This Calgary Design Duo’s Annual Walk for the Food Bank Now Includes a Dance Party

Hot on the heels of being inducted into our Western Living Hall of Fame as our 2025 WL Design Icon, designer Paul Lavoie is celebrating again: this time as part of a fundraising walk he and his husband Doug Lavoie run in Calgary.

TheWalk.ca officially launched last year, inspired by a series of runs the duo did in celebration of Doug’s 50^th birthday the year before. “It all started last year with Doug’s birthday, when he tricked me into doing 50 half marathons in 50 weeks,” Paul told us last year with a laugh. “About halfway through, we just looked at each other and said, ‘Let’s make this a Food Bank fundraiser.’”

This Thanksgiving Monday, October 13, the duo are bringing TheWalk.ca back to the new Eau Claire Plaza with a little something more: a dance party at the finish line, too. “Last year, everyone was just so amped up with this new tradition, doing something that gives back to the community,” says Doug. “And at the end of it, Paul and I had a music playing and people said, ‘Turn it up!’—and it turned into a little dance party. So we thought, let’s just go with that this year!”

The walk itself is a five kilometre out-and-back that kicks off at the new Eau Claire Plaza and follows the flat and scenic Bow River pathway. And the environment itself is intentionally joyful, says Doug—they’re there to both support the Calgary Foodbank ($700K and counting) and to create a new tradition for Calgarians. “Paul and I have been trying to create an exciting, welcoming environment for people to come and support each other, to create a really positive vibe, while yet still recognizing some of the incredible work that the Food Bank does.”

The duo has also organized a series of practice walks before the big day, with one more on October 4. “It creates an opportunity for people to come and try out the course ahead of time,” says Doug. “And it’s exciting because we’ve been getting some individuals coming who are recovering from knee surgery who are trying to get themselves back into walking. It’s a great non-competitive environment—and it gives us a moment to talk a little bit about the Food Bank, and the rising issues of food insecurity and affordability.”

Interested participants can head to TheWalk.ca for more info, and the first 400 participants can register for free on Eventbrite, and donate what they can, with a donor matching every dollar up to $50,000.

“It’s been a great initiative to just create a sense of community,” says Doug. “The Food Bank’s motto is by ‘community for community.’ So we’re just trying to take a nod from that and kind of continue the spirit of the Calgary Food Bank.”