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Canstruction brings movie magic to Mayfair

Second-annual event donates all food to Mustard Seed.
Canstruction 1
John Cook with the St. Michaels University's Canstruction team puts the finishing touches on the Walt Disney castle that the team built out of cans at Mayfair Shopping Centre on Saturday.

Movie characters are invading Mayfair Shopping Centre.

But instead of seeing them in their classic form, seven groups have constructed them out of canned food.

The construction of movie characters are part of an event called Canstruction, an annual competition in partnership with the Dahlia Society, where teams build things out of donated food, all of which gets donated to Mustard Seed.

“It’s about building a better community and building a better place where we live,” said Christopher Mavrikos, the founder of the Dahlie Society responsible for organizing the second annual event.

“It’s a labour of love, it’s a passion and we want to make a difference.”

Last year, they raised 30,000 cans of food, which is the equivalent of $50,000 of donations.

According to Colin Tessier, executive director of Mustard Seed, Canstruction is one of the group's largest fundraising efforts and allows them to keep feeding people during the time of year when they see less food donations.

“It draws people’s attention and they’re great to look at. But the beautiful thing for us at the Mustard Seed is when it’s all over, we are the recipients of all that food that we can then distribute to over 7,000 people a month who are in need,” said Tessier.

“This time of year, our shelves are very much dry. We’re coming to really rely on this fundraiser to fill our shelves and help us through the busy summer months.”

As part of the event, seven teams participated in this year's event: Sysco, Country Grocer, Seafirst Insurance with Finlayson Bonet Architecture, Linotott Architecture, St. Michael's University School with Vic Davies Architecture, Megson Fitzpatrick Insurance with Core Drafting Services and MacDonald Realty with Lowe Hammond Rowe Architects.

This year’s theme is movie magic.

“We chose movie magic because when you go to a movie, it kind of takes you away and so perhaps the work that we do, the movie magic of these Canstructions, we can take away that pain of hunger for some families,” said Mavrikos.

Each team had a 12-hour build window to build structures as high as eight feet tall and as wide as 10 feet across.

Michael Verzyl, was the captain of Team Sysco for this year’s event. Last year, they took nine hours to build a giant B.C. Lions helmet. This year they took the drive-in movie concept and build a movie screen and car with 2,700 cans.

“Hopefully it brings some awareness and fun and support for Mustard Seed,” said Verzyl.

The structures will stay at Mayfair Mall until May 11 when they will be taken down and the winners announced. On Saturday, May 9 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the public can bring their kids to the mall, where superheroes will be there. Play games and bring a non-perishable food item.

Canstruction is an international event that started in 1992 and is held in 150 cities around the world.