHLEEN EDWARDS. AUG. 5, 2017.

THE 1983 EDITION OF THE FESTIVAL OF FRIENDS. INCLUDED PERFORMANCES BY THE FLORIDA RAZORS FRONTED BY TOM WILSON, JACKIE WASHINGTON, WILLIE P. BENNETT, AND THE HAMILTON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA. PHOTO: FESTIVAL OF FRIENDS ARCHIVE

played there. Jon Harvey, of Monster Truck fame, remembers "staring out over a sea of people enjoying our music in our hometown.”

And blues artist Alfie Smith grew up watching icons like Jackie Washington and Mose Scarlett play at the festival. "Later on," he says, "I shared the stage with them as an adult. That meant so much to me.”

When Powell retired in 2000, local arts promoter Loren Lieberman stepped up to run the festival. With a mixture of creative and business smarts, Lieberman was seen as a fresh face to move the event forward. True to form, he brought in a host of artists from outside of the festival’s folk roots, including The Nylons, Sass Jordan, Randy Bachman, and David Wilcox. And the expansion of acts brought other changes, such as the introduction of beer sales to assist in generating revenue as civic and government funding was scaled back.

Still, thanks in part to Lieberman’s push for corporate support, the festival thrived.

"There's only one way for us to do a free concert with huge entertainment budgets,” he told The Spectator. Mindful of the financial struggles from the past two decades, Rakoczy admits, “Sponsorship is always hard. There’s this idea that tax money covers everything, but it’s only about a third of our budget.” The rest comes from sponsors, vendors, beer sales, and parking.

The festival made headlines for its Aug. 8, 2009 push to break the Guinness World Record for largest guitar ensemble. The 1,726 guitarists who gathered at Gage Park to strum the opening riff for "Smoke on the Water" set a Canadian record but fell 76 people short of the global mark.

But controversy was brewing. First, there was pushback about corporate logos on festival banners. But that paled in comparison to perhaps the most contentious change: the move from Gage Park to the Ancaster Fairgrounds in 2011. The fairgrounds had moved from its cozy location

on Garner Road to a sprawling, open spot on Trinity Road and Wilson Street West a couple of years before.

Festival organizers argued the move was necessary to handle crowds, solve parking problems, and increase revenue. But critics were vocal, fearing the move would kill what remained of the festival's folksy atmosphere and hometown roots.

The outcry prompted Lieberman to write an editorial in the newspaper aimed at the naysayers. "Many reasons … forced this decision. Public safety, horticultural /continued on next page

JACKIE WASHINGTON. AUG. 14, 1978.

PHOTO: FESTIVAL OF FRIENDS ARCHIVE

SUMMER 2026 HCM

37

/MADE IN HAMILTON preservation, neighbourhood nuisance, and congestion of the city streets all come down to the same point: Gage Park was no longer working … I cannot honour the festival by only looking to our past.” For Lieberman, the core mandate was clear: “To entertain, in the Hamilton region, people for free. That’s it, that's all.”

Rakoczy defends the move at the time.

"It's always been our job to put on a great event that ups itself every year [and] if we wanted to grow, we had to expand the acts." The move to Ancaster made that possible, he says. And it did allow for perks unavailable at Gage, like a partnership with the Ancaster Agricultural Society and the use of the fairground buildings for craft vendors, heritage displays, and weather shelter.

That first festival in Ancaster was packed to overflowing, and perhaps "too successful,” according to Rockingham. Covering the event for The Spectator, he recalls an "endless stream of cars trying to get [to] the fairgrounds” to see Arkells, City and Colour, and The Sheepdogs. Lacking the ambience of Gage, it sometimes felt more like a county fair but “there were some great shows up there,” recalls Rockingham. Featuring big acts like Canned Heat, The Psychedelic Furs, Mickey Hart (of the Grateful Dead), and The B-52s, Rockingham says, “It's hard to criticize a festival that's doing its best to provide a great show for free.”

But the festival’s roots ran deep and, despite growth, the pull of the past kept tugging on organizers. So, when Lieberman

THE FESTIVAL OF FRIENDS IN 1977 FEATURED ITS OWN BLIMP. PHOTO: FESTIVAL OF FRIENDS ARCHIVE

38

HCM SUMMER 2026

STAN ROGERS, 1982.

scan the qr code to see more archival photos from the festival of friends hamiltoncitymagazine.ca stepped down in 2017, and Rakoczy stepped up as new festival director, there was one change he knew he had to make: move back to Gage Park.

As new leadership emerged at city hall, Rakoczy saw “the perfect time to make new relationships and find ways to get back to where we started.” Rakoczy continued to up the ante when it came to the lineup.

BILL POWELL, 1981.

Programming Tanya Tucker in 2019, The Village People in 2024 and Brett Kissel in 2025 fired up a broader base of fans and brought them to the park.

The return to Gage gave organizers a chance to look at the festival with a fresh set of eyes. That led to an improvement in public access and increased walkability, especially for those living in downtown Hamilton. “We were able to re-envision how the park was laid out … I think the festival is significantly better now in its feel. It's the way it flows and the way people can gather.” For Rockingham, this is the Festival of Friends as it should be.

“It was important to move back because it allowed the people in the inner city to have that free festival.” Harvey, who has created a new band with a country-rock sound called The Wild High, agrees.

"Right in the middle of the city, by the stadium, it allows anyone access.” And the fact that it’s free “makes it amazing for lower-income individuals to enjoy a great concert.”

The festival's accessibility is also important to musician Chris Chambers, who once opened for the legendary David Wilcox. “It caters to so many demographics, musically and culturally, like a yearly reminder where people of Hamilton can count on an entertaining and peaceful time.” For JUNO Award-winning Motown icon Harrison Kennedy, playing the festival has meant connecting with an “outstanding lineup of hometown talent.” Yet, his most cherished memory is rooted to his family: "when my daughter came on the stage and told the

MUSIC MANAGER MICHELE GARE AND MAX FRANCIS OF TRUE HAMILTONIAN AT FESTIVAL OF FRIENDS 2025. PHOTO: BOB HATCHER

JACKIE WASHINGTON AND ASHLEY MacISAAC BACKSTAGE AT THE 2004 FESTIVAL. PHOTO: BRENT PERNIAC

G a g e pa r k i s s u c h a s p e c i a l p l a c e a n d the music is legendary.” audience to start clapping."

Though many musical artists have seized the headlines, perhaps the true friends of the festival are the countless volunteers who dedicate their time and energy to keeping things running. For Rakoczy, they’re literally the unsung heroes. “We have something like 300 people doing volunteer work, all for free. There are some who drive in from out of province every year. They take off work,

volunteer kim burke

come in, and just live in the park for the week. That kind of buy-in? That's the thing that’s made us so successful.”

Kim Burke is one of those who makes the annual trek. “I live in New Brunswick, but we still make the drive halfway across the country to volunteer. Gage Park is such a special place and the music is legendary,” she says, “but it's the people that keep me coming back.” That’s also true for Willow Binx, a

volunteer who got her start as a child with her mom at the park. She now volunteers every year, saying the festival is “deep rooted in Hamilton’s culture [and] part of our lives just by its existence.”

For Rakoczy, who has been part of Hamilton’s music scene his whole life, the 50th anniversary means pulling out all the stops. That included a kickoff concert at the end of June at The Westdale that included a lineup of festival alumni, including Tom Wilson, Harrison Kennedy, Marc Jordan, Suzie McNeil, Jon Harvey, The Redhill Valleys, Jacob Moon, Jim Witter, and Hawksley Workman.

And this year’s Festival of Friends lineup is a true show-stopper, too. On Friday, he’s planning a country night headlined by Dallas Smith, the record holder for No. 1 hits by a male Canadian country artist. And Saturday night will see Canadian indie-pop icon Feist take the stage.

“It’s insane,” says Rakoczy, with equal amounts of wonder and awe. ”She's doing the festival because of our legacy, our history, and what we've been able to accomplish over 50 years, and that's huge.”

The festival will also feature a distinct callback to its roots. “There’ll be a folk workshop stage, and a children's stage,” says Rakoczy.

What’s more, he’s reached out to city heritage organizers to celebrate the festival’s past.

“We're working with Tourism Hamilton to set up a museum exhibit with some of our artifacts. They're also doing a display at the Fieldcote Museum, focusing on our 50 years and talking about the time in Ancaster.”

But he’s most excited about Sunday’s closing act. “We're doing a big Last Waltzstyle concert,” Rakoczy says, referring to the iconic last concert of The Band in 1976, which was filmed by Martin Scorsese and released as a documentary in 1978.

“We've got Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, that's Tom Wilson and Colin Linden, they're like the house band, and then we're going to have a rotating list of various festival alum … probably 25 different artists will come up and play a song each. There’ll be lots of surprises.”

If it all sounds like Rockingham’s fond memories of the festival back in ’76, with musicians sharing a guitar under the shade of Gage Park, that’s probably the point. “If you're gonna come,” urges Rakoczy, “this is the year to come.” n SUMMER 2026 HCM

39

/continued from page 31 early coverage from local media, and I have been a regular face on CH Morning Live. We were recipients of two Hamilton Chamber of Commerce Business Achievement Awards, among the first accolades we ever received, and ones that remain special to us. The support from our Hamilton networks, fellow entrepreneurs, and community has been foundational to everything we’ve built.

Giving back is also a core value we’ve never lost sight of. We support charitable organizations across Canada and the United States, and our fundraising program has helped thousands of schools, daycares, camps, and sports organizations raise money in their communities. Hamilton has given us so much and it matters deeply to us that we give back.

The national recognition has come, too.

We have won the RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Award for Excellence in Entrepreneurship twice, along with the SavvyMom Mom Entrepreneur of the Year award and Chatelaine’s W100 Top Female

JULIE COLE SAYS HER BUSINESS AND HER KIDS GREW UP TOGETHER. PHOTO: VINE IMAGES

Entrepreneurs distinction. But none of that changes the fact that this company was built by four moms in a Hamilton basement, and Hamilton is still where our heart is.

WORKING YOURSELF OUT OF A JOB Through the years, the business has grown and our children have grown alongside it. I often reflect on the parallels between parenthood and entrepreneurship.

Both are constantly changing. Both require you to develop new skills at every stage.

And in both cases, if you do your job right, you gradually work yourself out of one.

As your kids and your business become more independent, the goal was never to be needed forever. It was to build something strong enough to thrive on its own.

Twenty-three years on, Mabel’s Labels is still growing, still innovating, and still making labels right here in Hamilton. We started with stamps and handwritten letters asking our friends to take a chance on us, to where we are today. Not bad for four moms and a foosball table. n

Experience the power of joining forces HCF’s Community Fund unites donors to tackle Hamilton’s urgent needs — affordable housing, education, equity and more.

By pooling our resources, we create a vibrant, diverse and inclusive Hamilton where every contribution makes a difference.

hamiltoncommunityfoundation.ca 40

HCM SUMMER 2026

Visit our website, join us today and be a part of the change.

HAMILTON, YOUR PROBLEMS ARE OFFICIALLY ABOUT TO GET WORSE. SCAN QR TO READ KENADIE’S COLUMN AT HCM

SERVING CATASTROPHICALLY BAD LIFE ADVICE - THINK DEAR ABBY … IF ABBY WAS WEARING SIX-INCH HEELS, THREE WIGS, AND ACTIVELY ENCOURAGING POOR DECISIONS.

SUMMER 2026 HCM

41

Unleash your pet's inner supermodel Includes: n

n

A private session with you and your pet 10 fully edited images per pet, delivered digitally

hounds@hamiltoncitymagazine.ca | fetchingstudios.com

42

HCM SUMMER 2026

‘Puccini to Dolly Parton’ OPERA UNTAMED CREATOR FELICIA VALENTI WANTED A PLATFORM TO PERFORM AS A SOPRANO, BUT SOMETHING THAT WOULDN’T INTIMIDATE AUDIENCES.

S

inger, actor, and independent arts promoter Felicia especially women, that people may not have heard of Valenti believes opera shouldn’t require gowns or before. tuxes and that music is better when it doesn’t stay in Hamilton has been an easy place to meet other artists, its own lane. says Valenti. It’s big, but also connected, and the local talent Valenti is a Hamilton-based soprano and founder of is deep. She says she’s also found that Hamilton artists want Opera Untamed, a genre-blending music series that aims to work together and help one another. to take the intimidation factor out of classical music and to Valenti, 37, is from Brampton and partially grew up create opportunities for local talent to perform. in Italy. She studied classical vocal performance at York Through her production company Fifth Voice University. She pursued a career in music but shifted into Productions, Valenti has acting and voiceover work presented three shows and after a few years. She didn’t plans another for the fall. They sing for almost 10 years. bring together blues, jazz, pop, She and her husband moved rock, even drag and poetry, to the North End of Hamilton along with opera singers and about five years ago and it classical musicians. was then that she began to “Puccini to Dolly Parton – retrain her voice. It took four without anyone asking you to years of intense work with her dress up or sit still,” read the vocal teacher to get back to a promo for her June show No professional level.

Small Feelings.

Valenti was ready to sing Though she’s a trained but her time away didn’t serve opera singer, Valenti says her well. Even though she was even she finds it difficult to an emerging artist, programs sit through an hours-long and competitions for young production. So she keeps the singers had a cutoff at age 32. shows short – 60 minutes, no “I needed to start intermission. She promises performing.” She wanted to energy, emotion, and zero do that in Hamilton, but there pretense. aren’t many opportunities for The mix of genres keeps classical voice performers. So things interesting for the she decided to build her own. audience, but it’s also inspiring Valenti applied for a grant for artists, she says. from the City Enrichment FELICIA VALENTI’S OPERA UNTAMED IS A GENRE-BLENDING “I’ve learned so much from Fund, which helped her get MUSICAL EXPERIENCE. PHOTO: JESS JOY the different types of singers the series off the ground. She and musicians that I’ve seen and come across. Different was able to rent church space and hire performers. techniques and styles and things that you can borrow, and I “The first show was called Spectral Songs and Vengeful just feel like it makes such a healthy environment creatively.” Voices, and it was kind of angry, because at that point I was People might not think opera or other forms of classical like, ‘Who are people to tell me I’m too old to perform? I can music are for them because they’ll have to dress up, or they do my own thing.’” don’t know the language, or they might be bored.

The June show at The Bright Room she funded on her Valenti tries to overcome that by introducing people to own, paying six musicians and performing herself. The new powerful works, what they mean, and how they fit into venue works into Valenti’s goal to bring classical music into an opera. She makes a point of showcasing composers, more spaces. n – Meredith MacLeod SUMMER 2026 HCM

43

/ARTS & CULTURE

Music on the move T H E E V E R - C H A N G I N G L A N D S C A P E O F H A M I LT O N ’ S M U S I C C L U B S H A S S E E N M A I N S TAY S R E P L A C E D W I T H A N E C L E C T I C M I X O F S M A L L E R V E N U E S , A N D S H O W S S TA G E D I N S O M E I N T E R E S T I N G S PA C E S . B y K E R R Y D O O L E

H

amilton’s music club venues are in a constant state of flux. Just as the city’s thriving restaurant scene features a regular and rapid turnover of businesses coming, going, and changing, so too does our city’s roster of smaller spaces that feature live music.

These venues are crucial to the health of Hamilton’s music community, and this sector of the live-music industry continues to face major challenges. Opening and operating a small music venue is certainly never a licence to print money, but a dedicated core of both established and new entrepreneurs continue to fight valiantly for a crucial cause.

In recent years, Hamilton has lost multiple vitally important live music venues. Among them, the beloved and much-missed This Ain’t Hollywood closed its doors in 2020, with The Casbah following suit in January 2025.

Its operators and owners, Lou Molinaro and Brodie Schwendiman, respectively, continue to actively book shows in a variety of local venues, but to date none of the newer spaces in town have reached the level of importance of TAH and The Casbah.

Thankfully, new venues have come onto the scene to offset the losses of others.

A highly promising new addition to the downtown music venue community is The Gate, in the heart of the James Street North strip (next to popular bar The Brain). Many HAMILTON CITY Magazine readers will recall the popular Gate of India. It has recently been reconfigured as The Gate, billing itself as an “Indian kitchen and art bar.” After extensive renovations, it definitely has the look of the latter, with black and brick walls and, at the time of writing, an exhibit of paintings by local singer-songwriter and artist Martin Verrall.

HCM recently dropped by to catch a performance in the space by Verrall and his ace band MVP. We were impressed by the sound in the room, and the general vibe, well-priced drinks, and a menu built around 44

HCM SUMMER 2026

SAMMY SQUID’S POPULAR GABA GABA GOOL CLUB IS RETURNING. PHOTOS: GEOFF FITZGERALD FOR HCM

BRAD GERMAIN IS BOOKING SHOWS IN THE BACK OF A CHURCH.

I l o v e d t h e C R Y WA N K s h o w an d J u l i e D o ir o n an d T h i s i s T h e K i t . T o o m any t o m e n t i o n r e a l ly . I t wa s a s p e c i a l s p o t ( Into Th e Abyss) and a s p e c i a l t i me f or th e s c ene.” store owner and musician Brad Germain Indian street food. Live music will be a key component of The Gate, which has a licensed capacity of about 50, says general manager Jefferson Wilde.

“It’s an intimate room by design, which allows audiences to feel connected to the artists and helps create a great listening environment. We’ve put a lot of effort into improving the room acoustically. We’re continuing to make upgrades and our goal is to create one of the best-sounding small music rooms in Hamilton.”

The venue is open Wednesday through Sunday, with live-music focused on evenings and weekends. Veteran music promoter Molinaro is involved with the booking.

“As demand grows, we’ll continue to expand our programming,” says Wilde. “Our vision is for The Gate to be a neighbourhood gathering place first and foremost, an Indian kitchen, art bar, and live music venue all under one roof.”

Expect an eclectic selection of live music.

“We want the venue to reflect the diversity and

creativity of Hamilton’s music community,” says Wilde. “You’ll see everything from singersongwriters and folk artists to punk, indie rock, experimental, jazz, roots, and beyond.

We’re less interested in genre and more interested in authenticity and quality. The goal is to create a space that feels accessible to both emerging and established performers.”

One notable July 30 show will be a double bill of two cult heroes, Edgar Breau, leader of Simply Saucer, and Bob Bryden of psychedelic bands Reign Ghost and Christmas.

A significant recent casualty on the music club scene was Stonewalls. Situated on York Boulevard, the bar, restaurant, and music venue had, since opening in 2010, been a key player, booking local, national, and occasionally international acts, in rock ’n’ roll, blues, country, folk, and funk.

Now occupying the Stonewalls space is Indian restaurant La Tikka, an offshoot of the original Kitchener location. La Tikka’s Sharon Patel stresses that “live music will absolutely continue to be a regular part of the experience at La Tikka Hamilton. We want to carry forward the venue’s strong connection to live entertainment while also introducing a fresh concept that blends music, dining, and nightlife,” she said.

Performances lined up include rock cover bands, DJs, Bollywood music nights, acoustic and unplugged nights, and fusion-style entertainment, says Patel.

“Our goal is to create a diverse music calendar that appeals to both existing Stonewalls patrons and new audiences in Hamilton. We’re very excited about bringing live entertainment back into the space in a new way and becoming part of Hamilton’s live-music scene.”

Another recent loss (followed by a quick gain) for the Hamilton music venue circuit was the Gaba Gaba Gool Club, the creation of popular punk rocker and caterer Sammy Squid. He combined his two passions in the basement of the historic Theatrix building at Cannon Street East and Kensington, which included both a kitchen and a music room. The Gaba Gaba Gool Club operated in rather under-the-radar fashion for the past two-and-a-half years, but became a popular hangout for many prominent Hamilton rock ’n’ rollers, singer-songwriters, and scenesters. /continued on page 64 SUMMER 2026 HCM

45

/ARTS & CULTURE

Dylan Hudecki is a Canadian indie-rock vet who has played in many bands, including By Divine Right, Cowlick, Slow Beach, and The Dill.

He’s a proud Hamiltonian who covers local album releases for HCM.

ROCK

CUT FLOWERS

Just Came Home to Come Home Cut Flowers arrive with serious musical pedigree on their debut full-length Just Came Home to Come Home, but what’s most striking about the record is how little it leans on reputation. Across these 10 songs, the band sounds less like a veteran supergroup and more like musicians rediscovering why they fell in love with making records in the first place.

Playing music together!

Recorded live off the floor in two sessions at the acclaimed Boxcar Sound Recording beside Gage Park, the album thrives on looseness, chemistry, and emotional immediacy. You can hear the room in these songs, the push and pull between players, the warmth of the analog textures, and the imperfections left intact because they mattered more than polish.

That approach gives Just Came Home to Come Home a lived-in humanity that’s increasingly needed in modern music.

FOLK, POP, AND VOCAL/CHORAL MUSIC

MINUSCULE If Not Now With If Not Now, Minuscule continue to quest to prove they are one of Ontario’s most emotionally resonant and musically ambitious bands. The Niagara-based five-piece (and sometimes 20-piece with a background choir) take folk music far beyond campfire 46

HCM SUMMER 2026

The album’s emotional centre arrives early with “Until It’s Time,” a weary and deeply affecting meditation on aging, regret, and connection. Like much of the record, it balances folk tenderness with ragged rock-and-roll spirit. Kevan Byrne’s songwriting and lyrics land because they feel conversational and earned.

His voice carries the weathered honesty of someone documenting hard-won realizations rather than performing them.

Musically, Toronto’s Cut Flowers exists in a beautifully blurred space between jangly alternative rock, roots music, and folk-rock. The comparisons to R.E.M. and Richard Thompson make sense, but there are also traces of ’70s bar-band vibes, Motown warmth, and late-night Canadian Canrock woven throughout the album.

Tracks like “Murders All Over Town” and “Ordinary People” expand the palette with trumpet and tenor saxophone flourishes that feel soulful rather than ornamental. Elsewhere, “Drying Down” and “Trouble I Need” lean into the band’s folk instincts, allowing the melodies room to breathe. Even the darker moodier

moments, particularly the standout “Butterfly War” and “This Is How We Die” avoid cynicism.

Al Okada’s synths and keys subtly colour the songs without overwhelming them, while Rebecca Campbell’s harmonies add gravity and tenderness in equal measure. There’s sadness throughout the record, but also resilience.

What makes Just Came Home to Come Home especially compelling is the collective history behind it. Members of King Cobb Steelie, Heimlich Maneuver, Tristan Psionic, and Loomer all converge here, yet the album never feels like a nostalgia exercise. It sounds like a group of musicians arriving at a place where emotional clarity matters more than reinvention.

RIYL: R.E.M, Cracker, Crazy Horse, Weeping Tile, King Cobb Steelie, Wilco.

intimacy, transforming it into something towering, communal, and deeply human. Led by songwriter and vocalist Laurel Minnes, the group balances vulnerability and confrontation with a rare sense of warmth, using layered harmonies and sharp lyrical insight to explore the messy corners of modern life.

There are traces of Joni Mitchell in the poetic songwriting, but Minuscule also channels the rhythmic looseness and vocal experimentation of Tune-Yards. Their songs feel playful one moment and devastating the next, often wrapped in tongue-in-cheek observations that soften the blow without losing the message.

Rather than preaching, the band invites listeners in, creating music rooted in empathy, social awareness, and collective release.

At times, Minuscule sounds like they’ve been commissioned to score a new Broadway musical. Their songs carry a theatrical sweep, filled with dramatic vocal arrangements,

emotional crescendos, and scene-setting performances that feel built for a stage.

What makes If Not Now stand out is how alive it feels. Co-produced by Minnes alongside Joe Lapinski at WOW! Recording Studio, the album captures the chemistry between the band’s five distinct voices, Minnes, Jillian Rene Smith, Tara Stanclik, Michael Saracino, and Taylor Hulley, without sanding away the rough edges or emotional immediacy. The production sounds grandiose and the arrangements swell and contract naturally, moving from hushed introspection to near-choral catharsis.

Their collaborations with artists ranging from Great Lake Swimmers to Vile Creature make sense when hearing If Not Now. It carries the intimacy of indie folk, the power of protest music, and the expansiveness of experimental vocal arrangements all at once.

RIYL: Fiona Apple, Choir! Choir! Choir!, Great Lake Swimmers, Hey Rosetta!, The Weather Station

FOLK ROCK, INDIE ROCK

WHITEHORSE All I Want Is All of It Whitehorse has always existed somewhere between campfire intimacy and a widescreen gritty romance drama. Sonically, this married duet is equally capable of dusty spaghettiwestern twangy ballads, intergalactic blues grooves, and gritty cosmopolitan indie rock anthems. But where previous albums often experimented with genre hopping and production tricks, All I Want Is All of It strips nearly everything back to exposed beams, cracked floorboards, and hearts on their sleeves.

Recorded in an old farmhouse, the album feels intentionally loose and real in the best

possible way. You can hear room ambience, overdriven amps, live timing, and performances that sound captured before anyone had the chance to polish them into submission. Instead of smoothing imperfections into algorithmfriendly indie-folk, Whitehorse leave smudgy fingerprints all over these strong songs. The result is warm, lived in, ragged, well loved, well crafted, and deeply human.

That looseness becomes the album’s emotional core. These songs are trying to survive the moment they were written in with not much overthinking. The two are relying on their honed penmanship and technical ability, letting the songs do the heavy lifting, much like their heroes in the ’60s and ’70s did. The title sounds ambitious, even greedy, but the songs underneath it wrestle constantly with limitations of reality. They document middle age, hedonism, the future, family, past relationships, love letters, wrestling with time, loneliness, and more.

Few husband-and-wife bands operate with the same conversational chemistry as Whitehorse where both partners share duties so equally. Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland are two skilled songwriters who pass the microphone back and forth on lead vocals,

who harmonize, and write songs together that often feel aimed directly at one another. Each record they complete rolls out like a pair of solo albums stitched together into one deeply intertwined collaboration. This is no exception.

Musically, the album wanders comfortably between folk-rock, country soul, dusty psychedelia, and blown-out garage jams.

“Bullet in the Chamber” stretches from a powerful Sheryl Crow-esque radio hit into distorted Neil Young & Crazy Horse territory, guitars sputtering and threatening collapse at every turn. “See the Light” feels haunted, lovelorn, and weightless, while “Please Tell the Stars” and “Pure Poetry” drift through late-night melancholia without becoming overly precious.

The incredibly catchy, “I Want the Milk” is an ode to the pure hedonism we all share as humans. Then there’s “Lighthouse,” a strange and beautiful outlier that plays like a lovelorn sea shanty slowly dissolving into the orange glowy fog at dusk.

The Burlington duo’s 11-year-old son Jimi contributes keys throughout the album, while Doucet’s adult daughter Chloë Doucet joins the band on guitar for the band touring this year.

RIYL: Aimee Mann, Alison Krauss & Robert Plant, Wilco, Fleetwood Mac, Sheryl Crow

REVISIT ME

Many publications review reissues of albums, but none ever retroactively review albums that are fantastic and overlooked after years have gone by.

Why not? Why does every music review have to be for a brand new release? So, at HCM we have a feature in our reviews called: Revisit Me. In each edition, we’ll spotlight a Hamilton album that deserves another listen and the spotlight again.

FOLK, JAZZ FOLK

DAN EDMONDS

Danny Boy

Released on Sept. 22, 2023, Danny Boy

by Dan Edmonds feels like the kind of record that almost slips through the cracks of the modern music landscape. In an era where indie musicians often sharpen every edge for maximum digital content impact, Danny Boy moves in the opposite direction: softer, slower, blurrier, more fragile, more free, more paint, less

paint, more and less at the same time. It’s art!

What makes the record quietly remarkable is the way Edmonds drifts deeper into jazzinflected folk and ambient chamber pop more than he ever has, using silence and space as compositional tools rather than empty gaps waiting to be filled. The album often feels suspended in stillness. Brushes skim softly across percussion, pianos and woodwinds dissolve into tape haze, and harmonies arrive like half-remembered conversations.

The arrangements feel instinctual and unfixed, as though the musicians simply followed whichever sound best served the emotional temperature of the song at that moment. Artistic looseness becomes part of the album’s emotional architecture. Instead of polished precision, Edmonds prioritizes atmosphere, texture, and the beauty of musicians listening to one another in real time.

The collaborative cast surrounding Edmonds, including Luka Kuplowsky and Dorothea Paas, gives the record its communal warmth. Their presence never overwhelms the material, but

subtly expands it outward. On “All Things Will,” one of the album’s standouts, the interplay between voices and instrumentation creates a kind of floating emotional suspension that recalls the intimacy of late-night jazz records and softly psychedelic folk sessions alike. The instrumental track “Between Time” is another example of that, as the moods move with patience, carried along by a soft Wurli-piano and talkative saxophone call and response with distant percussion, and even some distant bird noises as well. Almost like it was being tracked with the windows open to let the spring breeze in as a band member in spirit.

Edmonds’ songwriting has matured from his early songwriting days in his teenage altfolk rock band Harlan Pepper, into something understated and deeply poetic. Danny Boy exists somewhere between psych-folk sketchbook, ambient slowcore meditation, and a communal living-room improv jazz session.

RIYL: Destroyer, Robert Wyatt, Andy Shauf, Devendra Banhart, Nick Drake, Luka Kuplowsky, Arthur Russell.

SUMMER 2026 HCM

47

/ARTS & CULTURE

FROM PANTLESS GUINEA PIGS AND SPICY ROMANTIC FANTASY, TO A TRAGICALLY NEEDLESS DEATH IN ANCASTER AND WARTIME MEMORIES HASHED OUT IN A HAMILTON BAR, THESE ARE LOCAL READS TO HEAT UP YOUR SUMMER! B y J e s s i c a R o s e

S

ummer is the perfect time to conquer your to-be-read pile, whether you’re soaking in the sun at the beach or prefer the refuge of an air-conditioned coffee shop. Visit one of Hamilton’s independent bookstores to pick up one (or all!) of these great local reads.

to forget their wartime memories. That’s when Viva arrives in Hamilton, searching for the father she never knew. Told through the alternating voices of Francis and Viva, The Peace Thieves is a book about secrets, family, and the true costs of war.

BLAME: DEATH, DISABILITY, AND THE SEARCH FOR JUSTICE FOR GUY MITCHELL

GUINEA PIGS DON’T WEAR PANTS

W R IT T E N A N D I L LU S T R AT E D BY C H R I S PA U L ( R A I N B O W S ) FA R I A S For decades, Chris Paul (Rainbows) Farias has helped individuals and organizations create spaces where everyone can feel like they belong through their work as an award-winning strategist, keynote speaker, queer educator, and expert in inclusion and belonging. But up until now, there’s been one thing missing from their impressive resume — children’s book author! That changed in June with the release of Guinea Pigs Don’t Wear Pants, their first picture book, which has everyone squealing. Celebrity endorsements include Rosie O’Donnell, Paris Hilton, and Fred Penner, among just a few!

Farias says Guinea Pigs Don’t Wear Pants is the book they wish existed as a kid growing up in a small town. Using playful rhymes and vivid illustrations, it celebrates individuality and the freedom to express oneself, whether you’re flaunting lipstick, skirts, or chicken shirts — or none of the above!

A KISS OF CRIMSON ASH

BY A N U J A VA R G H E S E Three years after her short story collection, Chrysalis, won both the Writers’ Trust of Canada’s Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers and the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, Anuja Varghese is back with her debut novel — A Kiss of Crimson Ash. Inspired by medieval India’s most epic love stories, it brings readers to Nandapore, a fictional city of secrets and spellcasters, where they’ll meet a newly 48

HCM SUMMER 2026

AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR CHRIS PAUL (RAINBOWS) FARIAS. PHOTO: MARTA HEWSON

crowned queen, a heartsick prince, a common thief, and a courtesan with magic in her blood.

The first of a trilogy, A Kiss of Crimson Ash is the perfect summer read that blends romance, fantasy, and a little bit of spice!

THE PEACE THIEVES

BY B R E NT VA N S TA A L D U I N E N The Peace Thieves, the most recent book

by Hamilton’s Brent van Staalduinen, is dedicated to “those who answer the call, and for those who love them.” It’s the story of Francis, a reserve army medic, who bore witness to the aftermath of ethnic cleansing in Croatia in the mid-1990s. Now, he runs a bar where soldiers like himself come to try

BY D U S T I N G A L E R On a cool spring evening nearly 15 years ago, Guy Mitchell, a 38-year-old man with developmental disabilities, died in a dark, underground cistern on a rural property in Ancaster. Known for his energy and sociability, Mitchell delighted in helping others. However, those responsible for his care didn’t provide him with even the most basic of necessities. When police arrived, they found a disturbing scene with no running water, heat, or food. In Blame: Death, Disability, and the Search for Justice for Guy Mitchell, award-winning writer Dustin Galer meticulously explores what happened to Mitchell, reconstructing the events leading up to and following his death, as well as the systemic failures that allowed it to happen.

WITHOUT PREJUDICE: MY LIFE AS A GAY JUDGE

BY H A R V E Y B R O W N S TO N E Born in Hamilton, but now living in the Niagara region, Harvey Brownstone is a retired judge of the Ontario Court of Justice and the first openly gay judge in Canada. His new memoir, Without Prejudice: My Life as a Gay Judge, was released this spring, recalling the many obstacles he surmounted, including homophobia, poverty, and depression. Those with an interest in law will be especially inspired by Brownstone’s impactful judicial career, marked by numerous innovations in the justice system, particularly revolutionizing Ontario’s child support enforcement program. n

/ARTS & CULTURE EVENTS

ART AND ABOUT There are plenty of ways to get out and enjoy the best of summer in Hamilton and Burlington.

Here are a few of our favourite local happenings.

MADE IN HAMILTON

Hamilton pride is not a new concept. In 1913, the city hosted its first exposition of exclusively made-in-Hamilton products – an event that drew more than half of the city’s population. Because hard-working Hamiltonians are pretty great, these local innovations never stopped, and the shows continued to run annually through the first half of the 20th century. Collector Glen Faulman – an eighth generation Hamiltonian – has amassed a collection of this memorabilia that underlines the city’s reign as a beacon of manufactured goods. Made in Hamilton: The Glen Faulman Collection is on at the Art Gallery of Hamilton. Check out our innovative history and see proof that the city’s inventive spirit has roots that run deep. Until Jan. 3. agh.ca

ICONIC OCTOGENARIAN On the heels of its 2025 sold out Massey Hall show, a must-see tribute visits Hamilton’s Bridgeworks on its Ontario tour. Time Fades Away, a musical tribute honouring Neil Young for his 80th birthday, invites fans of the Canadian singer/songwriter to experience some of his remarkable catalogue live. From producer Aaron Goldstein, the celebration features special guests singing their favourites, harmonies that you can feel in your soul, and a whole lot of guitar – a musical homage to a man whose music has made a mark on our hearts of gold. July 17, 200 Caroline St. N. bridgeworks.ca

RIDE ON

A MOVING TRADITION Bayfront Park sets the stage once again this summer for Dances at the Bay, a delightfully non-fussy festival where audiences are composed of people of all ages, and frequently their dogs. Now in its 12th year, the festival blends performance and nature into a creative and accessible experience that highlights a multitude of dance styles – and no end of talent. Organized by the non-profit Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts, the event welcomes all to the waterside fest where whimsical performances under a setting sun promise to shine a warm light on the city’s arts community.

A $10 donation is recommended. July 17-19, Bayfront Park hcasociety.ca

hamiltoncitymagazine.ca scan the qr code make our things to do section your go-to destination for city life and arts and culture events listings!

Fresh off its win at the 2025 Hamilton Fringe Fest, Men Love Horsies trots to the Staircase Theatre for another run, or should we say, gallop. Created by Hamilton artist Devin Bateson, the show combines musical theatre with sketch comedy, creating a whirlwind show that ultimately explores masculine identity and the innate need to be cool, tacked up with an equine edge. The show is headed to the green pastures of the Edinburgh Fringe next, so be sure to jump on the chance to support local art before it goes global. Aug. 8 thestaircase.ca

FEELING LUCKY Experience the excitement of a traditional Asian night market without the need of a pesky airplane ticket.

Conveniently located in our own backyard since 2019, and offering more than 100 food vendors and merchants, live music, and cultural performances, a visit to the Lucky Lion Night Market has since become a summer tradition. Make your way to the water to enjoy this free event and be sure to stick around until well after sunset – the real magic happens under the colourful, twinkling lights, not to mention a dancing lion or two.

July 31 - Aug. 2, Bayfront Park. luckylionnightmarket.ca SUMMER 2026 HCM

49

Graze Craze launches in Stoney Creek NEW SHOP IS THE FIRST FRANCHISE IN CANADA TO SPECIALIZE IN BOXES AND CHARCUTERIE BOARDS FOR PARTIES OF ONE TO LARGE GATHERINGS.

O

ne day, Danielle Parkes said to her husband Michael, “I have an idea, but you need to sit down.” Born and raised in Hamilton and loving life in Stoney Creek for the last 16 years, Parkes had leveraged her business training into a 20-year career, mainly in retail. The valued employee wanted to be her own boss.

While social media can be disparaged, in this case, Instagram tossed up an image and profile that made Parkes stop scrolling. Graze Craze was launching its first location in Canada. Parkes was inspired. Her husband and children were on board, supporting her embrace of an enterprise that was all about “boards” – charcuterie boards.

Graze Craze is aiming to be global with locations in the U.S., Australia, and France, with the Grays Road, Stoney Creek shop being the first in Canada. Its boards and boxes, fit for “grazing” by one or groups of varying sizes, are artful compositions and creative combinations of cured meats, cheeses, dips, crackers, breads, fruits, vegetables, and classic charcuterie accoutrements. Much is sourced locally and dips are made daily in-house. Sandwiches and desserts are also available. Boards are available in versions tailored to dietary preferences such as gluten-free, meat-free, nut-free, or keto.

Reasonably sized orders can be prepared same-day with

only a few hours’ notice.

Boxes and boards are made from eco-friendly, woodgrained paperboard and sizes range from handheld CharCutie-Cups to picnic boxes and small to large boards. Graze Craze is not licensed, but has prepared a helpful booklet with wine pairing tips.

Parkes gets top marks for hospitality and customer service.

Typically, people think of charcuterie for company, but she has many ideas about situations where they’d be welcome and about who would love them (or a gift card). A Grab & Graze box might even become your favourite office (or workat-home) lunch or all-day snacking meal.

Parkes recently presented at a Women’s Network panel that focused on women who had “navigated pivots, rebranded their skills, and leaned into reinvention.” To her personal goals, she adds the values of community involvement, giving back, and contributing. Watch for Graze Craze at the weekly Stoney Creek Farmers’ Market and, in the fall, as the new vendor at Hamilton City Hall’s Common House Café. n -Diane Galambos grazecraze.ca IG: grazecraze_stoneycreek

GRAZE CRAZE BOARDS ARE ARTFUL COMPOSITIONS AND CREATIVE COMBINATIONS OF CURED MEATS, CHEESES, DIPS, CRACKERS, BREADS, FRUITS, VEGETABLES, AND MORE. PHOTO: DIANE GALAMBOS

50

HCM SUMMER 2026

/FOOD & DRINK

HAMILTON’S SHORT – AND TEMPESTUOUS –

coffee culture

T H E C O N S O L I D AT I O N O F A S M A L L C H A I N O F S H O P S A N D T H E S U D D E N C LO S U R E O F D E M O C R AC Y C A F É O N LO C K E S T R E E T A F T E R E M P L O Y E E S U N I O N I Z E D, A R E T H E L AT E S T I N T H E C I T Y ’ S R E L AT I V E LY F L E E T I N G H I S T O R Y I N S P E C I A LT Y J AVA . B y PA U L W E I N B E R G

I

t is getting harder to find a place in Hamilton that serves a decent cup of brewed coffee, a local writer posted on Facebook a few months ago.

It’s somewhat of an exaggeration you might say, considering the number of independent specialty coffee shops in the city – most of them on major, pedestrian-friendly thoroughfares.

What precipitated the comment about coffee is that we are witnessing the takeover of a number of popular independent coffee shops, such as Paisley Coffeehouse & Eatery, Donut Monster, Redchurch Café + Gallery, Mulberry Coffeehouse, and Democracy, by a single owner, Chris Mindorff, and converted into outlets in a corporate chain.

I have not heard or seen any evidence that the quality of the food and beverages have declined since he took them over and

he wisely maintained the names of the former independents.

But Mindorff is not responding to media inquiries (including mine) since he closed down the popular Democracy on Locke in December after the employees voted to form a union and attempted without success to negotiate with the employer.

A GoFundMe page was set up by former employees and union allies to raise funds for staff after the owner closed the café prior to Christmas. He “opted to close the restaurant with only two weeks’ warning, and no severance offered to staff.

Even within these final two weeks, management has repeatedly opted to close early, robbing staff of a chance to make money where they can, and robbing loyal customers of a chance to say goodbye to a community institution,” wrote one of the allies, Kelsea Swackhammer. /continued on next page

SUMMER 2026 HCM

51

/FOOD & DRINK Someone who shares similar fears about finding a decent cup of coffee in Hamilton as our disappointed writer is Mina Falcone, the former owner-operator of Café Oranje, an independently owned specialty coffee shop at 314 King St. E. in the International Village neighbourhood.

Its espresso-based coffees include Americano, double espresso, café latte, caffè mocha, cappuccino, flat white, and espresso macchiato. There are also various teas and food items on the menu, including sandwiches. The previous and original owner was Dutch, explaining the reference to the House of Orange monarchy in the Netherlands. The word oranje is pronounced orania in Dutch.

Falcone recalls that Mindorff offered her advice in 2017 after she bought Café Oranje one year earlier. “[Mindorff] was very open, very kind. I had no idea what I was doing,” Falcone says.

She describes herself as a newbie in the coffee shop business; pursuing a dream after retiring from three decades of work in a McMaster University research lab.

She describes Mindorff as strictly “a money man,” who previously worked in payroll processing at Canadian Tire.

Back in 2017, Falcone says that Mindorff had part ownership in three coffee shops, Mulberry, Paisley, and Station One Coffeehouse & Eatery in Grimsby. He explained to her how he consolidated and streamlined the purchasing of coffee beans and consumables such as cups, as well as eliminated inefficiencies and avoided costs in the entire operation.

She is not opposed to any of these strategies to keep her business afloat if they are imposed with a certain degree of moderation.

The issue, she relates, is that ultimately customers come to Café Oranje because it has high-quality specialty espresso-based coffees and food made from the best ingredients from local suppliers, which can be pricey at times. There is also a neighbourly community orientation to the premises, where Falcone was there daily behind the counter with her manager, serving and talking to customers.

Plus, Café Oranje’s staff are all trained as baristas in the fine art of coffee making.

Falcone is not sure whether a corporate chain of coffee shops focused on high 52

HCM SUMMER 2026

DEMOCRACY WAS SHUT DOWN BY ITS OWNER LATE LAST YEAR. PHOTOS: WILL VIPOND TAIT

volumes of sales and margins can maintain the different pace and orientation of an independent specialty coffee shop.

Falcone is plainly not surprised by either what she has read about what happened at Democracy or what she has heard from a former employee who now works for her.

“It becomes the priority of the owner to become focused on making money and so they start cutting corners, and they start not treating staff as well as they should,” she says.

But Falcone concedes her strategy is a risk during a difficult economic period for all restaurants in general in Canada. Living on a pension has given her a financial cushion that makes her situation unique.

“We are surviving but it is tough. Our sales dropped about five per cent for 2024-2025, which doesn’t sound like a lot. But if you factor in that a lot of things went up [like] wages … “.

(Since my interview earlier this year Falcone has retired and transferred ownership of the business of the café to her manager Cameron Logue, who is also a trained barista).

So, the question becomes: does the new chain of coffee shops represent potential decline in independent coffee outlets in Hamilton, especially when the Mulberry and

Democracy emerged more than a decade ago as part of a revitalization in the city?

Hamilton was a late bloomer when it comes to specialty coffees.

The century-old and family-run, multigenerational coffee bean seller House of Java was way ahead of the curve, says its owner, Laurie Clifford at her current location on James Street South.

“The House of Java was selling specialty coffee before it was popular in Hamilton. We were doing flavoured coffee before there was flavoured coffee here. We were here before Tim Hortons and Starbucks,” she says. The store started selling espresso in the late 1990s.

Local novelist David Neil Lee, who moved to Hamilton in 2002, attributes the late arrival of good coffee in the city to a cult surrounding the once Canadian-owned and now multinational coffee and donut chain Tim Hortons among many residents. The country’s first double-double was served at 65 Ottawa St. N. in May 1964.

“I think the old Hamiltonian state of mind identifies Tim Hortons with ‘us.’ So, the bland corporation with the mass-produced coffee and donuts gets conflated with the local neighbourhood enterprise, which is Hamilton through and through,” Lee says.

A key figure in the establishment of Hamilton coffee culture is Roger Abbiss, who was responsible for the emergence of Mulberry Coffeehouse in August 2010.

Coming from Toronto and its multiplicity of coffee shops in the early 2000s, Abbiss was surprised to discover a notable absence in nearby Hamilton. Personally, he hankered for an outlet serving both good coffee and offering Wi-Fi but found this was not possible in his new surroundings.

That turned out to be a business opportunity for Abbiss.

“I had a bigger business that was in the technology area in Toronto and I was looking for a simpler life and thought a coffee shop would be that,” he says.

That materialized in 2007 with Abbiss’s opening of My Dog Joe at 1020 King St. W. in Westdale. (Today, that is the address of the Paisley coffee outlet.)

In his new career as a coffee seller, Abbiss put an emphasis on selling freshly roasted fair trade, organic, and bird-friendly coffee.

He also relied at some point on a women’s co-op of coffee growers in Peru.

One of the regular customers was David Kuruc, who ran the Mixed Media arts supply store on James Street North before moving the business to Westdale years later.

Kuruc says My Dog Joe, with its “funky furniture,” was an instant hit in Westdale, responding to a pent-up demand from students, seniors, and families for an alternative sit-down venue.

“People were craving for a community.

That was a big part of it. My Dog Joe was not a Tim Hortons, nor part of a chain.

Instead, it was a place that was unique to its neighbourhood,” Kuruc notes.

Kuruc urged Abbiss to work a similar entrepreneurial magic on James Street North.

But the owner of My Dog Joe initially turned down Kuruc’s request, contending there was not enough foot traffic to support a new local coffee shop on this strip.

Today, Kuruc recalls the counter-argument.

As is often the case, artists and creative people had already taken advantage of the cheaper real estate downtown to take root along the corridor. Since 2005, James Street North has been the site of a monthly art crawl featuring local galleries on the street,

that of course, morphed into the nowmammoth Supercrawl in 2009.

What was missing was a coffee shop on James Street North that was welcoming and friendly, says Kuruc. “When we were down there in 2005, to get a coffee on James Street North the only place was Café Michelangelo, which was a hangout for older Italian and Portuguese guys.”

The downtown Italian and Portuguese cafés tended to be “old school” regarding coffee. “They didn’t understand freshly roasted coffee or care about quality espresso,” says Jason Hofing, today the co-owner of Relay Coffee Roasters.

Hofing recalls fondly as a young person in his pre-Relay days coming down to James Street North before the Mulberry finally opened.

He was busy selling specialized coffee at local events such as a craft market and art crawl. “People didn’t know coffee in Hamilton. When we started it was, how do I present coffee to people that makes it interesting? We can talk about roasting or coffee from different countries.”

At the time, there were a few signs that downtown Hamilton was starting to emerge

MULBERRY COFFEEHOUSE ON JAMES STREET NORTH.

from the doldrums that had taken hold since about the late 1970s.

As early as 2006, the short-lived Bread and Roses coffee shop with its own roaster opened up on the ground floor of the Sky Dragon Co-operative building on King William Street, which functioned as an arts and community hub. The coffee outlet was subsequently replaced by the lively Homegrown Hamilton, which served fairtrade coffee and featured open mic music.

But the place also did not last.

Lee, who is both a player and scholar of jazz, and the author of a sci-fi horror trilogy, has his own memories about Homegrown.

“Hamilton Homegrown on King William is the first indie coffee place I remember going to, and of course, it’s where Nate and Meghan go to meet H.P. Lovecraft in my novel The Midnight Games, which I began around 2011,” Lee recalls.

Today, that same space in Sky Dragon is taken up by Hofing’s Relay, which has seen a surge in popularity after being featured in the sensation that is Heated Rivalry.

Abbiss’s opposition to James Street North as the location for his second coffee shop started to become untenable by 2009.

A group of local investors had bought the historic, but rundown, former Hotel Hamilton at 193 James St. N. at the corner of Mulberry Street.

The investors saw both an opportunity to earn a financial return and to play a role in the revitalization of this street, says Kuruc.

Their plan was to have studios and offices upstairs and a new coffee shop on the ground floor, then being used as a laundromat.

Hofing toured the first-floor space but turned down an offer to start a coffee shop, he says, due to a lack of capital and experience.

Instead, he and his wife Rachel opened the first of their Relay outlets in 2011 with a shop on the mezzanine level in the Hamilton Farmers’ Market. (They opened another coffee shop on Concession Street in 2013. Today, their sole outlet is on King William.)

Ultimately, Abbiss had the means and the expertise to jump at the opportunity to renovate the space and create what became Mulberry Coffeehouse.

At first, Abbiss contemplated also calling the new coffee shop My Dog Joe but had a change of heart one week before the official /continued on next page SUMMER 2026 HCM

53

/FOOD & DRINK opening in August 2010. He decided that Mulberry was a more suitable name to reflect the personality of the downtown street.

Abbiss also wanted to avoid creating a franchise chain feel, where his two coffee shops looked and felt like twins.

“We wanted [Mulberry] to develop on its own in that neighbourhood. We didn’t expect the same experience that you would with a franchise. I am an anti-franchise, anti-chain store kind of guy,” Abbiss says.

He confirms that in its early days the Mulberry was more like a coffee shop with a smaller menu and a modest kitchen and art on the wall.

After renovations to become the Mulberry of today, Abbiss eventually sold this business as well as My Dog Joe. He says he prefers the creativity of building a new small business from scratch and then allowing someone else more capable to operate the place day to day.

“I co-ordinated it all [at Mulberry] but I was not interested nor very good at running it. We learned from My Dog Joe that running a coffee shop is not my forte,” he says.

As predicted by Kuruc, Mulberry did become a popular downtown gathering place for people living and working downtown, including city hall employees, politicians, local activists, lobbyists, musicians, and other artists. Other coffee shops like Redchurch have since opened up in the core of the city.

The emergence of such coffee shops are examples of what U.S. sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the “third place.” That is where people can socially engage with each other outside of their home and workplace.

Such informal public spaces may be a coffee shop, a restaurant or a bar, but not every coffee shop, restaurant or bar is run like a third place.

Oldenburg saw the third place as playing a major role in building community and democracy, the latter drawing on the role that cafés have played historically in Europe going back centuries.

As an aside, considering Democracy’s recent history, it opened in 2013 on Locke Street as a stand-alone independent operation by Abbiss before its change of ownership. His aim was to encourage debate and discussion among customers. “We didn’t offer Wi-Fi. The idea was that people would talk to each other,” he wrote back then.

However, political debate in a coffee shop 54

HCM SUMMER 2026

PAISLEY COFFEEHOUSE & EATERY IN WESTDALE. PHOTOS: WILL VIPOND TAIT

RELAY COFFEE ROASTERS IS IN THE HEART OF KING WILLIAM’S RESTAURANT ROW.

can also turn nasty, says Clifford at the House of Java. Since an argument broke out among some individuals lined up for brewed coffee in her shop, a sign on a side counter explains the shop’s policy: “While on the premises please refrain from discussing the following — politics, religion, world events..” Customers are also asked to avoid using profanity.

Over the years, Starbucks has successfully mass marketed and commercialized the

third-place concept (minus the political connotations) for its vast network of coffee outlets. But a few years ago, the corporate chain was being accused of backing away from its third-place role.

Falcone suggests that Starbucks under a new CEO is returning to third-place rhetoric, but time will tell if this will be successful.

It is certain that the presence of coffee shops played a role in the renewal of neighbourhoods and streets such as James Street North, Locke Street, and Ottawa Street North, among other destination locations.

At the same time, coffee shops have a harder time thriving in sections of Hamilton where the car is the predominant form of transportation. They function better in walkable neighbourhoods where they rely on local customers just a short distance away.

“Hamilton does not have the pedestrian traffic that Toronto has with small cafés here and there,” observes Hofing.

So, the question arises at the specialty coffee shop: What takes precedence, especially as customers pay a premium for a really good cup of coffee, the community or the java?

Café Domestiique at 102 King St. W. in Dundas is an Italian-style café that specializes in espresso-blend coffee (made from different coffee beans) as well as oneshot espresso that you can also buy in a train station in Rome.

Close to cycling trails in the Dundas Valley, Café Domestiique also describes itself as Canada’s first cycling coffee shop,

with paraphernalia on the wall and riders wearing tight cycling pants ordering coffee at the front counter from owner Krys Hines.

Espresso and cycling are intimately linked in Europe, explains Hines.

At the same time, domestique is a French term for “servant” that is used in cycling to describe people assisting champion racers to succeed in competitions. The name of the café also emphasizes a relationship with customers.

Hence, there is a rejection at Café Domestiique of the “third wave” (not to be confused with third place). This represents the principles of specialty coffee providers to focus on creative roasting, grinding, and brewing techniques (the three stages of coffee making) and the sustainable and ethical practices of the coffee grower in the Global South.

“I tend to shy away from coffee with too much self importance. You will never see us advertise about our coffee,” says Hines.

Over at Durand Coffee at 142 Charlton Ave. W., which opened in 2016 and currently includes both a coffee shop and a bar,

co-owner Chris Redmond counters that an independent coffee shop can be both community oriented (for the Durand neighbourhood) and support the third wave simultaneously.

Redmond says so-called third-place corporate coffee chains like Starbucks borrow or copy the rhetoric of the specialty coffee shops as customers become more discerning about their coffee.

“The third-wave approach to coffee is more crucial than ever. As corporate coffee co-opts its aesthetics, it’s become harder to tell true craftsmanship from clever branding.

Without third-wave principles — a focus on quality and detail — coffee risks becoming just another marketing tool, with corners cut and flavour sacrificed for profit. Third-wave values are what keep coffee culture honest,” says Redmond.

Lisa Stanton, the owner of Vintage Coffee Roasters, which opened in 2015 at 977 King St. E. in the Stipley neighbourhood, also supports the principles of sustainable craft coffee that are displayed on her coffee shop’s website.

Yet, she maintains that the term third wave has outlived its usefulness and so avoids using it. She is concerned about potential coffee snobbery where customers might feel excluded if they come into a specialty coffee shop just wanting a cup of coffee with no bells or whistles.

“In my mind, third-wave coffee is not as accessible to everyone, and it is important that our coffees are something that everyone is going to enjoy,” says Stanton, who is the second owner of the Vintage.

“Not that we don’t have good coffees from different areas and countries. I would say, we are more third place than third wave,” says Stanton.

She is also determined to stay independent.

“I am definitely still the sole owner,” she says, and she’s not sure the emergence of a new coffee shop chain in Hamilton signals a trend just yet.

“Most of the folks I know in the coffee business wouldn’t consolidate, especially after seeing the response that Chris Mindorff’s takeover has received.” n

Why leave your best friend behind?

Dogtrotting.net is the online magazine for people who believe adventures are better with a canine co-pilot.

We help you discover dog-friendly destinations, hotels, festivals, patios, attractions, and experiences across Canada and beyond.

Dog-friendly travel recommendations based on experience Overviews of dog-friendly hotels, festivals, and cafes Unique travel attractions featuring dogs Extensive lists of pet-friendly festivals and events across Canada Reviews of dog products that make your life easier

Dogtrotting.net

Subscribe to receive three dog-friendly suggestions per month straight to your inbox.

Bookmark the Dog Events page to keep up with pet-friendly events near you.

SUMMER 2026 HCM

55

/FOOD & DRINK

SHARE YOUR WAY

H E R E A R E S O M E G R E AT P L A C E S A C R O S S T H E C I T Y T O V I S I T W I T H A B I G G R O U P A N D E AT Y O U R WAY T H R O U G H T H E M E N U!

S

By H E AT H E R P E T E R

ometimes when you go to a new restaurant, it can be hard to choose a dish from all the delicious-sounding options. One of the best ways to enjoy a meal can be to bring out a group of friends, order a bunch of items off the menu, and share them all! That way you get a little taste of everything. Luckily, there are several restaurants in Hamilton that specialize in shareable apps and tapas, and others that do them really well!

56

HCM SUMMER 2026

T H E D I S T R I C T TA PA S + B A R The District first opened in St. Catharines in 2020, and has since expanded to an additional large restaurant on Barton Street in Hamilton. On the menu you’ll find entrées and mains, but as the name suggests, you will also find a whole variety of shareable options. Dishes like prime rib bao, pork ribs with roasted sweet potato, mushroom caps stuffed with whipped ricotta and pesto, jerk duck tacos, and much more. For cocktail fans, there is a variety of creative options on the menu. Visit for brunch, too!

61 Barton St. E., Hamilton districttapasham.com BERKELEY NORTH Berkeley North is one of the few restaurants in Hamilton that has been recognized by Michelin! The airy bright space on King William feels like dining al fresco on a nice summer day. Small shareable plates on the menu include: mushroom dumplings, zesty kohlrabi salad, tuna crudo, sourdough, and more. Try the fried chicken – the crisp on it is absolutely delicious. You can also do a tasting menu for two if that’s more your style.

Against the Machine. There are also popular wing deals and the kitchen creates new wing flavours each week to try.

107 George St., Hamilton ooeygooeys.ca SASSO PIZZA MARKET & BAR Sasso Pizza on Upper James and Rymal not only has a whole menu of pizza and pasta options, there is also a sharingspecific menu. On the sharing menu you’ll find Italian favourites like arancini with prosciutto, meatballs with crispy polenta, and fried calamari with putanesca purée.

You’ll also find some more classic options, such as wings, oysters, charcuterie, mussels, and more. For the deals, check out the happy hour daily from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. ‘til close.

1595 Upper James St., Hamilton sassopizzas.ca

LUCKY DUCK One of the newest restaurants on the scene, Lucky Duck is the latest restaurant from chef Matt Kershaw. Reminiscent of the original Rapscallion & Co. (if you know you know), Lucky Duck has a rotating blackboard menu with creative meat and vegetable choices that have a seasonal flair. It looks as if other local chefs will be popping up there to test out some innovative blackboard menus too!

THE OLIVE BOARD KITCHEN & WINE BAR If charcuterie and wine is your thing, you’ll want to make the trip to The Olive Board in Grimsby. The board options on the menu serve two to three people and come in a whole variety of choices, from Italian cheese and meat, Canadian cheese and meat, French, and more. You can also choose the base charcuterie board and then pick a variety of add-ons to really customize your charcuterie experience: fig spread, crackers, specialty cheese and meats, and more. The Olive Board flat breads are great for sharing with a friend or two – we suggest the BBQ chicken flatbread - and there is an extensive menu of additional shareables. Find dishes like mussels, burrata, and cowboy caviar with avocado and corn.

302 James St. N., Hamilton luckyduckhamilton.com

371 Winston Rd., Grimsby theoliveboard.com

OOEY GOOEY’S Ooey Gooey’s is much more casual than some of the others on the list, but sometimes that’s what the friend hangout calls for! This spot on George Street in Hess Village has regular live music events and a chill vibe. The menu has a plethora of shareable nachos with different toppings, all with creative names: Zesty Mordant, Tonawanda Nights, Ranch

BARTON SALUMERIA CHARCUTERIE & CHEESE Barton Salumeria is the perfect place to discover a favourite new cheese or meat! It specializes first in charcuterie, and it’s build it yourself, so you choose three, five, or seven options from their menu choices. Not sure what to get? Ask the team for suggestions, they are really knowledgeable and happy to

31 King William St., Hamilton berkeleynorth.ca

share their meat and cheese knowledge! Not feeling charcuterie? Barton Salumeria also has dishes like sandwiches, Caesar salad, mac and cheese, and much more. You can also pre-order for same-day takeout charcuterie boxes. Grab some charcuterie options for you and friends, and head outdoors somewhere to share them together!

357 Barton St. E., Hamilton bartonsalumeria.com ETNO BAR & GRILL Etno Bar & Grill is the place to go when you want to share some comfort food meat dishes with a group of friends. This Serbian restaurant in Stoney Creek offers shareable platters of Balkan specialties, such as stuffed schnitzel, cevapi, pork chops, and more. Be sure to try the kaymak cream cheese, with ajvar pepper sauce and fresh pita!

125 Gailmont Dr., Hamilton etno.ca T H E V I L L A G E R E S TA U R A N T More of a casual home-style spot, The Village Restaurant is a comfort-food restaurant that has a whole menu section of shareables and starters: coconut shrimp, spinach and artichoke dip, chicken flatbread with spinach and feta, and a jalapeno popper platter with mozza sticks and deep fried pickles. For full meals, there are the classics like English-style fish and chips (very popular!), full turkey dinner, burgers, and homemade sandwiches.

35 King St. E., Stoney Creek villagerestaurant.ca D A P H N E ’ S H A M I LT O N Sister restaurant to the popular Flora Pizzeria on Young near James Street South, Daphne’s is conveniently located right next door. The moody and romantic little restaurant space of Daphne’s is perfect for sharing a meal with a date, loved one, or friend! The menu switches quite regularly, but the innovative dishes absolutely should not be missed: tomato suppli with smoked mozzarella (similar to an arancini), scallops and tuna with yuzu, grilled octopus with caponata, and larger shareables like rabbit agnolotti pasta and New York strip steak.

2 Young St., Hamilton IG: daphneshamilton SUMMER 2026 HCM

57

/FOOD & DRINK

HISTORIC EATS ON

PLAINS ROAD

HOSPITALITY ENTREPRENEURS SERVED HUNGRY DRIVERS FOR DECADES BEFORE THE QEW, 403, AND THE SKYWAY BRIDGE CHANGED TRAFFIC PATTERNS FOREVER. NO MATTER, THERE ARE PLENTY OF VETERAN AND NEWCOMER RESTAURANTS SERVING A DIVERSITY OF CUISINES ALONG THE ALDERSHOT CORRIDOR. B y D I A N E G A L A M B O S

THE RBG ROCK GARDEN BISTRO HAS INDOOR AND OUTDOOR SEATING – AND DINING WITH A VIEW! PHOTO: ROYAL BOTANICAL GARDENS

T

his issue’s dining district encompasses Plains Road from where York Boulevard ends to the Niagara-bound highway, where the road jogs. It’s a section that is technically part of King’s Highway 2, which continues eastward along the Lakeshore. Plains Road was once a busy part of this dominant route across southern Ontario, beginning in Windsor and, to this day, ending in Halifax, Nova Scotia!

Historically, as part of the main access to Toronto, Plains Road saw considerable traffic, which inspired hospitality entrepreneurs. Things began to change when the QEW opened in 1937 (with upgrades in the 1950s). The expanding Hwy 403 and the opening of the Skyway Bridge (1958) drew even more “commuter” traffic away from Plains Road. The good news is that today it offers a bounty of dining experiences with some hospitality roots that make for great stories.

58

HCM SUMMER 2026

EASTERBROOK’S 694 Spring Gardens Rd. www.easterbrooks.ca IG: easterbrooks_hotdogs Spring Gardens Road was once part of Hwy 2 and here began the story of Mabel Easterbrook, whose family roots date back to the 1800s. The determined businesswoman responded to the traffic flow of potential customers by opening a tea house in 1926, which by 1930 had evolved into a hot dog eatery. The history of the Easterbrook family, who owned farms along Plains Road, could fill a book. Mabel’s great-grandson Blake is the current “top dog” at the iconic Easterbrook’s Foot-Long Hotdogs, taking hold of the reins after his father Ray retired.

Mabel ran the business for 17 years, through the Great Depression and two world wars.

Blake’s grandmother Irene took over for 30 years and Blake’s father had the longest run so far of 42 years. In Burlington Historical Society videos, Ray stands in front of the original building, describing indoor counters and seating dating back to around 1929.

Business cards plaster the ceiling – some from the days when there were no postal codes or telephone area codes.

Easterbrook’s menu offers more than a dozen playfully named 12-inch hot dogs, as well as burgers. Their newest hot dog – the BBQ Banger – was the top dog of the year.

Veggie dogs and sausages are on offer and for kiddies, there are pogos and chicken nuggets.

Homemade gravy tops fries or enjoy the chili fries or onion rings. But save room for dessert – scooped ice cream (regular, sugar, or waffle cones), milkshakes, floats, and sundaes.

EASTERBROOK’S INTERIOR LINED WITH BUSINESS CARDS. PHOTO: DIANE GALAMBOS

ROCK GARDEN BISTRO: RBG 1185 York Blvd. rbg.ca/dining/rock-garden-bistro Just before York Boulevard becomes Plains Road is the RBG Rock Garden, which dates back to the 1930s. Inspired by classic French bistros, the Rock Garden Bistro’s rotating menu includes vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free choices. Sunday brunch and a new happy hour are popular. Guests can dine indoors or on the seasonal patio. This is delicious dining with a glorious view.

THE RBG ROCK GARDEN BISTRO IS PERCHED ON AN ELEVATION ABOVE A WEE VALLEY LUSH WITH NATURE’S BEAUTY. PHOTO: DIANE GALAMBOS

G R E E N H O U S E C A F É : R O YA L B OTA N I C A L G A R D E N S 680 Plains Rd. W. rbg.ca/dining/greenhouse-cafe IG: rbgcanada The Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) Centre opened in the 1950s with additions and upgrades in successive decades. This location offers indoor gardens, gift shops, teaching spaces/resources, and special events, including performing arts and floral showcases, such as the recent Bloomland in Oz. Visitors who have paid garden admission can access the Greenhouse Café for a snack, lunch, or a sweet treat - a delicious way to top off a visit. RBG members save 10 per cent on dining.

T U R N E R PAV I L I O N T E A HOUSE: RBG 680 Plains Rd. W. rbg.ca/dining/turner-pavilion-teahouse/ Located in Hendrie Park, the Rose Garden and sculpture collection are enhancements to the tranquil, charming dining experience in the newly renovated Turner Pavilion. While light fare and à la carte treats are on the menu, the main attraction is the afternoon tea, featuring a variety of savoury selections, scones, and petits fours, including vegetarian and vegan options. General admission and reservations are required. Park at the RBG Centre, pay general admission and access Hendrie Park and the Turner Pavilion via the underground tunnel.

R O S E G A R D E N FA M I LY R E S TA U R A N T 1124 Plains Rd. W. rosegardenfamily.com IG: rose_garden_burlington There has been a restaurant on this site since the 1940s. The Rendezvous and then Louie’s West Side Grill preceded the current Rose Garden, opened in 2010 by the talented chef John Choi. The unpretentious space is in keeping with a comfort food menu that is ambitious and delicious, and includes breakfast. The lunch/dinner menu offers a wide range of starters including dumplings, wings, spring rolls, soups, salads, sandwiches, and burgers. Comfort food entrées include meatloaf, hot turkey sandwich, shepherd’s pie, fish and chips, schnitzel, lasagna, and liver and onions. Choi’s Korean specialties, such as bibimbap and chicken teriyaki rice bowl, are not to be missed. Come once and you’ll return often.

R U S S E L L W I L L I A M S FA M I LY R E S TA U R A N T 20 Plains Rd. E. russellwilliamsrestaurant.com IG: russellwilliamsrest In 1932, not long after Easterbrook’s began rolling out hot dogs, Russell Williams opened a family eatery in Hamilton – the first in his Bright Spot restaurant chain. The Plains Road location is believed to have opened sometime in the 1950s and is the only one still open.

Williams passed the baton to his daughter Mona in 1976 and the business was sold in the early 1980s. Owners Chris and Mary Plessas offer the same home-cooked food and warm welcome today that brought in the first customers more than 90 years ago.

Although the menu features soups, salads, /continued on next page SUMMER 2026 HCM

59

/FOOD & DRINK sandwiches, burgers, classic entrées, and desserts, a main attraction is the all-day breakfast. Russell Williams is the place you visit to rekindle fond memories of a momand-pop restaurant – a fact attested to by the occasional lineup at the door. Their slogan?

The kind of place where the pancakes are stacked high, the fries are plentiful, and the coffee flows freely.

WEST PLAINS BISTRO 133 Plains Rd. E. westplainsbistro.com | IG: westplainsbistro West Plains Bistro accumulated a devoted fan club over the decades it was run by founder Irene Burns until her retirement in 2023. An exciting new chapter with owners Sarah and Ed Catley is building on the eatery’s reputation for hospitality and exceptional dining in a totally renovated space. Some signature dishes remain, and the chef-inspired menu offers made-in-house entrées, prepared à la minute. Appetizers, soups, and salads appear along with such items as salmon and pasta at lunch. At dinner, schnitzel, coq au vin, and beef tenderloin are additional tantalizing options. The ambiance, service, and food continue to satisfy old and new fans.

WEST PLAINS BISTRO’S CHEF-INSPIRED MENU INCLUDES MOUTHWATERING FISH CAKES. PHOTO: WEST PLAINS BISTRO

are used in baked goods, which include classic and innovative creations. With meticulous attention to all aspects of coffee brewing, one could say Peach Coffee has mastered the perfect brew. Ask about custom-made treats.

The Peach Coffee brand includes supporting artisans and the community.

T H E P L AT T E R C O M PA N Y GOURMET FOOD MARKET 175 Plains Rd. E. theplattercompany.ca | IG: theplattercompany Whether it’s a party or special dinner, the Platter Gourmet Food Market provides top-notch food that is impressive eye candy and satisfyingly delicious. Their grab & go freezers offer irresistible fresh, frozen, and pantry goodies. Check out the platters, breads and dips, salad bowls, soups, pasta sauces, and sides – and, of course, desserts – all with gluten-free options. Catering is available as well as pre-ordered meals for special holidays.

DISTRICT KITCHEN + BAR 335 Plains Rd. E. districtkitchenandbar.com IG: districtkitchenandbar Once upon a time, it was Chaps. Then it was Pluckers Wing and Crab Shop. In 2021, this space was renewed and rebranded as District Kitchen, aiming to be a casual space where the community can come together. The menu focuses on pub fare with vegetarian and gluten-friendly options. With dishes that include wings, burgers, pizza, bowls, and more, the menu almost seems like a well-researched list of “what pub diners want.” Ask about the daily features and brunch menu – often tailored to celebrations such as Mother’s Day. Recent entertainment includes trivia nights, a drag brunch, and breakfast with Princess Peach.

P E A C H C O F F E E C O. 175 Plains Rd. E. peachcoffeeco.com | IG: peach_coffee_co What does peach bring to mind? Warm, fuzzy? Peachy keen? All that can describe the welcoming environment Peach Coffee aims to offer. As a gathering place, the interiors combine cozy furnishings, soothing colours, and inviting lighting to create a relaxing environment. Local, high-quality ingredients

CAKED COFFEE 364 Plains Rd. E. cakedcoffee.ca | IG: cakedcoffee.cafe This family-owned bakery creates handcrafted vegan desserts from scratch and in small batches every day. Its products contain no artificial colours or flavours and some gluten-free options are also available.

And, of course, there’s coffee. Ask about the catering service.

60

HCM SUMMER 2026

U N B O U N D C O F F E E + G E L AT O 516 Plains Rd. E. Unit 6 unbound.coffee | IG: unbound.coffee Anna Safronova and her husband Yev Safronov opened Unbound Coffee with the idea of creating an inviting space where people can stop in for a well-made espresso, enjoy a slower moment, or take a gelato and iced latte on a walk through the neighbourhood. Actually, forget the “or.” Coffee pairs really well with gelato and Unbound offers award-winning gelato from Death in Venice, known for its creative flavour combos. Think ricotta rosemary lemon, Boozy Tiramisu, strawberry basil lemon, Nutella & Cookies, and vanilla bean & honey. There is some indoor seating and an activity wall for kids. Their goal is to become your “go to” place for excellent espresso, memorable gelato flavours, and a calm, friendly coffee shop experience.

TURTLEDOVES BAKERY 645 Plains Rd. E. turtledoves.ca | IG: turtledovesbakery Since 2010, this bakery has brought handcrafted gluten-free baked goods to the Plains Road scene, meeting individual dietary preferences and providing options for people

MOROCCAN LAMB SHANK IS ONE OF THE PLATTER COMPANY’S IMPRESSIVE PREPARED MEALS. PHOTO: THE PLATTER COMPANY

R O YA L C U M I N I N D I A N & H A K K A 650 Plains Rd. E. royalcumin.com | IG: royal_cumin Joining the array of diverse cuisines on Plains Road is Royal Cumin, offering classic Indian dishes and Hakka (IndoChinese) cuisine, which, in the simplest of terms, combines Indian spices with Chinese cooking styles. Frequently ordered dishes are tandoori chicken, butter chicken, and parathas. The classics are all there – samosas, pakoras, masala, spring rolls, momos and, as to be expected, both protein and vegetable dishes, rice and biryani choices. Royal Cumin’s stated goal is to blend culinary excellence with warm hospitality with their takeaway, delivery, and catering.

ROYAL CUMIN INDIAN & HAKKA HAS TENDER CURRIES, FLAVOURFUL KEBABS, AND AROMATIC RICE. PHOTO: @ROYAL_CUMIN

with celiac disease. Try anything made here and join the chorus of “I can’t believe it’s gluten-free.” Choose from breads, cakes, cheesecakes, cookies, donuts, croissants, Danishes, and turnovers. Turtledoves also offers fruit and meat pies, and savoury options including soups, Jamaican patties, mac & cheese, and lasagna. Where possible and reasonable, the team uses locally-sourced ingredients. In their words, “Turtledoves is where gluten-free and great taste meet.”

SAKIS MEDITERRANEAN & G R E E K R E S TA U R A N T 645 Plains Rd. E. sakisgreekrestaurant.com IG: sakis.restaurant Yet another family restaurant is Sakis, serving quality home-style food daily since 2016. Greek and Mediterranean food await, even at lunch time, with tantalizing specials.

The various platters make it easy to enjoy a range of menu items. Of course, there’s hummus, falafels, pitas, gyros, souvlaki dinners, and salads – and everyone’s favourite dessert – baklava.

THAI SENSES 645 Plains Rd. E. thaisenses.ca | IG: thaisenses Here’s where you go for authentic Thai cuisine made from time-honoured recipes and fresh ingredients. The chef specials are khao soi and pad kaprao moo sub. Khao soi

is a northern Thai dish of chicken drumsticks and egg noodles in a curry broth. Kaprao moo sub dishes up crispy pork belly and minced pork with fried egg and jasmine rice.

The menu offers all the classics – spring rolls, shrimp rolls, and cold rolls, satays, wontons, mango salad, soups, and curries, including massaman curry beef. BBQ, stir fry, noodle, and rice dishes can be topped off with appetizing drinks and desserts, such as fried banana with honey and Pandan cake. Thai Senses offers dine-in, pickup, catering, and delivery.

LO RD NELSO N STEAK HOUSE 650 Plains Rd. E. thelordnelson.com | IG: lordnelsonrestaurant Opened in 1974, the Lord Nelson Steak House has mastered the combination of warm ambiance with sophisticated service for an unforgettable fine-dining experience.

Iconic steak house dishes are the core of the menu, attracting steak house fans. Yes, they offer Caesar salad, jumbo shrimp cocktail, oysters Rockefeller, and even cherries jubilee.

Steak may be the draw card, but it shares the menu with beef tenderloin, veal, and an appetizing assortment of seafood and pasta dishes. Lord Nelson prides itself on serving top-quality meats and fresh seafood with an extensive drinks list. A bonus not often associated with steak houses is that most days it is open for lunch, which makes Lord Nelson a great place for ladies or gents lunching, midday dates, or business lunches.

CULINARY DIVERSITY My routines have taken me along Plains Road for several decades and it has been astonishing to see continuous development aimed at improving quality of life for the surrounding community. Culinary diversity abounds with most cuisines on a typical diner’s checklist available – Chinese, Indian, Mediterranean, Japanese, pub grub, pizzas, donuts, a diner, a premier butcher, and a fish monger – AND one of the oldest seasonal walk-up Dairy Queens in Ontario.

The community that developed on the band of land to the north and south of Plains Road, nestled along the shores of Hamilton Harbour/Burlington Bay was, for a time, an unincorporated village called Aldershot.

Annexed by Burlington in 1958, Aldershot Village continues to nurture community bonds.

Andrea Dodd, executive director of the Aldershot Business Improvement Area (BIA), stresses that “Aldershot’s food scene is full of flavour! From cozy dine-in spots to quick takeout, sunny patios to breakfast gems that start your day right. We’ve got it all waiting for you. Come explore the east end of Burlington and discover your new favourite!”

Aldershot Village BIA 195 Plains Rd. E. aldershotbia.com | IG: aldershotvillagebia

scan the qr code to read more foodie district reviews from all over the gha by diane galambos SUMMER 2026 HCM

61

/CITY VIEW

N A N C Y M c M I L L A N IS A BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR WHO HAS CHAIRED THE BRIGHT RUN FUNDRAISER SINCE 2012.

IT HAS RAISED $6.6 MILLION FOR LOCAL CANCER RESEARCH.

CANCER CRUSADER B y M E R E D IT H M ACL E O D NANCY McMILLAN was born in Ottawa and spent time growing up in Toronto, New York, Vancouver, and Ottawa, mostly in that order. She studied business administration at Western University and then followed in the footsteps of her father with a 33-year career at Scotiabank. McMillan travelled all over the province with the bank, working in operations at 19 different branches, and then shifting to private investing, and then wealth management.

She put down roots when she bought a house in Burlington in 1992. Shortly after, she met her husband Gord Bell and they moved to Grimsby. McMillan was named a Hamilton Woman of Distinction in 2013 and received a Meritorious Service Medal from the Governor General of Canada in 2025. She is a stepmom to two boys and a grandmother to four. McMillan has been chair of the BRIGHT Run since 2012. It has raised $6.6 million for local cancer research. The 19th annual BRIGHT Run is Sept. 12.

PHOTO: JON EVANS FOR HCM

62

HCM SUMMER 2026

Can you tell us about your cancer experience?

I had breast cancer while I was still working when I was 48. I took a couple of years to go through that whole thing, and I was very fortunate because I could. Then I went back to work for a couple of years. And then I decided to leave after 33 years when I was 53. I was very fortunate, very very fortunate, to be able to start with one [company] name on the paycheque and end with the same name on the paycheque for that many years, because that doesn’t happen.

The interesting back story is on Oct. 4, it was 4:07 in the morning and I woke up from a dream, and in the dream I had seen pink ribbon.

I did kind of feel something [in my breast], and I did what every responsible woman would do, rolled over and went back to sleep. I got up in the morning, got in the shower, and had a recollection of something and I felt something again. I had a fabulous family doctor who was at the time at a conference in Arizona, and within 24 hours she had set me up to go and get a mammogram at Joe Brant, because I was living in Burlington. I did the whole mammogram and ultrasound thing and on Oct. 28 I had my surgery. I was so very fortunate, because I think waiting would have been awful.

So, I had my surgery at Joe Brant, and then I was referred to JCC (Juravinski Cancer Centre), and you have to wait a little while after the surgery. So, I went and met with the gang there and the medical oncologist Dr. Arnold. He asked if I wanted to wait for treatment until the new year but I said, ‘No, let’s go.’ So, I did the eight chemo treatments, and then I did radiation, and there were 30 of those, 25 and a boost of five.

Now that would be five treatments if someone presented exactly the same as I did. That speaks to improved quality of life as you go through the going through to get through.

How did cancer change your life?

I have to bite my tongue, and I do – mostly – when people will say, ‘Well, when I retire, I’m going to do this or that.’ Or, ‘Well, I don’t have time for that right now, but you know, I’ll put it on the list.’

scan the qr code to read much more from nancy mcmillan. hamiltoncitymagazine.ca

I learned from my experience, you don’t put off anything, whether it’s needing gas on the way home or planning to go to Hawaii when I retire. Do you have the means to go now? Yes? Go, go, go. God willing, you can do it again.

Don’t put off anything. I found it to be a true wake-up call for me. And I learned when people offer to do something for you, or to help, say yes, because it’s more for them than for you.

Everybody wants to help; they don’t know what the hell to do. So, if they offer to do the smallest of things that you could do yourself, say, ‘Thank you, that would be great.’

Everybody has a little something they can share, and they feel so good about making a contribution. We need to allow more of that to happen in our world.

What’s the origin of the BRIGHT Run? About the same time that I was diagnosed, at the cancer centre, there were five medical oncologists and registered nurses, and they had been hearing from the patient base about going down the road to PMH [Princess Margaret Hospital] to do the Weekend to End Breast Cancer, and then there was the CIBC Run for the Cure. And they were getting a little miffed that, you know, their patient base was doing great things, no question about it, but they were right here, and doing great research.

So they came together and they decided to do their event on exactly the same day as the PMH Walk. So they were going to go nose-tonose. So they did. So it always happens on the first Saturday after Labour Day. It has since the beginning, and it will continue.

So, the first year I think they raised just a little over $250,000 and I think they had between 700 and 800 participants.

I participated that year, and for the three years after that with my team and did some fundraising. It was originally at Dundas Valley Conservation Area, they had all kinds of stuff, they had stuff for the kids, they had bands, they had music, they had food, just a real celebratory feel to it over the next five years.

How does the BRIGHT Run operate?

Our primary goal is to raise the money, and then we hand it over to the [Hamilton Health Sciences] Foundation, who is the steward of our money. They take applications on an annual basis and scrutinize those through peer review.

To date, we’ve funded 24 projects that in some cases have grown to international studies

and have changed practice for breast cancer patients.

What are some of the accomplishments of the BRIGHT Run? In the early days, the funding was for seed projects to get a proof of concept. BRIGHT Run was putting in $50,000 for individual projects to fund those seed projects and get them off the ground. Years later, here we are. We just put $1 million into the pot in the last call, and I believe there’s been about eight or nine applications come in for grants, so we wait until the end of July to find out how many of those we’ll be able to fund. We outfitted one of the ultrasound suites at the CIBC Breast Assessment Centre when it was opening. We brought the PYNK Program to the Juravinski Centre. We’re really proud. It’s one of only three in Ontario. It’s for women under 40 who have breast cancer. The other thing we did is that we were able to endow a chair at McMaster – the BRIGHT Run Breast Cancer Learning Health System Research Chair.

They recruited from across the country, into the U.S. and internationally as well, and we have Dr. Ashirbani Saha. Her background is as an engineer, and her focus is on using artificial intelligence to move breast cancer forward. She and her bright and sparkly students are doing incredible, incredible work.

Those are the highlights of what we’ve done with the money that we’ve been able to raise $5 at a time. Because we don’t have people writing $1,000 cheques; you buy a raffle ticket for five bucks, you buy a penny sale for five bucks. We get some nice donations, but no big cheques.

It’s boots on the ground.

How would you describe Hamilton as a centre of cancer care?

The best. We are blessed that we have world-renowned practitioners here who are not only great patient-centred physicians, but world-renowned researchers who get it. They see the patient, they talk to the patient, they listen to the patient, and then they go back and think, ‘OK, how can we make this process better for the next person that’s going to go through this experience?’ And they’re everywhere, the radiation oncologist, the medical oncologist, the surgical oncologist, the nurses that support them, they are all top of their game and very empathetic. Many have been down the [cancer] road themselves. There is a sense we are all in it together in that building. n SUMMER 2026 HCM

63

/continued from page 45 The likes of Forgotten Rebels mainman Mickey DeSadist, Dean Fulton (Lost Soul Caravan), Pip Kummel, bluesman Big Johnny Blue, harmonica player/actor Cha Chiarelli, members of The Hell Bent Rockers, and Molinaro could frequently be spied there, enjoying Squid’s signature Italian “samwiches” and taking to the stage to jam.

As well as regular jams, the club hosted ticketed concerts, with acts ranging from area punk and garage rockers to famed Montreal roots-rocker Mack MacKenzie (Three O’Clock Train), and it occasionally featured screenings of music documentaries plus a recent panel discussion on Hamilton punk rock history. The irrepressible Squid always hosted with panache, and he even led some food classes in the kitchen, including how to make his beloved gabagool (Italian cold cuts). His exploits with The Gaba Gaba Gool Club were the subject of an entertaining Cable 14 series.

A complication with the lease forced his location to close in April, but he recently announced a new start for Gaba Gaba Gool Club at the Trinacria Club at 20 Colborne St., near James North.

“Awesome Basement Hall & Kitchen, another groovy vibe room. My Dad was one of the founders of the club,” Squid wrote on Facebook.

Another small performance space lost to the scene is Into The Abyss Records. At its previous King Street East location in the International Village, the well-respected record store often hosted intimate in-store performances by both local and noted Canadian artists. Into The Abyss recently moved to a new location nearby, but store owner and musician Brad Germain (Dinner Belles, Golden Feather) tells HCM that “we won’t host shows anymore. We simply don’t have the space at the new spot. It is simply too small.”

The good news is that Germain will continue to present music in the 90-seat The Back Hall at Eucharist Church on Victoria Avenue. Recent and upcoming shows include Advance Base with Nicholas Krgovich and Gareth Inkster, Hogtied with Cease, Public Health, and Eliza Niemi.

“We might do bigger shows at The Corktown when it suits us. We recently presented the Ancient Shapes there.”

Reflecting on some memorable shows at 64

HCM SUMMER 2026

THE GATE IS A PROMISING NEW ADDITION TO THE MUSIC SCENE. PHOTO: MIKE SCHYMKIW FOR HCM

Into The Abyss, Germain says, “I loved the Crywank show, and Julie Doiron, and This is The Kit. Too many to mention really. It was a special spot and a special time for the scene.”

Making a mark since opening in early 2025 is Ooey Gooey’s on George Street in Hess Village. Run by the team behind The Ship and Amigos, it features unpretentious and fun food on the ground floor and music upstairs in an 80-capacity space.

“We built a live-music venue and community event space upstairs as a spot where anyone can book events, catch live shows, and connect with others,” says Ooey Gooey’s co-owner Leanne Dielschneider.

The room has featured local and regional singer-songwriters, and rock, punk, and metal acts, plus some notable imports.

“We love how eclectic the talent is upstairs.”

A few blocks away, at 61 Young St., Handsome Dave’s is another relatively recent arrival. Hard-working local troubadour S.G. Sinnicks has played there multiple

times, and he describes it to HCM as “more a neighbourhood pub with music in the middle of the venue once or twice a week mixed with a DJ.” As fellow HCM writer Dylan Hudecki recently observed in these pages: “Hamilton’s DIY spirit remains strong. New bands are forming, new promoters are taking risks, and new spaces are finding ways to host live music.”

That’s illustrated by prolific local singersongwriter Pip Kummel hosting a regular bimonthly series at the Rathskeller Pub, the cozy basement space in the Germania Club, and by fellow performer Darryl Gould booking shows at The Lionshead, Clifford Brewing Co., and The Capitol. For the latter, he recently landed Andrew Cash, the acclaimed Toronto singersongwriter turned NDP MP who now heads a music trade organization. After encountering Cash at a JUNO Week party, Gould enticed him out of musical retirement for a sold-out show in June. n

MUSIC BY BY MUSIC

LYRICS BY BY LYRICS

ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER TIM RICE NOV 18 – DEC 20, 2026 STARRING

KOLTON STEWART as Joseph

From the smash hit TV Show HEATED RIVALRY AND KALEIGH GORKA

as the Narrator

Elsa from last season’s FROZEN

5-PLAY SUBSCRIPTIONS SEASON SPONSORS

+HST

190 KING WILLIAM ST., HAMILTON THEATREAQUARIUS.ORG

Familiar faces.

A new chapter.

LIVE

®

Weekdays 6-10am

Wherever you are