Barrhead demonstrated "community passion "

The Town of Barrhead was chosen as a top ten finalist for the Kraft Celebration Tour due to their “community passion.”

Kelly Fleming, Kraft Celebration Tour Brand Manager, explained why Barrhead was selected as a finalist for the competition.

“Barrhead did a great job of explaining where the funding would go within their curling club. Also, they demonstrated community passion and a commitment to healthy living and they gave great examples of that. Overall, they had great creativity and spirit that was showcased in their nomination,” said Fleming.

According to Fleming, there were 519 nominations for this year’s Kraft Celebration Tour.

“It has been fantastic. We saw great support across Canada and I am really excited about the top ten communities that were selected,” she said. We had a judging panel take a look at every single nomination and really the top ten were selected based on the description, impact and benefit of the ($100,000) grand prize.”

Kraft started this competition with Hockeyville eight years ago and now they are in their sixth year of the Celebration Tour.

“Really, it all began because we recognized that Canadians have welcomed our brands into their homes so we wanted to help celebrate and inspire Canadians to become more active. When it comes down to it, play has purpose,” said Fleming. “You see staggering statistics out there where, without proper activity, today’s ten-year-olds may not outlive their parents. These were some really startling stats that we recognized so we wanted to make sure that we were dedicated to helping cities and towns across Canada build better places to play because without having a place to play where else are you going to get started.”

Fleming explained what it is like to come into each of the ten finalists’ communities during the Tour.

“It is fantastic. When we come into the towns and see the communities it is amazing to witness the passion and spirit of the community when they come together. When we come into the towns we really recognize the commitment to grassroots sports and the overwhelming support of people at the live SportsCentre broadcast,” she said. “It is really exciting to see the projects come to life, even after we leave, and to see the renewed financial support in the community, the innate sense of pride, and the emergence of even more active living.”

Fleming said Kraft takes immense pride in these two “gold-level standard programs.”

“We have Kraft Hockeyville and the Kraft Celebration Tour and the fact we have been repeating these programs speaks volumes. The fact that the entire company is committed to making sure we continue to get out there and work with communities is fantastic because it is really great to be on the ground and interacting with our consumers. I am really looking forward to getting on the road this year and visiting Barrhead,” Fleming said.

Including Hockeyville and the Celebration Tour, Kraft has impacted over 80 communities across Canada, awarding over $3.4 million in funding.

“The money has really gone straight into the facilities, the infrastructure and that place to play. It is really exciting to be able to have that legacy, both internally at Kraft, and externally in the communities,” said Fleming.

Town of Barrhead Mayor Gerry St. Pierre shared his thoughts on the nomination.

“I am extremely excited but I am not surprised. This town is known for people stepping up and looking for an opportunity and this nomination is an example of that,” said St. Pierre.

St. Pierre went on to explain the benefits of the Kraft Celebration Tour nomination.

“We have won $25,000 but in fact, we have won a lot more. We have won the respect, not only of the province of Alberta but the entire country. We will try to take advantage of it and make sure people understand that we have a wonderful community. If people choose to come live here, I think they would see the true spirit of community here in Barrhead,” he said.

St. Pierre shared his expectations of residents and Albertans when it comes to the voting process.

“Apparently, the winner of the last Kraft contest had over one million votes, so I would like to see Barrhead reach one and a half million votes. We are going to try and involve the entire province in the voting process so we have contacted AUMA (Alberta Urban Municipalities Association) to help us with that,” said St. Pierre. “In my mind, regardless of whether we win, we are going to give it our all, if we win this part of the event or not we have already won big time.”

Barrhead residents can decide the grand prize winner by casting a vote on kraftcelebrationtour.ca on July 21 and July 22, 2014.