Dear Sun Spots: We are in the planning and coordination stages of the second annual pet festival, which has been renamed the Pet Fest New England. This event will be presented by Second Chance Boxer Rescue and The Oxford Hills Dog Club.

We could sure use your help!

If you would like to get involved in a project that promotes all the rescues and shelters in New England and promotes responsible pet ownership, obedience and owner education, the amount of time and effort will be up to you. We need volunteers for everything from holding a bake sale to benefit SCBR to hanging up posters and putting out fliers in your own community.

We will also accept donations of items to raffle and auction. There are many ways to help, we have lots of suggestions and we welcome all ideas. And if you cannot help out prior to the event, please plan on coming up to show your support. Last year we showcased over 25 rescues and shelters, from guinea pigs to horses. Let’s make it even bigger and better. We can be reached at (207) 345-9833 or via e-mail at [email protected] or via our Web site at www.petfestnewengland.com. – Julie Goodell, No Town.

Dear Sun Spots: Where can I purchase Friends’ canned baked beans? – Marion in Naples.

Answer: In addition to responses from readers, Sun Spots located some online at www.hometownfavorites.com. To order by check or money order, please complete your order online (with the exception of credit card info) and print out. You can then mail it with your payment to: Hometown Favorites, 1445 Miller Store Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23455.

According to wwww.classbrain.com, baked beans have been popular in North America since before the Pilgrims landed on the Eastern shores. Although many people think of Boston as the birthplace of the recipe, according to the National Restaurant Association, the Narragansett, Penobscot and Iroquois Indians created the first baked bean recipes.

The critical ingredient, maple syrup, was discovered by the Iroquois. According to legend, a chief threw his tomahawk into a maple tree one winter evening. When he removed his weapon the next morning, sap began to flow. He tasted it and noticed a sweet taste, so he had his meat boiled in it that evening for dinner. When the sap was boiled the full, sweet maple taste was released. From then on, Native Americans in the East set up “sugar camps” in the winter. The sap was collected in gourds, hollowed out logs or clay pots. Then, according to the Montshire Museum of Science, the sap was boiled by dropping red-hot rocks into the containers.

According to the Food Reference Web site, Native Americans later created baked bean recipes that featured maple syrup and bear fat. The beans were cooked in earthenware pots that were placed pits and covered with hot rocks. Scholars believe that the Pilgrims learned how to make baked beans from the Native Americans, usually substituting molasses and pork fat for the maple syrup and bear fat. This dish was perfect for the Pilgrim household, because Pilgrim women were not allowed to cook on Sunday, because of their religious beliefs. The baked beans could be cooked the night before and kept warm until the next morning.

During Colonial days, Boston became the place that was famous for baked beans, hence the Boston baked beans that we’ve all heard of, and the reason that Boston received the nickname of “Beantown.” Boston Online, says that the city was virtually drowning in molasses, and had to find a solution.

Boston was involved in the triangular trade: Caribbean slaves grew sugar cane, the sugar cane was sent to Boston and made into rum, the rum was sent to West Africa to buy more slaves to send to the Caribbean to work in the sugar cane fields. So if the molasses wasn’t being used for rum, it was being used to make baked beans. Today, there isn’t a single company in Boston that makes baked beans, and only a few places in the city still serve them.

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