Resident of all ages and organizations of all sizes can participate in this unique structural campaign

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By Susanne MacDonald
This Week Staff

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Imagine 1800 cans of beans artfully arranged as a pirate ship and entitled Pirates of the Canabeans. That's exactly what Minacs built last year during Riverview's CANbuild a Community event.

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This entry in last year’s CANbuild competition, a spool of thread built by Rose’s Alterations, shows that you don’t need to be a big organization with lots of cans to participate in the annual Christmas Stroll challenge.

The charitable event is the brainchild of the Downtown Riverview Business Association and is a featured highlight of the organization's annual Christmas Stroll.

Last year, the Christmas Stroll won the Downtown New Brunswick 2007 Strategic Marketing & Branding Award. This year's event will be held on Nov. 27 and 28.

"We initiated the Christmas Stroll and CANbuild a Community projects three years ago," says Heather Harris, manager of the Downtown Riverview Business Association (DRBA).

"We wanted to create a customer appreciation activity for the business community that would show customer appreciation while also demonstrating leadership and social responsibility.

"Our discussions led to developing the Christmas Stroll and incorporating the CANbuild project to help support the local food bank."

In addition to decking their stores and businesses with Christmas decorations, Riverview merchants invite the general public to celebrate the Christmas season with holiday refreshments and a variety of in-store promotions and specials.

"We want to put the magic back into holiday shopping," says Heather.

Christmas Stroll festivities include a Family Scavenger Hunt, Community Christmas Concert, customer appreciation activities at participating businesses, roving Christmas carolers, youth and senior activities, festive lighting throughout the downtown, an appearance by jolly Old Saint Nick, and much more.

The Fox 'n Hound Celebrity Trivia Contest will also return for the 2008 Christmas Stroll by popular demand on Nov. 20.

A new activity this year is the Christmas Window Decorating Contest for local area businesses. More details on this and other Stroll activities will soon be available at http://christmasstroll.blogspot.com.

The CANbuild a Community event encourage businesses and community teams to create self-supporting food art structures in unique designs using only canned goods.

The project is jointly sponsored by Aditya Birla Minacs and the Downtown Riverview Business Association and the food structures are built on location at Riverview Place.

Teams may register their participation in the CANbuild a Community event by calling 387-4215. Deadline to register your participation in the 2008 CANbuild is Nov. 6.

The food art structures don't have to be built by large companies, they can be built by any size of business or organization.

Another of last year's unique designs was a spool of thread built from cans of food by Rose's Alternation Shop.

"The food art structures unique in design," says Heather. "There are three award categories: Judge's Pick; Most Original Design; and Most Complex Structure."

After the designs are judged on Nov. 28, all canned goods will be donated to the Albert County Food Bank to support their efforts to fight hunger in the area.

People are encouraged to come and view the displays and to drop off non-perishable food items at Riverview Place (at the CANbuild location) from Nov. 26 to 28. These items will also be donated to the Albert County Food Bank.

A total of 8000 cans and food items were donated during two previous CANbuild a Community events.

"This year, we've set a goal of 6,500 cans and non-perishable food items," says Heather. "Because these free-standing structures are located in a public place, we'd be grateful if any groups would donate time to provide security or to help with dismantling the displays after the event is finished."

Dave Owen, treasurer of the Albert County Food Bank, says the CANbuild a Community event is a marvellous thing.

"It's a huge success from two points of view," he says. "The food we received last Christmas provided a back-up supply of food for the food bank that lasted until March of this year and gave us flexibility in helping our clients. It was a windfall."

The Albert County Food Bank helps approximately 150 families on a regular basis throughout Albert County and works closely with the Shepody Food Bank in Alma.