You have to wonder what Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell would have thought of it all.Just a stone’s throw from the site of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning conference prompted by Einstein and Russell’s 1955 manifesto on nuclear disarmament, camera crews and the national media had descended on the tiny village of Pugwash, Nova Scotia for a live TV broadcast of the Kraft Celebration Tour that would air later that night on TSN.While scientists from around the world concluded their annual deliberations on “global security and governance in a world without nuclear weapons”, banners emblazoned with the Kraft and TSN brands sprouted atop bouncy castles and food stalls dotted the waterfront’s public park. On the street running alongside the park, teams of volunteers set up barbecue grills and games, including a hockey shoot-out complete with mechanical goalie. Reporters and photographers roamed the site, conducting interviews and capturing images of last-minute preparations.Kraft Canada and TSN have run the 10-10 Challenge for the last three years, inviting communities in each of Canada’s ten provinces to compete for a donation of $25,000 to support projects that promote community spirit. Judges choose two places from each province and then open the challenge up to voting.In Nova Scotia, the village of Pugwash (population: 800; known for its peace conferences and the production of a million tons of salt a year) competed against the town of Port Hawksbury (population: 3,366; listed as the second largest port in Canada by tonnage). The village beat the town, hands down, with 315,000 votes to 185,000.By the time fishermen returned home with their catch on Monday evening, the sleepy village on Nova Scotia’s northern shore was transformed. Music blasted from a rock-concert size stage set up for TSN anchors Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole who would host the TV broadcast. Hundreds of the village’s residents and summer cottagers packed into the park (no sight of Canada’s favourite song bird, Anne Murray, however, who has a cottage just outside Pugwash). Families lined the boardwalk, some sitting on the granite rocks that protect the shore from storms that batter the Northumberland straits throughout the winter.“I can’t believe we beat Port Hawksbury,” exclaimed Pugwash resident Judy Benjamin as she waited with her husband, Rod, for the celebration to be begin. “I started voting as soon as the lines opened and kept voting all night and into the morning.”The hero of the hour was 19-year-old Pugwash High School graduate Alex Parker, whose essay about Sport Pugwash caught the 10-10 Challenge judges’ attention. Parker, who volunteers for the sports organisation along with his grandfather, Roy Mattinson, paid tribute to the way sport and softball brings the village together and described how the $25,000 donation would improve Pugwash’s grassy ball field.“We truly believe that it will be exactly what is needed to make the ball field a place for young children to start an active life, parents to take part in games they enjoyed so much as a child, and grandparents to keep healthy as well as take in some laughs and enjoy an evening, day, or weekend of a tradition they grew to love,” wrote Parker.As the final countdown to broadcast began, the hometown crowd cheered Parker and Mattinson as they climbed the stairs to the stage for the cheque presentation.“The community spirit in small towns is awesome,” said cameraman Larry Westgard as he waited for the cue to go live. “Small communities really care. The folks in Clarenville, Newfoundland blew my socks off.”“I’ve always said you can judge the strength of a community by its young people,” said Member of Parliament for Cumberland, Colchester and Musquodoboit Scott Armstrong as he introduced Parker and his grandfather. “Pugwash can be proud of its community and the type of children they produce.”“It’s a lot different standing in front of all of you than talking to one reporter,” said Parker who has become a bit of a media star in recent weeks. “But it makes me so happy to see everyone come together. I couldn’t have done this without your support.”Presenting an outsized cheque to Parker and his grandfather, Kraft Canada Retail Sales Manager Jim Kowalski had a surprise in store for Mattinson as he unfurled a new flag for the village’s ball field.“Roy and Alex, we hope you will fly this flag at what will now be called the Roy B Mattinson Ball Park. Fly it with pride, and we wish you all the best.”The gesture caught Mattinson off guard. He choked up as he thanked Kowalski, saying quietly “I never thought this would happen.”The crowd erupted in applause, many wiping away tears as they roared their approval.Parker said later that his grandfather’s volunteerism had been an inspiration to him all his life.“The whole reason I did this was because of my grandfather. No matter what he does, he never gives less than 100 percent and he includes everyone in Pugwash.”With streaks of pink and gold lining the fair weather clouds gathering on the horizon, Parker and Mattinson made their way through the crowd, stopping every few feet as iPhones were pulled out pockets to snap shots of the pair as they hoisted the $25,000 cheque and flag above their heads. High fives and “Way to go, eh?” followed them as they made their way up to Water Street.The nuclear disarmament manifesto urged “the governments of the world…to find peaceful means for the settlement of all matters of dispute between them”. Parker and Mattinson aren’t looking to solve threats of nuclear conflict, just make a ball field safer for the grandparents, parents and children of a small fishing village in Nova Scotia. No doubt Einstein and Russell would approve.Wendy Davis Johnson is interning with The Royal Gazette as a part of the requirements of a master’s degree in journalism programme she’s pursuing at Harvard Extension School. She can be reached at wendydavisjohnson@fas.harvard.edu.