Come for the Walk, Stay for the Dance: This Calgary Design Firm’s Thanksgiving Walk Raises Funds for the Calgary Food Bank

It all started with a 50^th-birthday challenge: Doug Lavoie decided he wanted to run 50 half-marathons in 50 weeks, and his husband, designer Paul Lavoie, agreed to join him—and they both raised funds for the Calgary Food Bank along the way. And now, four years later, the duo is closing in on raising nearly $1 million for the food bank, thanks to the annual Thanksgiving event that grew from that initial idea: The Walk.

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“It’s wild,” says Doug Lavoie. “The response has been unbelievable. People just want to do something nice—and there’s a real growing interest for people to combine philanthropy and fitness together. The approach Paul and I have taken with allowing this to be approachable for everyone has turned into its own thing.”

“We’re very adamant that we don’t need another gala,” says Paul Lavoie. “We don’t need another big event where you have crazy overhead to pay for that event.”

The Walk is a 5-kilometre fundraising walk that starts at Calgary’s new Eau Claire Plaza on Thanksgiving Monday and culminates in a dance party back at the plaza for the 600-plus participants. For the Lavoies, it’s been a way to give back to the Calgary Food Bank while creating a sense of community, too—folks of all ages are there, including new Canadians who are new to Thanksgiving as well. “It was really emotional for me last year, when we had a number of Ukrainian families show up,” says Doug. “They said, what better way to show our kids how to be thankful despite all the obstacles and challenges they’ve had. And Thanksgiving is a new tradition for them.”

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All of the costs associated with the event are covered by Paul’s design firm, Paul Lavoie Interior Design (regular readers will be more than familiar with Paul’s work), so that 100 percent of the funds raised go to the Calgary Food Bank. And to participate, folks just need to head to TheWalk.ca to register for the event—and get ready to celebrate together.

“Last year I bought a giant inflatable disco ball the size of a truck, and it was so big we had to rent a crane for it,” Paul says with a smile.

“Of course, Paul being Paul, he got one even bigger this year,” Doug quips back.

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The Walk is on October 12, 2026, at Eau Claire Plaza in Calgary. Pre-register at TheWalk.ca.