The Darwin Beer Can Regatta is a festival which has been held every year since 1974 at the city's Mindil Beach as an initiative to clean up the beer can litter around the place.
To participate in the competition, people create boats of all sizes and shapes using empty beer cans, milk cartons, soft drink tins and bottles. They take their floating (or sometimes sinking) vessels to the shallow waters off the coast to compete in a race — the Battle of Mindil.
Teams attack each other with smoke bombs and water cannons. The winner is the team which gets the self-made boat back to the registration tent on the beach.
Since 1978, the event begun by Darwin businessmen was taken over by the Lions Club organization that aims to meet the needs of communities on a local and global scale.
According to spokesman Des Gellert, during the 2016 festival held on July 17, the Regatta's committee made their financial target of $49,000 (US $37,200) to help Cancer Council NT, Down Syndrome NT, and Mindil Beach Surf Life Saving Club.
