Sunday, August 25, 2013

The Kraft Celebration Tour Helps Bring a Splash Pad to Wilmot Township!


If you live in Canada, you are likely familiar with the Kraft Celebration Tour, a joint effort between Kraft and TSN which awards money to community projects focused on a healthy and active lifestyle across the nation. The tour is in its 4th year of operation and has awarded $1,000,000 so far, with $25,000 going to each winning project. Each year's tour has four phases - nomination of projects, announcement of 20 finalists (as decided by the tour's judging panel), a day of intensive head-to-head voting to bring the list down to 10 winners, and the celebration tour itself, during which the winning communities host representatives from Kraft and a live TSN SportsCentre broadcast and receive their $25,000 cheques.

Our own township of Wilmot was fortunate enough to be among the winners this year, with our bid to help build a local splash pad. With 14 tight-knit communities and a population of about 20,000 (including 4,000 children 14 and under), Wilmot could really use a splash pad to enable warm-weather fun and fitness for all of our local youngsters, regardless of income bracket. The township's goal is to raise $280,000 for this project, and we've come a long way with various fundraisers already under our belt,  strong social media coverage via Facebook and Twitter and other initiatives. Our KCT win is one more awesome step in the right direction!

The celebration party (including a barbecue, fun for the kiddos and numerous tributes to local celebrities and heritage), and live TSN SportsCentre broadcast with Kate Beirness and Rod Smith took place yesterday at the New Hamburg fairgrounds. It was an awesome event  and we had the perfect weather to enjoy it! Here are some moments my family captured to commemorate the occasion. (A whole bunch more official event photos can be found here.)




Video highlights!



 John Deere & a Jello bouncer



Our daughter swingin' away!



Mounted police



 The live broadcast




Kate in her personalized Wilmot Wild jersey




Presentation of the cheque



Kiddos 'n I infront of all the action



Kate (looking, IMO, distinctly Uma Thurman-esque) & Rod



KCT reps (and an awesome dancing kid photobomb!)


What exciting events or festivals have you enjoyed in your own hometown this summer? Anyone else out there make it to KCT Wilmot?


Disclosure:  I was not sponsored in any way for this post. I wrote it simply out of appreciation for the KCT, the win for our township and the fun event our family had the pleasure to enjoy. Thanks Kraft, TSN and the Bring a Splash Pad to Wilmot crew!

12 comments:

  1. WOW!!! That's so great. I was on the first fast wave of that blog tour so I am thrilled to read the results of this and that they happened so close to home!!! Congrats. That is such a great addition to any area. What fun!

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  2. What a great event! So much fun. We've enjoyed some great local fairs in the area but nothing as exciting as a donation to our area. Looks like so much fun.

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    1. Local fairs are great. Our fall fair is happening in a couple weeks - always a fun event!

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  3. We have an annual festival (in July) but I stayed clear of it this year. It was way too hot and my son suffers from heat induced seizures :(

    That Kraft one looks like a lot of fun though and it's great they are helping out a community like that!

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    1. Yikes - that must be challenging with your son! I'd assume you're welcome the onset of fall at this point? And thanks - yes, it is definitely a great initiative!

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  4. Love your babywearing pic :-)
    Congrats on the win! That is absolutely lovely.

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  5. I've seen spots for this tour on TV. It looks pretty awesome. The tour isn't coming to our city but congratulations to all of the towns that were able to benefit from this fantastic opportunity!

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    1. Thanks, and who knows - maybe your city will be a winner next year!

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  6. Wow! That looks like a really fun event. LOVE your pose in front! I miss carrying babies! Am I crazy?

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    1. Not at all! I'm totally going to miss it too when my littles have outgrown it! :)

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