A new art installation commemorating Coca-Cola's ties to Chatham-Kent is now available for the public to see.
The public art installation was unveiled outside the Coke Canada Bottling Make Ready Centre on Park Avenue East in Chatham on Tuesday, marking the company's fifth anniversary celebration as an independent, family-owned business.
Plant manager Rene Lapointe said the piece itself, made with used parts from equipment at the facility, was built by the employees.
"We've been working on this for so long," said Lapointe. "My team put in a lot of hours and a lot of late nights to get this done. The guys are just excited, it's ten times better than we could have ever imagined."
The art installation features a five-foot long Coke bottle made from epoxy glue. Inside the bottle, is a piece of history from the late David Dick, a local entrepreneur and son of the late Proctor and Lena Dick.
"It was designed to deliver optimism to those who live, work, and visit Chatham-Kent and to showcase our community," said Lapointe.
On Tuesday, Coke Canada donated a total of $250,000 to local charities across the country in communities where they operate.
The milestone was celebrated locally by presenting a $10,000 check on behalf of Coke Canada to the local Lower Thames Conservation Authority.
"What we are proud about here in Chatham-Kent is the fact that we've got employees who have been with us 40 plus years," said Todd Parsons, who is the CEO of Coca-Cola Canada Bottling. "Our new ownership group has owned the business for five years and we know this community has a rich history that we're going to continue to invest in for the long term."
The local facility dates back to 1938 while Coke has been operating in Chatham since 1934.
It was a bottling plant until the late 1980s and the re-manufacturing centre opened in 1991, alongside a distribution operation until the make-ready centre took over the entire facility in 2014.
Coke Canada was formed in 2018 when the Tanenbaum and Bridgeman families became owners of the Canadian Coca-Cola bottling and distribution franchise.
The Chatham facility is currently home to 26 employees and contributes almost a quarter of a million dollars to the local economy through its local suppliers and partners.