Thousands Paint the Town Pink in Mamaroneck

Karen Pasquale is a tall and attractive young woman with a head full of curly, black hair. She is slim and in-shape. Nowadays she looks like the picture of perfect health, but just last year she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

"It was the biggest shock of my life," she said, "I had no family history."

Pasquale, who lives in White Plains, is now completely cancer-free. On Thursday evening, she was hanging out in her best friend's clothing store— Siren— on Mamaroneck Avenue, while the Mamaroneck Shares breast cancer awareness festival was in full swing outside the store.

"Paint The Town Pink" was the theme of the third fundraiser in town this summer, organized by Ellen Hauptman and Peggy Jackson, Mamaroneck residents and members of the "Keep a Breast" team for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.   

Outside of Siren, thousands of residents bought raffle tickets, tied pink balloons to lampposts, sported the trademark pink ribbon and enjoyed the music of several live bands.

Inside Siren, owner Maria DiLeonardo decked out the store in pink in honor of her friend Karen. Cupcakes made to look like breasts and pink ribbon cookies adorned a table inside the store. Two models sporting pink clothes posed in the window and waved to passersby.

"We are celebrating Karen's life," said DiLeonardo. "She had such a courageous fight and we are so proud of her! Do you want to see the quilt?" With that, DiLeonardo fetched a gift for Pasquale—a pink quilt sewn by a friend and signed by many friends and family members.

"All of us have been friends for a long time, and of course we would have supported this event no matter what, but this made it more personal," said Jennifer Hofstetter, "It's good to feel hopeful and to support local merchants at the same time," she said.

At a table in the center of the long stretch of Mamaroneck Avenue, Ellen Hauptman and Peggy Jackson sold raffle tickets to long lines of donors at the third and final event of the summer.

The idea for the fundraiser came when Hauptman and Jackson attended a local chamber meeting a few months ago. They asked Mayor Norman Rosenblum if they could close down all of Mamaroneck Avenue for a festival to raise money for breast cancer research.

"The mayor originally told us he would let us close down the area between Spencer and Prospect, and if it was successful, he would let us close down all of Mamaroneck Avenue next summer," said Hauptman. "Halfway through the first event, there were over 500 people in attendance. The mayor came up to us and said that we could have the whole block for the next two events," she said.

 The second event in July drew over 7,000 attendees and Hauptman estimated a similar number for Thursday evening.

At the festival, the mayor demonstrated his support in the most hardcore way possible— sitting atop the notorious dunk tank. For over two hours he endured the torture of being dunked repeatedly by friends, residents and, of course, many children. He did it all with a jolly smile and some good-natured razzing. 

For Hauptman and Jackson, who are not professional event planners, the large attendance and outpouring of support was a great surprise.

"It was our first time doing something like this, and it just all fell into place," said Jackson.

Ellen Hauptman said the events are as much about fundraising as they are about bringing the community together.

"We've seen people hug each other that haven't seen each other in ten years," she said. "It's really great."