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December 16, 2004
Mayor gets role as extra in local West Wing episode
by Hannelore Volpe
yorkregion.com
Filming of an episode of TV's The West Wing yesterday raised the excitement level along Stouffville's Main Street, particularly at The Fickle Pickle.
The restaurant was transformed into a New Hampshire eatery where Matt Santos, portrayed by actor Jimmy Smits, stops to campaign during primaries leading up to the United States Democratic Party leadership convention. The restaurant has been owned by Nick Paraskevakos for almost seven years.
Trucks and crews rolled into town Tuesday morning as Main Street was de-Christmased from Market Street to Church Street, since these episodes are set in January. That meant removing all the Christmas wreaths in the area and having merchants take Christmas-related items out of their front windows.
The whole adventure started about a month ago, Mr. Paraskevakos recalled, when someone walked into his restaurant and asked if he could take some pictures. He left without any explanation. Two weeks later, however, a call came to the Fickle Pickle to ask if the restaurant could be used as a site for the show.
Location manager Neil Lum Lock said the company had looked at about seven restaurants from Hamilton to Port Perry over a three-week period before settling on Stouffville.
Once the word got out in Stouffville, people came by to ask about the show.
"The customers are excited," Mr. Paraskevakos said. "People are curious."
When a hand-written sign first went up on the restaurant's front door telling customers the restaurant was to be closed Wednesday, "some people thought it was a joke," Mr. Paraskevakos said.
Nearby merchants, such as Sara Marsala of the Tempest in a Teapot, didn't mind changing the decor in her windows and was looking forward to being an extra. She was one of about 10 Main Street merchants who were affected by the filming.
Other extras include Mayor Sue Sherban, Eric Button, Ruth LeBlanc, Pam Mandich and her husband Rob McKenzie. They had to be ready well before 7 a.m. on Wednesday morning to have hair and makeup done. Fickle Pickle cook Natasha Tsapoitis was to be part of the filming as well.
Anna Papageorgiou, who has been a waitress at the restaurant since it opened almost seven years ago, said, "I am so excited. A nice thing happened to my restaurant."
Much of the crew for this film shoot is Canadian, said set designer, Cal Loucks, who was busy nailing up pictures of U.S. scenes and President John F. Kennedy Tuesday afternoon.
This is the first time a film has been shot at the Fickle Pickle, but it's certainly not the first time a movie crew has come into town. A DeGrassi: The Second Generation episode set partly in Stouffville was shot at the train station and other locations about two years ago.
A young Kirsten Dunst played a school girl in the movie Strike. That time the setting was the Towne Restaurant, which is now Dinarte's.
The late Richard Harris was also spotted here in the early 1980s. And Christopher Walken was at Summitview Public School for the filming of The Dead Zone.
The Stouffville episode will result in about four minutes of film, Stouffville Business Improvement Area manager Ruth LeBlanc said.
Filming for The West Wing episode was also done in Kleinburg, Uxbridge, Port Perry and Pickering.
Information on the episode's broadcast date is not available. Three episodes were filmed during show's trip to Ontario.
Posted by Jo at December 16, 2004 04:56 PM