David Tuan Bui's Top Five Stories of 2022

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Another year has come and gone at PTBOCanada and there have been some fantastic stories I was able to cover in 2022. The impact this community can make is nothing short of remarkable and I feel honoured and privileged to cover some of Peterborough and the Kawartha’s stories.

Bui was hired as the PTBOCanada Editor for Mar. 1, last year. Photo by Autumn Nadeau.

These are my top five stories — in chronological order — that I truly enjoyed covering in 2022.

PERKS HAS MADE APPEARANCES ON OTHER AMERICAN SHOWS SUCH AS ABC’S GOOD MORNING AMERICA AND FOX LOS ANGELES. PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL ROZMAN/WARNER BROS.

Eight-year-old Callan Perks (better known as Coach Cal) took his viral motivational speeches to the City of Angels as he made an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show in early January.

He gave his own pep talk to DeGeneres on her final season which brought her to tears.

I had the honour of interviewing Coach Cal after his original video went viral and I will always be proud of what he has done with himself since. What a kid!

ASTROM HAS PLAYED HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL WITH NHL’S VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS INSIDER AND PETERBOROUGH NATIVE GARY LAWLESS. PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREW ASTROM.

I mentioned when Pete Dalliday first interviewed me live when I had got the job for PTBOCanada that I had a Grade 7 science teacher who nicknamed me “Ziggy Stardust.” It was in reference to my name’s pronunciation being similar to famed rock star David Bowie.

The man who gave me that nickname? Former teacher Andrew Astrom who taught me at Immaculate Conception School and later became my offensive coordinator for the Holy Cross Catholic School football team in their second year. He retired after 30 years of teaching and was diagnosed with medullary thyroid cancer.

Astrom discovered his cancer on May 4 last year and had surgery on Aug. 5 where his thyroid and several lymph nodes were removed. He has lost most of his voice, has side neck pain and suffers nerve pain when he eats.

He is a realtor now just like his wife Tammie Astrom. He was always a great teacher and coach to me and he’s quite skilled at playing the guitar.

‘Water Bacon’ is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the City of Peterborough’s logo of water waves that resembles blue bacon. Photo by Luke BEst.

Okay, I admit it, this was the first ‘fake news’ story that I had published professionally…

For April Fools Day, I came up with a story that ‘Kevin the Water Bacon’ had become the new mascot of Peterborough. ‘Water bacon’ is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the City’s logo of blue and white horizontal wavy stripes that launched in the spring of 2018.

We saw Kevin had both an Instagram and Tiktok account so we reached out and collaborated on this funny hoax. The hoax was well-received as even the City and Fresh Radio played along with the fun. It’s nice to see that Peterborough also has a humourous side to them.

So… Why ISN’T Kevin the official mascot for The City of Peterborough?

ECFC PLAYERS LUKE GREEN (MIDDLE) AND CONNOR WILSON (RIGHT) CELEBRATING THE TEAM’S FIRST FRANCHISE WIN WITH FANS, SCORING THREE GOALS IN 14 MINUTES. PHOTO BY DAVID TUAN BUI.

If you were at the Electric City Football Club’s (ECFC) men’s home opener, you would understand the amount of hype this night delivered for Peterborough.

It was the team’s inaugural year and the game did not disappoint as ECFC got the franchise’s first win against 3-0 against Windsor TFC on May 7.

The team scored three goals in 14 minutes and clamped down defensively since then. They also broke the League1 Ontario men’s game attendance record with 1,565 fans (the women’s team also did that for their respective league).

Watching this game live and reporting it had me entrenched in the soccer atmosphere and seeing the team hit several high points made it a pleasure to witness.

TUNG AND HER NEWBORN DAUGHTER HUNTER OUTSIDE THE HUNTER STREET LOCATION THAT SOFT OPENED ON VALENTINE’S DAY IN 2020. TUNG’S FAMILY FORMERLY OWNED THE GOLDEN WHEEL CHINESE RESTAURANT LOCATED NEAR SPRINGVILLE. PHOTO COURTESY OF SUSAN TUNG.

This one hits home to me as I am of Vietnamese descent.

Susan Tung, owner of Vietnamese restaurant Hanoi House — and a friend of mine — decided to close down her Hunter Street location and consolidated her business into the Lansdowne Street spot.

I’ve eaten at her establishment at least 50 times since she opened on Valentine’s Day in 2020. I helped proofread her initial menu before opening day and was cordially invited to try her pho (Vietnamese beef noodle soup) and critique it after the grand opening.

Thankfully her business is running and doing quite well and it wasn’t the end of great Vietnamese food outside of my mother’s kitchen. It just means I’ll have to take a longer drive than usual if I wanted to grab a bowl of pho on my lunch break.

2022 is almost over and there was no shortage of great stories to cover in Peterborough and the Kawarthas.

Old and new faces were seen covering this year’s news and I eagerly await seeing what 2023 has in store for me.

I have to bid farewell to former employees Angela O’Grady and Luke Best who have moved on to other endeavors but that leaves the door of opportunity for new people to join the PTBOCanada family.

I am blessed to be working with Felicia Massey, Samantha Bianco and Brad Wood who are all hired within the same few weeks in early September and eagerly await to see what is in store next year with them!

On a personal note, I will have to push back my wedding to 2024 as my fiancée Autumn and I will be expecting our first child in late June. Big news for the Bui household and I’m sure 2023 is going to be another spectacular year for Peterborough!

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